View source for Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1867–1918)

{{Short description|History of the Czech lands (Bohemia and Moravia)}}
{{main|Lands of the Bohemian Crown}}
{{Infobox former country
|native_name  = {{native name|de|Länder der Böhmischen Krone}}<br/>{{native name|cs|Země Koruny české}}<br/>{{native name|la|Corona regni Bohemiae}}
|conventional_long_name = Lands of the Bohemian Crown
|common_name  = Bohemian Crown
|
|image_flag   = Flag of Bohemia.svg
|image_coat   = Coat of arms of the lands of the Bohemian Crown.svg
|coa_size     = 105px
|symbol_type = [[Coat of arms of the Czech Republic|Coat of arms]]<br/><small>(drawn by [[Hugo Gerard Ströhl|H. G. Ströhl]])</small>
|image_map   = Stielers Handatlas 1891 18.jpg
|image_map_caption = The [[Lands of the Bohemian Crown]] at 1891
|
|today        = {{unbulleted list|[[Austria]]|[[Czech Republic]]|[[Germany]]|[[Poland]]}}
|government_type = [[Constitutional monarchy]]
|status       = Electorate
|empire       = Austria-Hungary
|status_text  = [[Crown land]]s of the [[Cisleithania]]n part of [[Austria-Hungary]] <small>(1867–1918)</small>
|
|life_span    = {{unbulleted list|1867–1918<br/>(historical period)}}
|event_start  = [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867|Austro-Hungarian Compromise]]
|year_start   = 1867
|event1       = 
|date_event1  =
|event_end    = Dissolution of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian Empire]]
|year_end     = 1918
|
|p1           = Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1648–1867)
|flag_p1      = Flag of Bohemia.svg
|s1           = First Czechoslovak Republic
|flag_s1      = Flag of Bohemia.svg
|s2           = Czechoslovak Provisional Government
|flag_s2      = Flag of Czechoslovak National Council.svg
|
|title_leader = [[List of Bohemian monarchs|King]]
|leader1      = [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph I]]
|year_leader1 = 1867–1916
|leader2      = [[Charles I of Austria|Charles I ]]
|year_leader2 = 1916–1918
|
|capital      = [[Prague]]
|religion     = {{nowrap|[[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] (official)}}<br/>[[Protestantism]]<br/>[[Judaism]] ([[History of the Jews in the Czech lands|Jews]])
|common_languages = [[Czech language|Czech]], [[German language|German]], [[Latin language|Latin]]
|
|footnotes    = 
}}
{{History of the Czech Republic}}

The [[Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867]] established the [[Dual Monarchy]] of [[Austria-Hungary]] (also known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

== Overview of political dynamics 1867–1918 ==
The two parts of the empire were united by a common ruler, by a joint foreign policy, and, to some extent, by shared finances. Otherwise, [[Austria]] and [[Hungary]] were virtually independent states, each having its own parliament, government, administration, and judicial system.

Despite a series of crises, this dual system survived until 1918. It made permanent the dominant positions of the Hungarians in Hungary and of the Germans in the Austrian parts of the monarchy. Although both halves of the empire had parliamentary systems, in the Austrian half a series of franchise reforms, culminating in universal manhood suffrage in 1907, allowed the Czechs to play an increasingly active role in the political life of Austria. In the last decades before 1914 a succession of governments included a number of non-German ministers and even one Polish [[Minister-president|Minister-President]], but Austria's Germans dominated political power at the imperial level until the end of the state.

At the local level, the various nationalities gained a great deal of control over provincial and municipal affairs after a series of reforms in local government in the 1860s and 1870s. The monarchy's inability or unwillingness to come to terms with its nationalities problems weakened the parliamentary system at a time of escalating international crises.

== Negotiations on Bohemian autonomy (1867–1877) ==
{{Main|Fundamental Articles of 1871}}
In Austria, German liberals held political power in parliament from 1867 to 1879. They were determined to maintain German dominance in the Austrian part of the empire. The Czech leaders, subsequently labeled Old Czechs, favored alliance with the conservative and largely Germanized Bohemian nobility and advocated the restoration of traditional Bohemian autonomy. In essence, they wanted a reconstituted [[Bohemian Kingdom]] (including [[Moravia]] and [[Silesia]]) with a constitutional arrangement similar to Hungary's. In 1871 the Old Czechs seemed to have succeeded, because the government agreed to the Fundamental Articles, which would have reinstated the historic rights of the Bohemian Kingdom. Violent protests from both German and Hungarian liberals ensued, however, and the articles were never adopted.

