Coat of arms of Austria-Hungary. Heraldry. Austro-Hungarian Empire Flag of Austria-Hungary in the shape of a circle

Blue and yellow colors are not historically characteristic of Ukrainians?

The history of the Ukrainian flag, like everything that relates to the history of Ukraine, is filled with myths and lies. And these myths were created in late XIX century for the illiterate rural population of Galicia and Little Russia. Then, when the population became somewhat more educated, they didn’t come up with anything better to prove these myths than to prove them by juggling facts, or even outright lies. One of these false myths is the story of the Ukrainian ensign. His main thesis is that from time immemorial these colors have been characteristic of the local population since the creation of Rus', and then of the Cossacks.

...And then they moved on to the newly created Ukrainians.

But, even with a superficial examination of this flag legend, one has to admit that for the first time these colors appeared as state symbols in the Austrian Habsburg Empire. These were the banners of the provinces of Austria.

Then these same colors passed to the Galicians from the hands of the Austrian royal family. Both eyewitnesses of those events and political Ukrainian historians write about this. This means that these were colors intended for local Rusyns (there were no Ukrainians in Galicia at that time) of the Austrian province of Galicia, and had nothing to do with greater Rus'-Ukraine.

In March 1848, revolution broke out in the Austrian Empire. The Poles organized their own Polish Guard. The active creation of detachments of the Polish Guard began. This was the reason for the resistance of the Ruthenian population. Thus, the peasants of Old Milyatin refused to join the guard “under the sign of the single-headed eagle” (that is, the Polish one) and demanded to organize the “Russian Guard”.

In April 1848, the Austrian authorities allowed the creation of the Russian National Guard "to maintain order" in their national provinces. In the 19th paragraph of its Charter it was noted that “each battalion is a banner, and each flag is a standard, decorated with the colors of the region.”

On May 2, in Lemberg (Lvov), the Main Russian Council was created, consisting of Uniate priests (there were no other intelligentsia there. - Author), which took a loyal position regarding the Austrian government. The local guards addressed the question about symbolism to her. On May 16, 1848, Grigory Shashkevich, on behalf of the members of the Russian Council in Stanislav, asked in a letter to the Main Russian Council, “which is the Russian cockade?”

During the Slavic Congress in Prague (June 2-16), the Ukrainian and Polish delegations agreed that the detachments of Poles and Rusyns of the National Guard in Galicia “will have the coats of arms of both nations next to them for their differences.”

In June, a blue and yellow flag appeared on the Lviv City Hall, hung by unknown people. Members of the Rada hastened to dissociate themselves, declaring that “it wasn’t the Rusyns who did it, and they don’t know who did it.” That is, no one knew what these colors were or how to interpret them. “Zorya Galitskaya” replied at the end of June that “the coat of arms, or banner of Galician Rus': that is, a golden lion in its lap, backing onto a rock.”

For their faithful service to Franz Joseph, the Russian Galicians were awarded the latter nickname “Tyroleans of the Middle East,” and he granted them a blue and yellow flag. Modern Ukrainian nationalists have not found anything better than to declare this symbol of the Austrian provinces and the German-Habsburg “weasel” as a symbol of the entire “independent Ukraine”.

On September 20, 1848, the Main Russian Council issues an appeal to the Ruthenian people in the matter of organizing detachments of the National Guard. Such detachments are being created in Stryi, Drohobych, Yavorov, Berezhany and other cities and villages.

But historical events left their mark in the memory of the people and some still remembered those events when local Russian troops took part in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, on the side of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) against their long-time ally from the times of the Galicia-Volyn principality - Teutonic Order, under a blue banner with a golden lion. Therefore, we took the colors of the badges of those regiments as a sample.

The Polish chronicler Jan Dlugosz left a description of the banners of troops from Russian lands who came to the army with the crusaders.

But the rural population, who yesterday were serfs, did not know all the heraldic subtleties, therefore, turning on behalf of the rural communities to the Russian Rada, “many deputies asked that they now send the Russian standard from Lvov for the village, for there are no good artisans here who would have such standar honestly sdilaty mogly."

