AtD Franz Ferdinand

[Dave Monroe]

17 - the United States of Greater Austria

Franz Ferdinand's assassination at Sarajevo in 1914 triggered the
First World War. The Austro-Hungarian Archduke and crown prince is
known mainly for this (and for the Scottish band named after him), but
here's another interesting piece of info about him:

A group of scholars surrounding him came up with a plan to re-arrange
the volatile Double Monarchy into a United States of Greater Austria.
This specific plan was proposed by Aurel Popovici - a Romanian, by the
sound of his first name - in 1906. What if he had not been killed, and
had been able to push through this kind of reform? Would
Austro-Hungary have been a viable state?

Prior to World War One, Austro-Hungary was unstable because, as a
multi-ethnic state, it was dominated by two out of eleven
nationalities - Germans and Hungarians, totalling 44%. Each of these
two nationalities controlled roughly one half of the Double Monarchy.
Revolts and resistance by the other nine nationalities made this
situation untenable.

Franz Ferdinand wanted to re-draw the map of his country into a number
of states that would be as ethnically and linguistically uniform as
possible. These would be supplemented by small autonomous areas,
mainly German-speaking 'islands' ...

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2006/10/22/17-the-united-states-of-greater-austria/

On 2/19/07, Otto <ottosell at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Princess and Heir of Franz Ferdinand Fights to Repeal a Law and Gain a Castle
> http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/02/19/world/19castle.600.jpg
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/19/world/europe/19castle.html