Austria-Hungary and Nationalism

Following the defeat of Austria by Prussia, a weakened Austria was ready to compromise with the Magyars in Hungary. The Hungarians had been refusing to participate in their own subjugation, and subjugation of the Hungarians had been a financial liability for Austria. In 1867, the Habsburg emperor, Franz Joseph, and a Magyar delegation signed the "Ausgleich," or Compromise. The Magyars were given power within Hungary to make rules regarding other ethnicities as they saw fit – ethnicities such as Croats, Serbs, Slovaks and Romanians. "You take care of your Slavs and we'll take care of ours," was the sentiment of those accepting the agreement.

Austria and Hungary were now to have the same monarch – Franz Joseph – and Austria and Hungary were to have common ministries for finance, foreign affairs and war, the Magyars agreeing to leave defense and foreign policy to Franz Joseph's government and agreeing to pay their share of the empire's budget. Austria and Hungary had their own prime minister and parliament, and every ten years a tariff and trade agreement was to be negotiated, in addition to an agreement on the amount of money each was to contribute to the empire's treasury.

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