The Main Russian Rada, which called themselves Rutenians, took the hint with the episode of the blue and yellow flag, which was already in use in the provinces of Austria and, in order not to quarrel with the monarch, adopted these colors, fortunately there was some local justification. Therefore, flags with two horizontal stripes “in Russian colors” became widely used - blue-yellow and yellow-blue (the first, according to the rules of vexillology - the science of flags - marks the top color). And already at meetings of the local community the colors used in the Austrian Empire were present.

Describing the first congress of Ukrainian scientists in Leo, Yakov Golovatsky writes: “On the 7/19 of Thursday, 1848, a cathedral of Russian scientists and lovers of popular education was opened... On the 2nd year, all the members of the assembly and many gathered to open the cathedral guests with signs of the Russian people to the museum salo. The eyes of all those present were struck with a strong impression by the red decoration of the walls. For the first time, the Rusyns saw a place where everything reminded them of the people - Under the image of the sovereign monarch there rested two banners of the Synozhov... the windows and pillars were decorated with people. barva - with these latter stirrups at a pair of ensigns, also with a synozhov barva "...

Yakov Golovatsky - witness...

You need to know that no one will ever dare to place flags and banners of colors not approved by him with the portrait of the monarch. The explanation that Golovatsky gave for the symbolism of the colors of the flag has since been used by modern deputies, despite the increased level of education of the local population: “the barva people enlightened us and depicted not wealth, abundance, but a strong, generous will, good intention. Blue color, as pure the sky of southern Rus', clear, weathery, like the soul of the broad, unspeakable Rusyn, depicting the peace and tranquility that was before the development of our popular needs. The golden color, like those dawns in the clear sky, depicted the clear light to which we strive to live.” But now, instead of lightning, the emphasis is on the color of the wheat.

In heraldry, as a science, they have a completely different meaning. The fact that the current colors of the flags were approved in the Habsburg royal family is confirmed by the famous in Galicia, holder of the Austrian Order of the Knight's Cross of Leopold, Kost Levitsky: “Afterwards a letter from Caesar Franz Joseph arrived with the date: Olomouc, March 10, 1849: “I call for the deployment of a battalion Russian archers, in this way, as the battalions of hunters in lower Austria and Styria were then organized, - with a warning about joining the cavalry service, which I also recognize as the proposed national system. The formation should be managed by my Ministry of War, and it has the “Head Russian Rada” in Lvov to declare for this new proof of its patriotic activity - recognition of my complete satisfaction.”

The ribbon for the flag of the Russian National Guard Corps was embroidered by the mother of Emperor Franz Joseph, Archpriest Sophia. On this tape she placed the inscription: “Treue fuhrt zum Siege - Sophie Erzherzogin von Oesterreich.” (“Loyalty leads to victory - Sophia, Archduchess of Austria”!.

As we see, no hint of a connection with any Cossacks, Bogdan Khmelnitsky, is given here. Yes, it’s hard to imagine that the cissar of Austria would be concerned about the two-hundred-year-old history of some Orthodox Cossacks from the distant Ukraine of Poland and Russia. These Cossacks with their regimental badges appeared as arguments later, when the population of Little Russia had to come up with a new story in which they would appear as a special non-Russian people of the outskirts of Poland. Therefore, the ideologists of the new people tried to hide the role of the Habsburgs in the history of the emergence of a new symbol.

The fact that the blue-yellow colors have nothing to do with Rus'-Ukraine is also evidenced by the fact that for the first time on the territory of modern Ukraine it appeared together with the Galician archers, who were skillfully directed by the Jesuits and Germans on the eve of the war with Russia: “Not The archers also forgot about connections with Greater Ukraine. In particular, members of their organizations Vasily Semets, Yulian Okhrimovich and Ivan Lizanivsky were sent there from Lvov for revolutionary work. They took part in the organization and activities of some Eastern Ukrainian secret student societies, made reports, and initiated a number of actions. It was behind their initiative that the Ukrainian students of Kyiv in March 1914, on the occasion of the Shevchenko holidays, first demonstrated under yellow-blue flags.

