THE LAND OF CONTRAST: AUSTRIA-HUNGARY 



By D. W. and a. S. Iddings 



THE name "Q^sterreich," or "Aus- 

 tria," literally means "Kingdom 

 of the East," or "Eastern Coun- 

 try," from its position relative to the 

 rest of the old Germanic Empire. 



It occurs for the first time in history 

 in 996, in a document signed by Em- 

 peror Otho III, the last of the Saxon 

 dynasty of the "Holy Roman Empire of 

 the German nation." At that time it 

 was a frontier district and served as a 

 buffer land between the Western Em- 

 pire, as the "Holy Roman Empire" was 

 then sometimes known, and Hungary, 

 an unchristian nation only begun to be 

 proselyted. 



In spite of its important position, both 

 geographically and politically, but few 

 people realize exactly what they mean 

 when they speak of Austria-Hungary, 

 and to many the words Austria and 

 Hungary seem interchangeable terms 

 for the same country. What, then, is 

 Austria, what is Hungary, and why are 

 they always bracketed together? 



The Austrian Empire is a constitu- 

 tional monarchy formed of three king- 

 doms, Bohemia, Galicia, and Dalmatia,, 

 two archduchies. Upper and Lower 

 Austria, and a collection of duchies, 

 countships, and margravates of princely 

 rank; all of them united in the person 

 of the Emperor Francis Joseph. 



No country in Europe, except only 

 Hungary, contains within its borders so 

 many diverse nations and tongues as the 

 Austrian Empire. Each of the three 

 great ethnic stocks of Europe is repre- 

 sented — the Latin, the German, and tlie 

 Slav. The Slav is the dominant race, 

 as to it belong 15 out of the 26 million 

 people inhabiting the Empire ; yet, owing 

 to division into a number of peoples 

 differing from each other in language, 

 tradition, and culture, this race has to 

 yield place to the German minority, 

 which is a compact integral body ani- 

 mated by the same tradition, religion, 

 and political aims. This minority, how- 

 ever, has a relative majority over the 

 other peoples of Austria, as 

 more than 9 million speak 

 the German language, while 

 its next competitor, Polish, 

 is used by but 4 million of 

 the people. Moreover, the 

 Germans, both historically 

 and intellectually, have con- 

 tributed more to the Em- 

 pire than any other of its 

 varied nations, and they 

 feel, not without justice, 

 that they are entitled to the 

 favored position which they 

 hold. 



Photo from "A British Officer in the Balkans." By Major Percy 

 Henderson. J. B. Lippincott Co. 



viivivAGE he;ire;sse;s in Croatia, austria-hungary 



It is the fashion at fetes for the unmarried girls to dress in 

 as many petticoats as possible, even as many as twelve, one 

 over the other, with the result that they present the appearance 

 of inflated balloons. When a girl wishes to sit down, she 

 must subside on to the ground in a squatting position, pro- 

 ducing that elegant effect known to school girls as "making a 

 cheese." 



THE HUN IS PERHAPS THE 

 KEENEST PATRIOT IN 



EUROPE 



In the adjacent and en- 

 tirely independent Kingdom 

 of Hungary a somewhat 

 similar state of things ex- 

 ists. The Hungarians, or, 

 more properly, the Mag- 



1 188 



