ABSTRACT
The Austrian army defeated the attempt of Piedmont and the Italian states to drive the Habsburgs out of Italy. The Ausgleich system, on which the Dual Monarchy rested, not only implicitly recognized the power of the Magyars in Hungary; it explicitly granted to Hungary a certain amount of control over the foreign policy of the Austro-Hungarian state. The Hungarian Law XII of December 1867, expressly gave the Hungarian prime minister the right to be consulted by the foreign minister on matters of foreign policy. In the Metternich period the Monarchy was particularly fortunate, being blessed with, and managing with some success to perpetuate, a favourable international situation. The truth of Grillparzer's apostrophization of Radetzky seemed self-evident: in deinem Lager its Oesterreich'. No regard was paid to Magyar nationalism, which had at last thrown off the mask and stood revealed as the mortal enemy of the dynasty. Diplomatic history is essentially the history of decision-making.