As we see, with the help of such narrow-minded Galicians, these colors of the Habsburg Empire first penetrated the territory of Little Russia in 1914 and began to poison the life of the local population.

Also, all the words about yellow Cossack banners turn out to be lies. Upon closer examination, it turns out that the Little Russian Cossacks, who called themselves Russians, remembered the historical colors of Rus'. Moreover, according to the “History of the Rus,” they considered themselves successors and heirs to the glory of the Russian princes.

Since the Cossack hetmanship was a kind of centralized military formation, the banner of this formation is the symbol of the entire Cossacks, despite the fact that other colors were used in regiments and hundreds that could be distinguished in the dust of battles. But this was not caused by the national differences of these regiments and hundreds, but by the military necessity in battle to determine the location of this or that regiment or hundreds, since there were no radio stations at that time.

Here are the flags of the Cossack hundreds of the Kyiv and Chernigov regiments, as well as the Kyiv magistrate, captured by the Lithuanian hetman Janusz Radzivil in 1651. Among the flags are three Kyiv banners with a bow and arrow in a ring - the coat of arms of the then Kyiv.

As you can see, there are only three flags with a yellow field, five with a blue field and nine with a red field. Moreover, there are also mirror images of the design of the flags, which indicates the practical military use of the flag. Therefore, adding second-rate flags of Cossack hundreds to the history of the Ukrainian flag is a consequence of the ignorance of farmers with degrees.

Thus, it can be concluded that the blue and yellow flag granted by the Habsburgs first appeared in Galicia only after 1848 as a symbol of the local Russian population, which was not Polish. This flag then, with the development of political Austrophilian Ukrainianism, was brought to Ukraine in 1914. And after the collapse of Tsarist Russia, with the help of the Galicians, members of the Central Rada, an attempt was made to impose it as a state flag on the entire people of Rus'-Ukraine. But, since in heraldry all colors have their own symbolism, the fate of those people who use certain colors in their coats of arms is also symbolic. They reflect their character traits and destiny. The dying Habsburg Empire, along with the flag, transmitted its virus of death to its fans.

The first to feel the evil fate of the new banner were members of the Central Rada. The workers and the poor did not accept it and threw its carriers to the Zbruch River, closer to the place of his birth. But here the spiritual kinship of blue-yellow with the Austro-Germans was also revealed. With their help, he returned to Ukraine three times. The first time, with the help of the Germans, thanks to the “bread agreement”, the Central Rada returned again under this flag to Kyiv. Thus, the yellow color of treason confirmed the character of the admirers of its colors.

But now the Germans did not need such holders of the yellow-blue flag, and they dismissed them to their homes, putting their servant General Pavel Skoropadsky in their place. He tried to change the karma of the flag and turned it over - the flag became blue and yellow. But it didn't help. Less than six months later, they had to turn it down, leave their homeland and flee to their patrons, and in 1945 their servant Pavel Skoropadsky died in Berlin under a bombing, repeating the fate of many traitors to his people.

At this time, the parents of the flag, the Habsburg state, also died, and this was a direct indication of the danger of the colors of the gift of the late state. But the narrow-minded Galician Ukrainians, not understanding the signs of the fate of their like-minded people in Ukraine, did not let him out of their hands.

Simon Petlyura also loved blue and yellow...

The Petliurists, another lovers of yellow and blue, again tried to reverse the fatal fate of the flag. Did not work out. Simon Petlyura found himself in the same place as the previous Central Rada. Here he met the first adherents of this banner, representatives of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, whom the Poles with their yellow-blue flag sent across the Zbruch to Petliura. The flag's reputation was confirmed. And again the color of treason had a fatal influence on the minds of his fans. First, the ZUNR members betray Petliura and go to Anton Denikin, and then Petliura sells the territory of Galicia to the Poles, together with his friends from the ZUNR, and now, but only instead of the Turks, after 250 years he brings the Poles to Kyiv. But the fatal flag turned out to be stronger here too. The Poles did not allow Petlyura to govern, and then he had to flee his homeland. And for such persistence and betrayal, the flag took cruel revenge on him: he was shot dead in a foreign land.

