ABSTRACT
The moving principles of the Habsburg Monarchy’s political and economic pivot to the neighboring Balkans in the second half of the nineteenth century were pragmatic. Defeated by Prussia and Italy in 1866, the Habsburgs lost their Italian territories. Then came German unification in 1871 under Prussian leadership, excluding Austria. The two constitutive parts of the Monarchy, Austria (Cisleithania) and Hungary (Transleithania), which included Croatia-Slavonia, were unified in foreign relations under the name Austria-Hungary. In internal affairs, they had autonomy except for the common finance and war ministries. The conflict of interests between Austria and Hungary, despite their unified foreign policy, impacted also the Balkan policies of the Dual Monarchy. The extraordinary political, military-strategic, and economic interests of Austria-Hungary in the Balkans in the last quarter of the nineteenth and in early twentieth century resulted from the confluence of political and strategic considerations.
