The Period from the Turn of the Century to the First World War, in Hungary and Beyond

General Outlines

The world changed radically around the turn of the century (this began,

in fact, at the end of the nineteenth century). Europe entered a period

of tremendous economic growth as more than 60% of international

trade went on between the countries of this one continent; road and

rail transport developed at a similar pace. This modern phase brought

(e)migration, for example, with about 10 million people leaving Europe in

the first fifteen years of the century. Those emigrating included Italians,

Poles, Germans, Russians, and Jews fleeing east European countries.

Rail travel became common, and travel by ship developed

quickly; world commerce blossomed. In 1913, more than three-quarters

of the world’s commercial ships were European. There was huge

movement of capital, one that grew about eightfold between 1870 and

1913; of this, 80% was carried out by countries of Europe. The pace of

urbanization also increased markedly, with cities coming to dominate

over villages (though not at all to the extent they did after the Second

World War decades later).

World Politics at the Time

Germany was now a primary driver of the new Europe, having

emerged after its unification in 1871 as the continent's leading power.

With Bismarck removed as Chancellor in the 1890's, the ambitious

Wilhelm II.(1888-1918) was already thinking on a world scale. But

Germany was interested in more than economic supremacy; it also had

ambitions of becoming a leading military power as well. In contrast to

its rivals, Germany expanded its military expenditures threefold.

In England, beyond issues of maintaining the Empire, other

factors were also active: the struggle for suffrage had accelerated, and

the Labour Party was founded in 1906. France, for its part, was shaken

by several scandals: anarchists carried out assassinations, the Dreyfus

Affair of 1894 called citizens' equality into question, and relations

between the state and the Church had deteriorated significantly.

The Russian Empire was struggling with a sea of troubles, led to

numerous crises by its backwardness and its ethnic and social tensions.

Despite tremendous expansion in its rail network and the appearance of

an industrial proletariat, Russia remained essentially an agrarian

country; at the beginning of the twentieth century, more than 70% of

workers were in the agrarian sector. The effects of low yields were

exacerbated by various other demands, even though the country was

Europe's largest exporter of grain. Capital-poor, the country had

amassed a large debt, with almost half of production capital coming from

abroad.

Politically, Russia was also unstable, with the outbreak of the

so-called First Russian Revolution of 1905-07 after the defeat in the

Russo-Japanese war. In addition to the Social Democrats – now split

into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks – there were now social revolutionaries

and constitutional democrats. After the revolution was put down, the

absolutism of the Czar was now compelled to make the concessions of

allowing a parliament and enacting certain land reforms (which, given

the instability of the situation, proved to come too late).

Hungary within the Monarchy

The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was an odd formation, and the

differences between its territories were visible in a great many ways. In

1913, the GNP of Czecho-Moravia matched the western European

average while Hungary could "produce" only half that. The Monarchy's

economic presence lagged behind that of other western European

countries, which is also indicated by the fact that, though the Monarchy

contained 16% of the continent's population, it accounted for only

about 7% of Europe's industrial production. It was an empire divided in

almost every sphere – divisions that were only just smoothed over by

distribution of labor and faith in the Emperor. After 1890, there was a

continuous destabilization in political life, with intensification of the

struggles for suffrage. The voting act of 1896 meant that even the

Socialists were now part of the legislature in Vienna.

But the greatest concern – and what the perspective of history

now sees as the last straw – was the question of ethnicities. German

Austrians made up one-third of the population of the hereditary

provinces, while in Hungary's historical territory, Hungarians themselves

made up less than one-half of the inhabitants. The state tried to adjust

this shortfall by including assimilating Jews among their number