The historical red color of the Russians has returned to the territory of Ukraine. The country was moving away from the plow to airplanes, tractors, and hydroelectric power plants. But in the homeland of the appearance of the fatal flag in Galicia, near Poland, a new generation was growing up, who were called OUN members, and who, although they were devout, had little understanding of heraldry, and therefore did not understand the fatal role of blue and yellow in the fate of their predecessors. In addition to this, they actively began to worship another fatal symbol of history - Ivan Mazepa, who, after the anathema of the Orthodox Church, died in a foreign land. And fate does not forgive such inattention to its signs.

The OUN members began to be used by the enemies of the Slavs - the German fascists, against their own people. The colors of the flag played their fatal role here too. The yellow color of betrayal and money pulled them into the maelstrom of fratricidal war. Under the yellow and blue, they became policemen and punitive forces in occupied Ukraine and Belarus, SS men in the Galicia division. The last time during the Nazi occupation, this Habsburg legacy hung over the police department of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in Kyiv.

But the fate of the flag is inexorable. Bandera and SS men were expelled and scattered throughout the world, and Stepan Bandera fell in Munich at the hands of his former accomplice.

No matter how much you wrap the flag, the blood will remain on it...

It would seem that history should teach the people who suffered so many fratricidal conflicts, betrayals and betrayals under this Habsburg gift. But this does not reach the intelligentsia of the people inhabiting the territory of ancient Rus'. As soon as the generation of victorious landowners and fascists began to leave, their narrow-minded grandchildren, with the obsession of drug addicts, again reached for the fatal gift of the Habsburgs, infected with the death virus.

What was built, defended, consolidated, erected with the blood of millions of workers and peasants, they decided to take away into their pockets, corners and closets. World eaters, speculators and capitalists were again called the saviors of the nation. Symbols of power from the past were perfect for this purpose: the dying gift of the Habsburgs, the yellow-blue flag and the anathematized Mazepa. The latter spreads the curse of the ancestors on everyone who has his image in their pocket.

An entire generation of Komsomol members and Communist Party workers betrayed the cause and ideals of the heroes of the Civil and Great Patriotic War, their oath to serve the working people, and adopted the yellow color of profit and treason. They began to serve yesterday's thieves and swindlers, oath apostates, renegades. The result was immediate. Industry was destroyed, followed by science and education. The reverse process began for the plow. The population of Ukraine has decreased by eight million people and continues to decline. Many millions of residents are forced to leave for foreign lands. Once again fate punishes, but already a whole generation for his choice...

But this interpretation, in principle, does not raise any objections...

Today, a new generation of capitalists has come to power. But above them the same symbol of the Habsburgs develops, a symbol of treason and profit, which brings misfortune to those on whom it casts its shadow. Therefore, one conclusion can be drawn from the lessons of history - until the Habsburg flag is replaced with the flag of our ancestors - red, misfortunes will haunt this population, which renounced the name of their ancestors, the name of their state and took control a banner alien to him and called himself Polish Ukrainians...

In 2014, State Duma deputy and member of the LDPR Supreme Council Mikhail Degtyarev prepared a bill amending the federal constitutional law “On the State Flag of the Russian Federation,” Izvestia reported. The amendment provided for changing the existing official flag of Russia from a white-blue-red tricolor to a black-yellow-white standard.

Supporters of this tricolor call it imperial. They are convinced that Russia’s golden age is connected precisely with the black-yellow-white banner. They say that this color combination is more authentic to the original Russian statehood. Hardly…

According to the legislator, reunification with Crimea, the creation of the Customs Union and the growth of patriotic sentiments should take place under the flag of the victorious era in Russian history. In the explanatory note to the bill, the parliamentarian notes that during the period of widespread use of the black-yellow-white imperial flag, the territory of Russia increased significantly.

