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Austria Final Defeat in Germany and Reconciliation with Prussia
Because Russia was aligned with Prussia and because Britain
had retreated into isolationism, Austria-Hungary turned to France
as an ally in its bid to regain leadership in Germany. France
wanted gains in Germany at Prussia's expense and was receptive to
an alliance. Open cooperation with French expansionist ambitions,
however, was inconsistent with Austria-Hungary's efforts to be
the leader and defender of the German nation. The success of the
alliance thus depended on France's position as the defender of
the south German states against Prussia--which France failed to
do.
France declared war on Prussia and invaded German territory
in July 1870. The south German states rallied to Prussia's side
in the Franco-Prussian War, and Beust's patient effort to detach
those states from Prussia lay in ruins. Austria watched
helplessly as Prussia, the presumed underdog, quickly and soundly
defeated France. In January 1871, Prussia founded the Second
German Empire, uniting the German states without Austria.
Unable to undo what Prussian military prowess had wrought in
Germany, Austria-Hungary trimmed its sails accordingly. Count
Gyula Andrássy, a Hungarian, replaced Beust as foreign minister,
and the empire's foreign policy began to reflect the anti-Russian
mentality of the Hungarians. Before 1871 ended, Austria-Hungary
and Germany were working toward a united foreign policy.
This diplomatic cooperation with Prussian-dominated Germany
contributed to the internal political stability of
Austria-Hungary. Exclusion from a united Germany was a
psychological shock for German Austrians because their claim to
leadership in the Habsburg Empire had rested in part on their
leadership of the German nation. Cut off from Germany, they
became just one of many national groups in the Habsburg Empire
and constituted only slightly more than one-third of Austria's
population. Had Prussia remained hostile, Austria-Hungary's
German population might have been the excuse for Prussian
territorial ambitions similar to those harbored by the other
nation-states that surrounded Austria-Hungary. Aligned with
Austria-Hungary, however, Prussia distanced itself from German
nationalists in Austria-Hungary, and the annexation movement
remained politically insignificant. But, because German Austrians
no longer had their majority status guaranteed by participation
in the larger German nation, many felt increasingly vulnerable
and threatened. German Austrians thus became open to a
nationalism based on ethnic fear and hostility that contrasted
with the self-confident Liberal nationalism of earlier decades.
Data as of December 1993
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