Peoples of Austria-Hungary in 1914 from Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd. The empire's population included Germans, Magyars, Romanians, Italians, and Slavs including Croats, Serbians, Ruthenians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and Slovenes.
Peoples of Austria-Hungary in 1914Legend:Germans, Magyars, Romanians, Italians, and Slavs including Croats, Serbians, Ruthenians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, and Slovenes.
"Slovene politicians who desired a united Yugoslavia openly collaborated with Czech and Polish separatists, fraternization reaching a peak at a Pan-Slav congress convened on August 16 at Laibach (Ljubljana), attended by thousands. As features of the affairs, a monument to the memory of Dr. Johann Krek, courageous fighter for a united South Slavdom, was unveiled, and warmly Pan-Slav speeches were delivered; for instance, Count Skarbeck, a Pole, declared that Slav unity from Danzig (Gdánsk) to Trieste would thwart the menacing Berlin Bagdad proposition. Now Klofáč boldly asserted that the Czechs would not traffic with Vienna, but would 'struggle for complete independence,' reinforced by fellow Slavs and by the knowledge that the Entente was dedicated to a free Czechoslovakia. 'To-morrow is ours,' announced Korošec prophetically."
President Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points included calls for the satisfaction of nationalist aspirations:9. Readjustment of the frontiers of Italy along clearly recognizable lines of nationality.10. Assuring the freest opportunity of autonomous development to the peoples of Austria-Hungary.11. Restoration of Roumania, Serbia and Montenegro; free access to the sea accorded to Serbia; international guarantees of the independence and integrity of the several Balkan states.13. Erection of an independent Polish state, which should include the indisputable Polish territories, having access to the sea, and guaranteed by international covenant.(Quoted in King's Complete History of the World War, page 371.)The Berlin to Baghdad axis and railway, crossing Austria-Hungary, occupied Serbia, and Bulgaria, would be crossed and thwarted by a Slavic axis from a Polish state on the Baltic Sea to Trieste on the Adriatic Sea. Yugoslavia would be the Union of South Slavs that Gavrilo Princip had killed and died for.
The Passing of the Hapsburg Monarchy, 1914-1918 2 Volumes by Arthur James May, pp. 736–737, copyright © 1966 by the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, publication date: 1966
1918-08-16, 1918, August, Czech, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Pan-Slav Congress, Trieste, Peoples of Austria-Hungary
