ABSTRACT
The Romanoff, Hapsburg, and Ottoman empires were neighbouring states, and the consideration that Russia was a friendly country, while Austria-Hungary and Turkey were enemy countries, did not alter the essential similarity of their political organization. The disintegration of the Dual Monarchy took place automatically and almost without bloodshed. The French, intent upon destroying Germany, regarded Austrians and Hungarians with tolerance and, having nothing to fear from Austria-Hungary, did not see why the territories of the Dual Monarchy should not be reorganized politically and remain a unit. Although the immediate advantage of disrupting the Hapsburg Empire was indisputable from a military point of view, the Entente statesmen did not forget that the emancipation of the subject peoples had to be envisaged from the standpoint of post-bellum reconstruction. The Ottoman Empire succumbed to the undermining influence of the self-determination propaganda, but the applications of the principle were limited to a far greater extent than in the Hapsburg Empire.
