Well put Karen, and the greatest success the Austrian Hungarian Empire achieved was through marriage into virtually every royal house of Europe, including the Kingdom of Bohemia, who were Luxembourgers since Johann of Luxembourg in 1370-96 whose father was the Holy Roman Emperor Henri VII and his Mother Margarethe of Brabant. You can check the royal genealogical table at: http://www.worldroots.com/cgi-bin/gasteldb?@I109418@. Johann married Elisabeth of Bohemia whose father was the King of Bohemia +Poland Wenceslas II - and this is how the Przemisl Slavic line got into it - and her mother was Jutta von Habsburg and this is how Bohemia connected to Austria, to answer your question. The language at court was German and French. Aida ------------------------------------------------------ ----- Original Message ----- From: <KarenHob@aol.com> To: <GERMAN-BOHEMIAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:36 PM Subject: Re: [GERMAN-BOHEMIAN] Thirty Years' War depopulation figures > In a message dated 5/10/2006 2:37:55 PM Mountain Standard Time, > akibb1@verizon.net writes: > It is a fact that the Austrian Empire was - in fact - the first United > States of Europe! > The Austrian Empire was united only because the Austrian Kaiser had > managed > to become hereditary king of the kingdom of Bohemia and Hungary as well as > the > ruler of the hereditary Austrian lands. His power brought others into > the > fold becasue they were willing to submit in order to have his protection > or to > be shed of a less benign ruler. For example, the Bosnians wanted to > prevent > the Serbs from taken them over so they asked Austria to protect them > (witness > the more recent history in that area between the Serbs and Bosnians, > Croatians and Slovenians). > > The Austrian Kaiser also managed to make himself or his heirs the > hereditary > Holy Roman Emperor during the 18th century which made him the supreme > ruler > of all of Germany -- and having the German states under his thumb made him > even > more powerful. Saxony, Hannover, Bavaria, Mainz and others where very > fai > thful to the Austrian Kaiser (Bavarian princesses married Austrian > Habsburgs) as > a means to protect their own interest agains a rising Prussian power. > Not > that they all just bowed and obeyed -- there were many fights and > full-fledged > wars between various German powers and the Holy Roman Emperor over time -- > including medieval battles between Bavaria and the HRE.. Napoleon > finally > brought the HRE to an end in the first decade of 1800 and that was when > the > Austrian Empire became a separate entity again. > > The Kaiser always had to be somewhat careful to keep the nobillity of each > crownland allied / alligned with him or risk uprisings or wars of > independence. > He did that with high offices in Vienna that also had high pensions, > with > gifts of estates confiscated fromn those he could not trust and other > favors. > > > The Hungarians were particularly eager to separate as an autonomous state > (the Austro-Hungarian war in 1849-50 was pretty bloody) and achieved some > autonomy after 1868 when the old empire became known as the > "Austro-Hungarian Dual > Monarchy" (I wonder where the Bohemian crown fit into that > interpretation?) . > But the Kaiser still wore the Hungarian crown of an "autonomous" Hungary. > > One thing that Austria failed to do in terms of a "united" federation was > to > make an economic partnership between the crownlands so all could trade > back > and forth without customs or other taxes. But the Kaiser was more > interested > in tax revenue than in efficient economics -- even after Prussia > established > a German trade bund that gave them a distinct advantage in the overall > economy > of Europe and was clearly a means to building wealth. > > Can you imagine what it would be like if the US if every state charged a > tax > on goods that passed through it on the way to another state? > > Under the circumstances it is amazing that the empire and subsequent dual > monarchy lasted as long as it did. > > Karen > > > ==== GERMAN-BOHEMIAN Mailing List ==== > Visit the German-Bohemian Heritage Society Web Page! > http://www.rootsweb.com/~gbhs/ >