Devolution Aborted

In 1871, four years after the ‘Ausgleich’ with Hungary, Emperor Francis Joseph I also promised the Bohemian lands of the Habsburg Empire a form of devolution. His Prime Minister Hohenwart, the Czechs and their allies among the Conservative wing of Bohemian aristocrats worked out a programme known as the ‘Fundamental Articles’. The Emperor, it is argued, primarily wanted to persuade the Bohemians to end their boycott of the Vienna Parliament, thus freeing the crown from its dependence on the German Liberals. The Bohemians wanted the Emperor to impose a new constitution by tearing up the old one; the Emperor wanted the Bohemians to find a majority for their blueprint within the existing parliament even if the result was only going to be a very diluted version of the Fundamental Articles. The Bohemians, however, were unwilling to throw their principles overboard in return for such a flimsy chance of success. As a result, Francis Joseph turned his back on the Fundamental Articles. The failure of the 1871 programme was therefore not the result of a betrayal by the Emperor, but of a fundamental misunderstanding of his aims

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