Tuesday 10 September 2019

auflösung

On this day in 1919 signatories of the Allied Powers held a ceremony at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye to ratify the terms of the treaty (see also) that dictated the dissolution of the Austrian Empire.
The successor states, formerly kingdoms, duchies and counties were often not consulted and very few held referenda regarding their own separate sovereignty and rather had it thrust upon them with adjustment period to follow. Cisleitania—the unofficial designation for the territory around Vienna and roughly the present day republic, referring to this side of the River Leitha—that became a much diminished Österreich had previously not had a national character in terms of uniting language or ethnicity (not that borders are ever easily redrawn) and only had in common their allegiance to the House of Hapsburg.