== History of Bohemia during the Old Czech era (1878–1891) ==
Objecting to an increase of Slavs in the empire, the German liberals opposed the [[Austro-Hungarian campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878|1878 Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]. The emperor, stung by the rejection of his foreign policy, dismissed the liberal government and turned to Count [[Eduard Taaffe, 11th Viscount Taaffe|Eduard Taaffe]]'s conservative "Iron Ring" cabinet (1879–1883). The Taaffe government took the Slavic element into greater account than the liberals had, and in turn was supported by the Old Czechs. Czech cooperation with Taaffe led to several important gains. A language decree promulgated in 1880 put [[Czech language|Czech]] on an equal footing with German in the Bohemian "outer service" (the language government officials spoke to the public) and law.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The fall of the House of Habsburg|last=Crankshaw|first=Edward|publisher=Penguin|year=1963|location=New York|pages=274|oclc=8806740}}</ref> This law applied to all 216 judicial districts of Bohemia including 77 judicial districts without any significant presence of Czech-speakers.<ref name="Hoensch">{{cite book|title=Geschichte Böhmens|author=Jörg K. Hoensch|pages=368|publisher=C.H. Beck}}</ref> In 1882 [[Charles-Ferdinand University]] in Prague was divided into two separate institutions: one Czech and the other German. These concessions, however, seemed insufficient to a newly developing Czech commercial and industrial bourgeoisie. Intense conflict ensued as Czechs and Germans attempted to control local administration and education. German Bohemians held that in the closed{{clarify|date=March 2021}} German-speaking part of Bohemia, only German should be an official language, and objected to the language regulations as being motivated by the Czech "state rights" ideology.<ref name="Hoensch"/> When some of the Old Czechs attempted to work out a compromise with the Bohemian Germans in 1890, they were denounced by a younger and more radical intelligentsia. The next year the Old Czechs were soundly defeated by the Young Czechs, ending a period of attempted compromises.

== History of Moravia (1867–1918) ==
[[Image:Tomáš G Masaryk1918.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, portrait by [[Josef Jindřich Šechtl]], 1918]]
While relations between Czechs and Germans worsened in Bohemia, they remained relatively tranquil in Moravia. Although the separate administrative status of Moravia had been abolished in the 18th century, the area was reconstituted as a separate [[crown land]] in 1849. In Moravia, unlike in Bohemia, a compromise was reached by Karel Emanuel v. [[House of Zierotin|Zierotin]], in 1905, between the Czech majority and the German minority. Although the German language retained a slight predominance, the preservation of Czech language and culture was legally guaranteed. The compromise seemed to work reasonably well until the end of Habsburg rule in 1918.

== Young Czech and Czech Progressive Party era (1891–1914) ==
During the final decade of the empire, obstructionism by both Czechs and Germans rendered parliamentary politics ineffectual, and governments rose and fell with great frequency. The importance of the Young Czech Party waned as Czech politics changed orientation. Political parties advocating democracy and socialism emerged. In 1900 [[Tomáš Masaryk]], a university professor and former Young Czech deputy who was to become president of the Czechoslovak Republic, founded the [[Czech Progressive Party]]. Basing its struggle for national autonomy on the principle of popular sovereignty, the Czech Progressive Party supported parliamentary politics, advocated universal suffrage, and rejected radicalism.

At the turn of the century, the idea of a "[[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]]" entity began to be advocated by some Czech and [[Slovaks|Slovak]] leaders.

== World War I ==
In the first months of World War I, the response of the Czech soldiers and civilians to the war and mobilisation were highly enthusiastic; however later it turned into apathy.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Richard Schindler|title=A Hopeless Struggle: The Austro-Hungarian Army and Total War, 1914-1918|publisher=[[McMaster University]]|year=1995|page=50|isbn=9780612058668|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h4jyAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Oskar+Potiorek%22+czech}}</ref>
The cause of Czech self-government was greatly advanced by the war, during which, in 1917, the [[Manifesto of Czech writers]], signed by over two hundred leading Czechs, was published. This favoured the concept of Czech autonomy.<ref>J. Poláček, ''Manifest českých spisovatelů'' (2007)</ref>

==See also==
* {{C|Kingdom of Bohemia}}
* {{C|Bohemia under Habsburg rule}}
* [[History of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1526–1648)]]
* [[History of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown (1648–1867)]]
* {{C|Czech lands under Habsburg rule}}
* [[History of Czechoslovakia]]
* [[Austroslavism]]
* [[Cisleithania]]
* [[Pan-Slavism]]
* [[Independent Social Democratic Party (Czech Lands)]]
* {{C|Austria-Hungary in World War I}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{Country study}}

[[Category:Lands of the Empire of Austria (1867–1918)|Bohemian Crown]]
[[Category:19th century in Bohemia|.1867]]
[[Category:20th century in Bohemia|.1900]]
[[Category:Lands of the Bohemian Crown| ]]