Empire · 1526–1918 · Europe

Habsburg Monarchy (Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary)

Also known as Austrian Empire, Austria Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austrian Netherlands, Milano (Austria), Austria

The Austrian Habsburgs, Holy Roman Emperors almost continuously since 1438, became a great power when Archduke Ferdinand I inherited the crowns of Bohemia and Hungary after the Battle of Mohács in 1526. Their multinational realm, ruled from Vienna, held off the Ottomans at the sieges of 1529 and 1683 and then reconquered Hungary.

Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II reformed the army, taxes and schools, while wars with Prussia cost them Silesia. Francis I declared an Austrian Empire in 1804 and dissolved the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Defeat by Prussia in 1866 led to the Compromise of 1867, creating Austria-Hungary, a dual monarchy of two governments under one emperor. Rising nationalism among Czechs, Poles, Serbs and others strained it, and after defeat in the First World War it broke apart in 1918.

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Years

1526–1918

Capital

Vienna

Greatest extent

1914, about 676,000 km²

Region

Europe

c.; Austria-Hungary was c. 622,000 km² in 1905 (Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911), plus Bosnia-Herzegovina (c. 51,000 km²), annexed in 1908