The Collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Problems of the Successor States

Of the European powers the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary were most directly vulnerable to the threat of internal disintegration. By 1914 the former had been forced to concede independence to its Balkan subjects. Austria-Hungary, however, still held together. More than ever, its existence was imperilled by powerful centrifugal tendencies, but these were, for the time being, restrained by centripetal influences. The future of the Habsburg Empire was literally in the balance.