Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-11-09
Downfall of the Hapsburgs
Kansas CITY Star.

| worms at the next council table, ana WITH IL
new anthem to be entitled Nobody Loves Me-"
After Hungary has cut its heart out and the
CzechoSlavs have decapitated it and the Jugo-
Slavs made away with its pedal extremities and
the new German Nation" has Topped off one
arm and the Roumanians and Ruthenians the
other, thers will be nothing left of Austria but
Papa Karl and little bunch of archdukes, who
will have to join the kings in exile and look for
apartments for the winter, with all signs point
ing to long, hard winter
But what OF the Austrian nation? There is
| no Austrian nation; there has never been an
Austrian nation. Austria is a name. and it is
! nothing more. There is not rood of ground
IN the so-called dual empire that could put forth
claim to an Austrian nationality. There is no
Austrian race. There is-and always has been
only the Hapsburg family, which was sent
| over by Germany into that section of the coun-
try during the middle ages to look after Eu-
| ropes back yard, to collect the odds and ends
| OF unprotected nationalites to be ready with
| its wlde-open grab bag in the kitchen cabinets
OF nations, to carry off the troublesome parcels
OF territory that would not merge harmoniously
INTO the schemes OF the front paror mapmakers.
- The name Austria is merely corruption of
"Oesterrelch," or eastern realm, term used as
early as 976 by Emperor Otto ii to designate
the eastern frontiers of the holy Roman empire,
which was Germany. Later on the "Oester-
reich duchy was carved out of the country
above and below the Ems and conferred" on a
new-nade German duke and his heirs. This was
the nucleus of Austria 1t wasn't long before the
new duke and his family grabbed off Syria and
put it into the hopper.
The Hapsburg family began business il, the
thirteenth century with Rudolph of Hapsburg,
who vanquished Ottakar, the son of the king Of
Bohemia, and gave the duchies of Austria and
Nt1rVsO nj =
national slogan of the Hapsburg family was
divide ct impera, divide and rule" which meant
to foment strife among the little nations and
stand by with the grab bag Inspired by the
Hapsburg family policy, aided and abetted by
Germany, Austria and the Hapsburgs waxed fat
and prosperous for centuries. Far or near made
no difference to these pickers-up of unconsid-
cred trifes of lands and peoples. They reached
over into Switzerland and annexed few can
tons. Carnthla and the Tyrol were bagged in
due time. The Netherlands were made to con-
tribute bit to the Austrian pot. Venice and
Bavaria were squeezed for a few contributions
to the hodge podge. Alsace and Lorraine were
picked up for trading purposes. Moravia was
annexed, while other nations were busy else
where. Then along came a Hapsburg with a
real Hun helmet and mailed fist and made big
grab in the conquest of Bohemia, the land Of
the Czechs, and tried for three centuries to make
it wear a German uniform, with what success
events OF this day are evidencing. 1t was in
1857 that Leopold | forced the Hungarians to
make their kingdom hereditary in the Hapsburg
family.
AT every council table where the nations met
to cut the European melon the Hapsburgs,
whether actively engaged in the warfare or not,
were always on hand waiting at the back door
for whatever the nations had to give or take
In the peace of Westphalia, 1913, they lost Al
SAGE to France, but picked up little territory
adjacent to their dominions as an offset. At the
peace of Utrecht, 1913 Austria obtained the
Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Mantua, Naples
1875, the powers "frisked" the Hapsburgs OF
Naples, Sicily and Milan, but before they left
the kitchen this time they picked up Parma and
Placenza. At the first partition of Poland the
Hapsburgs were there usual, and as nobody
else seemed to show any particular hankerings-
for Gacia and Lodomeria, they were picked ND
and thrown into the Hapsburg grab bag
And so the game went on down through the
centuries. Many of its stolen possessions Aus
tria was forced to give up from time to time,
always begging. however, for its quid pro quo
AS matter OF fact, for long time Austria was
the national goat" of Europe If any of the
big nations wanted little chunk of territory
to round things off nicely il took it from Aus
tria. Ii there was piece of troublesome coun-
try that didn't take kindly to the yoke and was
likely to upset things, it was handed over to
Austria to put on its charm string. All was
hsh that came into the Hapsburg net but the
trouble was they never became Austrian fish.
AS a. sample OF some Of the Jobs" they handed
1t witness Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the
congress of Berlin, after the Russo Turkish war
IN 1878, allowed Austria to occupy"-an &C.
cupation that cost it 10000 men and millions of
money before these doughty nations were
brought under the yoke of the Hapsburgs in
1908
Today-or at least at the outbreak of the
present Wharf.-The population of the Austro-Hun-
garian monarchy embraces greater number of
races, distinct IN origin and language, than that
OF any other European country, except perhaps.
Russia.
The map Of Austria is the crazy quilt of Eu-
rope. though the German element has I'D to
this time retained the ascendancy, the Slavs are
the most numerous race, amounting to more
TAIN AZ per cent of the whole population The
Germans come next, with about % per cent, and
then the Magyars, with about 20 per cent The
Slavs are divided into number Of natonalities,
Offering In language, religion and customs
lhey form the bulk OF the population Of b.
hernia, Moravia, Galicia, Carniola, Daln1atia,
Croatia, Slavoni and the north of Hungary
included in the Slav nationalities are the Czechs
IN Bohemia and Moravia, the Poles in Gaicia,
the Ruhenians in Galica and Hungary, the
Sroats and Serbs in Croatia and Slavona, the
Slovaks in northwestern Hungary, the Slovenes
in Carniola, Syria, Corr and Gradisca. and the
Morlaks in Dalmatia
The Germans are dispersed over the country,
Predomnatng in Upper and Lower Austria,
Saizburg, Iyrol, Syria and Carintha The
MNagyars constitute about 50 per cent of the
Hungarian kingdom. Pennsylvania is peopled
mostly by Roumanans. There are many Ital-
and Dalmatia and other Roumanic peoples such
as the Ladins and the Friauls are scattered in