>Budapest opened the first electrified underground line on the continent, the M1, in 1896. >Temesvár was the first city in Continental Europe to have electric public lighting on 12 November 1884. 731 lamps were used. >By 1913, the combined length of the railway tracks of the Austrian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary reached 43,280 kilometres (26,890 miles). In Western Europe only Germany had more extended railway network (63,378 km, 39,381 mi)
Let's put aside nationalistic feelings and be honest for a moment. Austria-Hungary was Central Europe's best chance for keeping up with the West.
>lose territories to even Austria Hungary deserved it You guys tried to heavily magyarize everyone east of Austria and Illyria while shooting down Austria's attemps to enact equality towards everyone
Julian Evans
Read "Brave Soldier Sjveik" to understand what AH was
>Austria-Hungary was Central Europe's best chance for keeping up with the West.
lol
it was the same shit like Russia, capital cities were rich and thriving, while rural parts and small towns were shit poor and god forsaken
didn't you think why you have barely one big city and all your other "cities" (even the ones that went to Romania or Slovakia after Trianon) were actually small towns?
>Kolozsvár Klausenburg >Marosvásárhely Neumarkt >Nagyvárad Großwardein Please get it right, revisionist Transylvania is Germanic
Tyler Myers
yeah, not a single of them ever had more than 500k people, these were small towns
and Bratislava is kind of "big" (still smaller than 500k) because it's the capital, if it was just another city in Hungary it would be 200k max as more people would move to Budapest to build its glory for the last slice of bread stolen from Slovak peasants
Liam Gray
Budapest itself only had a population of 880,000 people in 1910. it was the turn of the century bro, the economy was still largely dependent on agriculture which favored a more spread out population, megalopolises weren't a thing.
Parker Rogers
That would've been large at the time.
Dylan Jones
>only
And how much did Pozsony have? Or Debrecen? What was the difference between Budapest and the second biggest Hungarian city in 1910? 8 times? 10?
But there were already a lot of large cities in Eastern Europe back then. Just not in Austria-Hungary as its economy was aimed at feeding the two capitals (Vienna and Budapest) while other towns were left for dead.
Wait until the Hungarian guy tells us what the difference between population of Budapest and the second biggest Hungarian city in 1910 was and you'll see.
Zachary Robinson
All European countries are like that look at the difference between Paris and London and other cities in their respective countries
Samuel Hall
Not true.
Austria-Hungary didn't invest in anything except for Budapest and Vienna.
Polish Galicia was almost the poorest region in Europe with no industry or anything, even the neighbouring Polish part of Russia was much more developed, industrialized and urbanized.
Kraków (in Austria) in 1910 had 137k people.
Łódź (in Russia, a city you probably never ever heard of) in 1913 had 477k people.
> look at the difference between Paris and London and other cities in their respective countries
This is because of their retarded centralization as well. I can tell you to look at Germany or the Netherlands then.
You know, France might be centralized, because this country was never supposed to be a federation of nations. Meanwhile Austro-Hungarians insisted that they were such a federation, that all nations were equal etc. etc., meanwhile they invested only in two big cities to show off, while other parts of the empire, especially the Slavic ones, were left on the sidelines on purpose.
When A-H collapsed, suddenly it turned out that "superior Magyars" were no better than "Slavic peasants" who surpassed them economically and rapidly developed formerly forgotten towns.
Jackson Richardson
Budapest's population was less than 300,000 people in 1873, when it was officially made the capital city of the Hungarian part of Austro-Hungary. After that the population grew rapidly because the Habsburgs decided to throw a ton of money at Budapest to appease the industrial and political leaders of the nation, so naturally more people from around the country decided to move here than elsewhere in the kingdom. It doesn't mean that other towns were left for dead, however: all you have to do is just take a look at Szeged, one of the larger towns of the countryside which had to be completely rebuilt from the ground after the catastrophic flood of 1879
Chase Morris
>After that the population grew rapidly because the Habsburgs decided to throw a ton of money at Budapest to appease the industrial and political leaders of the nation, so naturally more people from around the country decided to move here than elsewhere in the kingdom
So now you have the answer why A-H was shit for anyone except for Budapest.
> It doesn't mean that other towns were left for dead,
Comparing to their potential they would develop if they weren't marginalized by extreme centralization (or actually bi-centralization) in A-H they were left for dead.
No wonder A-H failed so easily in WW1, no one except for Budapestians wanted to be part of this centralized monster and no one wanted to pay so Budapestians could enjoy subways or palaces.
Easton Morales
Germany was a collection of small states until 1871. Every other country had a united kingdom where the economy was based off the king.
Eli Miller
The industry in hungry was based out natural resources coming out of areas they lost in Trianon. Of course those areas continued to do well
Jayden Stewart
>Germany was a collection of small states until 1871. Every other country had a united kingdom where the economy was based off the king.
Exactly. And A-H was also supposed to be something like that - every nation should have had autonomy and equal rights - Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Ukrainians, Romanians, Hungarians.
But at the end only Hungarians had real autonomy and they subdued all other nations that were in their part of the empire, also they sucked out most of resources and money from Vienna, especially for Budapest like said so there was little left for other cities and regions.
>Of course those areas continued to do well
But they weren't doing well in Hungary. Only Budapest was well off. If there had been any real industry in these regions, we'd have had big industrial cities there. There were none or very small ones.
Logan Scott
First what is your definition of a big city.
Second A-H was never supposed to be an equal Union. It was the personal possessions of the hapsburgs and any deals they made were to keep themselves in power in a rapidly changing world.
Jaxon Sullivan
>First what is your definition of a big city.
In 1910 in eastern Europe something bigger than 300k should be already big.
>Second A-H was never supposed to be an equal Union.
But the nations that lived there hoped it would be like that. But they got disappointed, especially after the Ausgleich. That's why the empire collapsed so easily - no one really wanted it and missed it, except for Hungarians (especially the ones in Budapest). That's why Hungarians are the only people who start these A-H appreciation threads.
Luis Ross
Poles supported it until 1918 when they told that they wouldn't get Ukrainian lands. Don't act like it isn't true either because every source besides polish ones state the same thing
William Fisher
>Poles supported it until 1918
No, they didn't. They just didn't have a choice. If Austrians had proposed Poles independence in let's say - 1890, every Pole would have taken it.
>Don't act like it isn't true either because every source besides polish ones state the same thing
No problem, waiting for proofs.
Poles always wanted independence, nothing was more important to them. Just in some cases they fought for it, in other - they waited until something happens and they'll get it back.
Asher Sanders
based af I read Švejk as a kid. God, I loved that book.