It was then that the Crimea peninsula and the territory of East Prussia, Alaska, the Caucasus, Poland, the Baltic states, Central Asia and Finland first became part of Russia.

We won brilliant victories under the imperial flag; it is still capable of uniting all Russian citizens today. The modern tricolor, which Boris Yeltsin returned in turmoil, was not discussed with the people, no research was carried out, Degtyarev said. - We say: Russia is 1152 years old, not 23 years old, the symbols of the state should personify it great history and a great future, spiritual health determines material well-being, and not vice versa.

At the same time, according to financial and economic feasibility studies, 15.5 million rubles are expected to be spent on replacing flags on government institutions and on cars of diplomatic missions and officials of the country.

The two tricolors themselves are indeed a matter of long-standing disputes between different political forces.

The first mentions of the flag date back to the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna. In 1731, in dragoon and infantry regiments, scarves were ordered to be made “according to the Russian coat of arms” from black silk with gold threads.

And someone looks even earlier and claims that the first two Russian state colors appeared in our Fatherland in 1472 after the marriage of Ivan the Third to Princess Sophia Paleologus, along with the adoption of the coat of arms from the Byzantine Empire, which fell under the blows of the Turks. The Byzantine imperial banner - a golden canvas with a black eagle crowned with two crowns - becomes the state banner of Russia.

Even before the start of the Troubles, the state banner receives the final detail - the eagle’s chest is covered with a large coat of arms with the image of St. George the Victorious. A white rider on a white horse subsequently gave legal basis to the third color of the flag - white. The black-yellow-white flag combined the colors of national heraldic emblems and during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I established itself as a national symbol. For the first time in Russia, the black-yellow-white flag began to be flown on special days after 1815, following the end of the Patriotic War with Napoleonic France.

In 1815, to commemorate the victory over Napoleon (and subsequently on all holidays), solemn tricolor banners began to be hung on buildings; in addition, army symbols (order ribbons, banners, and cockades, which also spread among civilian officials) acquired similar colors.

In 1819, a Zholner badge appeared with the number of the battalion in the regiment, made in in the form of three horizontal stripes - black, yellow, white.

The “imperial banner” served as the official state flag from 1858 to 1883.

Indeed, during this period the Caucasus was finally conquered, and the Balkan campaign was successfully carried out. None major defeats The Russian Empire did not tolerate it. The flag, which is important for its supporters today, was never used by collaborators during the Great Patriotic War, unlike the white-blue-red banner.

But there is one thing...

It was during the period of officialization of the black-yellow-white tricolor that the Russian Tsar, Emperor Alexander II, was killed for the first time in Russian history.

“And your flag is wrong”

Why Alexander II decided to carry out a “color reset” is still an open question. There is a version that the tsar, after the unsuccessful Crimean War and the inglorious death of his father Nicholas I, decided to shake up the empire and began by changing the flag. But, in my opinion, everything is much more banal...

It’s just that, as often happened in Russian history, one day a “scientific German” appeared... In 1857, the armorial department of the heraldry department of the empire had a new boss - Bernhard Karl (aka Boris Vasilyevich) Köhne, a famous numismatist and collector. Boris Vasilyevich, the son of a Berlin archivist, by that time had a dynamic career abroad: being a protégé of the Duke of Leuchtenberg who settled in Russia, Köhne was among the founders of the Russian Archaeological Society and received the position of curator of the numismatic department of the Hermitage.

Baron Boris Vasilyevich Koehne (Bernhard Karl von Koehne, 1817, Berlin - 1886) - a major numismatist and heraldist of the Russian Empire. Founder and Secretary of the Russian Archaeological Society

Köhne celebrated his assumption of office by popularly explaining to responsible government officials that the flag of the Russian Empire was incorrect. It's all about the combination of colors: according to the German heraldic school, the colors of the flag should correspond to the dominant colors of the coat of arms. And where, pray tell, is the color blue in your coat of arms?

Great coat of arms of the Russian Empire

And really - where? Eagle - black, in gold, St. George - white...

