Political History. 148 
guage (Magyar), while all other parts have in their 
composition preponderatingly Slavish population, 
although German elements have the ascendency more or 
less everywhere. 
Not less than 10 different languages are spoken among 
the forty odd million people of which the Germans com- 
prise about one-quarter, the Hungarians one-third, the 
balance being Slavs. 
Originally this section of the country was occupied 
by Germans with the German institution of the Mark, 
but when the Slavish and Magyar tribes pressed in from 
the East it became the meeting ground of the three 
races, and during the first 1,000 years after Christ the 
“East Mark” formed the bulwark of the German empire 
against the eastern invaders who were in succession, the 
Slavs, the Huns, the Turks. 
With the unexpected election of Rudolph of Haps- 
burg, a little known prince of small possessions, to 
the dignity of German Emperor in 1272, the 
foundation of the Austrian Empire was laid. The 
Archduchy of Austria he secured by conquest in 1282, 
and around this nucleus all the other territories were 
aggregated by the Hapsburgs from time to time, through 
marriage, conquest or treaty. At one time their rule 
extended over Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, 
Naples, Sicily and Sardinia. 
The abdication of Francis II, in the year 1806, pre- 
pared the separation. from Germany, although Austrian 
influence persisted in Germany until 1866 when by the 
crushing defeat suffered at the hands of Prussia, its 
place and voice was permanently excluded, and by ar- 
rangement with Hungary the new dual empire of Aus- 