It didn’t take long to persuade the sovereign, and in the summer of 1858, Alexander II signed a fateful decree:
“Description of the highest approved design of the arrangement of the coat of arms of the Empire on banners, flags and other items used for decoration on special occasions. The arrangement of these colors is horizontal, the top stripe is black, the middle stripe is yellow (or gold), and the bottom stripe is white (or silver). The first stripes correspond to the black state eagle in a yellow field, and the cockade of these two colors was founded by Emperor Paul I, while banners and other decorations of these colors were already used during the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna. The lower stripe, white or silver, corresponds to the cockade of Peter the Great and Empress Catherine II; Emperor Alexander I, after the capture of Paris in 1814, combined the correct coat of arms with ancient Petra Great, which corresponds to the white or silver horseman (St. George) in the Moscow coat of arms."

What does Austria have to do with it?

The Senate approved the decree, but on the political sidelines there was some confusion: “Does this flag remind you of anything? It seems that the Austrians have the same..." Indeed, similarities with the standard of the Austrian Empire were observed. Fortunately, Austrian heraldists divided their coat of arms into only two colors - black and yellow. If he was still white, there could be an embarrassment.

Flag of the Austrian Empire

In addition, the Kingdom of Saxony had exactly the same flag (black and yellow). On the contrary, the yellow and white state standard of the Kingdom of Hanover coincided with the new Russian tricolor at the bottom.

Flag of Saxony

All these coincidences gave rise to unnecessary conspiracy theories in Russian society.

Flag of Hannover

The fact is that Saxony and Hanover were the patrimony of two branches of the Welf-Wettin clan (from which, by the way, the current Windsor dynasty ruling in Britain originates), and legends began to emerge among the people that the Romanovs secretly became vassals of these clans - they swore allegiance to the Germans after unsuccessful Crimean War.

But the statesmen still decided to explain why the previous tricolor did not please them. Thus, the minister of the imperial court by the name of Adlerberg complained that the time had come to cleanse himself of “foreignness,” hinting that the former tricolor had Dutch roots. And the sovereign himself more than once advised to draw inspiration from pre-Petrine times, or even from Byzantium itself - and the Second Rome also had a yellow-black flag. At this time, many “scientific” articles were published that explained the “natural selection” of the yellow-black-white flag: they talked about the Byzantine rule of John III, who gave Russia a two-headed eagle, about Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who allegedly, under threat of execution, punished the use of yellow-black colors in the state seal...

Consolation flag

Ceremonial passage through Red Square. Chromolithograph from the book “Description of the Most Sacred Coronation of Their Imperial Majesties”

After the death of Alexander II, the “standard problem” was inherited by Emperor Alexander III. All this was aggravated by the fact that the German Empire, which absorbed Hanover and Saxony, and Austria, together with Italy, concluded the Triple Alliance in 1882, which was not the most friendly to the Russian Empire. It was necessary to do something with the state banner.

In 1883, the Tsar dismissed Koehne, who by that time had already created the Great Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire, the coat of arms of the Romanovs and formulated new laws in domestic heraldry.

In April of the same year, the emperor returned the former tricolor as official. In the “Austrian” flag, Alexander III changes the alternation of colors to white-yellow-black and gives it the status of the flag of the Romanov dynasty.

In order to resolve the issue with the official flag of the empire, on the eve of the coronation Nicholas II in April 1896, a special meeting was convened. It was decided that “the white-blue-red flag has every right to be called Russian or national, and its colors: white, blue and red are called state; the flag is black-orange-white and has no heraldic or historical basis.” In particular, the following arguments were given:

“If, to determine the national colors of Russia, we turn to folk taste and folk customs, to the peculiarities of the nature of Russia, then in this way the same national colors will be determined for our fatherland: white, blue, red.

A Great Russian peasant wears a red or blue shirt on holiday, a Little Russian and a Belarusian—in white; Russian women dress in sundresses, also red and blue. In general, in terms of a Russian person—what is red is good and beautiful...

If we add to this the white color of the snow cover, in which all of Russia is clothed for more than six months, then, based on these signs, for the emblematic expression of Russia, for the Russian national or state flag, the colors established by the Great Peter are most characteristic.”

Rozanov. “Fair on Arbat Square” 1877

Fragment of Rozanov’s painting “Fair on Arbat Square” 1877

Society greets the emperor's decision with joy. But the fact that the “Kenev tricolor”, albeit in a modified form, has still been preserved, gives new food to home-grown conspiracy theorists - “After all, the Romanovs sold Mother Rus' to the Welf-Wettins...”.

In modern Russian symbolism, the black-yellow-white flag can only be found in the Kursk region - it is an element of the provincial flag.

The Austrian Empire was proclaimed as a monarchical state in 1804 and lasted until 1867, after which it transformed into Austria-Hungary. Otherwise, it was called the Habsburg Empire, after the name of one of the Habsburgs, Franz, who, like Napoleon, also proclaimed himself emperor.

Inheritance

The Austrian Empire in the 19th century, if you look at the map, looks like this. It is immediately clear that this is a multinational state. And, most likely, as often happens, it is devoid of stability. Looking through the pages of history, one can be convinced that this happened here too. Tiny multi-colored specks collected under one border - this is Habsburg Austria. The map especially shows how fragmented the lands of the empire were. The Habsburg ancestral allotments are small regional areas inhabited by completely different peoples. The composition of the Austrian Empire was something like this.

Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic.
Transcarpathia (Carpathian Rus').
Transylvania, Croatia, Vojvodina (Banat).
Galicia, Bukovina.
Northern Italy (Lombardy, Venice).

Not only did all peoples have different origins, but their religions also did not coincide. The peoples of the Austrian Empire (about thirty-four million) were half Slavs (Slovaks, Czechs, Croats, Poles, Ukrainians, Serbs. There were about five million Magyars (Hungarians), about the same number of Italians.

At the junction of history

Feudalism had not yet outlived its usefulness by that time, but Austrian and Czech artisans could already call themselves workers, since the industry of these areas had fully developed to capitalist.

The Habsburgs and the nobility surrounding them were the dominant force of the empire, they occupied all the highest positions - both military and bureaucratic. Absolutism, the dominance of arbitrariness - bureaucratic and security forces in the form of the police, the dictates of the Catholic Church, the richest institution in the empire - all this one way or another oppressed small nations, united together, like water and oil are incompatible even in a mixer.

The Austrian Empire on the eve of the revolution

The Czech Republic was quickly Germanized, especially the bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Landowners from Hungary strangled millions of Slavic peasants, but they themselves were also very dependent on the Austrian authorities. The Austrian Empire put harsh pressure on its Italian provinces. It is even difficult to distinguish what type of oppression was: the struggle of feudalism with capitalism or based on purely national differences.

Metternich, the head of government and an ardent reactionary, for thirty years banned any language other than German in all institutions, including courts and schools. The population was mainly peasant. Considered free, these people were completely dependent on the landowners, paid quitrents, and performed duties reminiscent of corvée.

It was not only the masses of the people who groaned under the yoke of residual feudal orders and absolute power with its arbitrariness. The bourgeoisie was also dissatisfied and clearly pushed the people to revolt. The revolution in the Austrian Empire for the above reasons was simply inevitable.

National self-determination

All peoples are freedom-loving and respect the development and preservation of their national culture. Especially Slavic ones. Then, under the weight of the Austrian boot, the Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Italians strove for self-government, the development of literature and the arts, and sought education in schools in national languages. Writers and scientists were united by one idea - national self-determination.

The same processes took place among the Serbs and Croats. The more difficult living conditions became, the brighter the dream of freedom blossomed, which was reflected in the works of artists, poets and musicians. National cultures rose above reality and inspired their compatriots to take decisive steps towards freedom, equality, and fraternity - following the example of the Great French Revolution.

Uprising in Vienna

In 1847, the Austrian Empire achieved a completely revolutionary situation. It was made more acute by the general economic crisis and two years of crop failures, and the impetus was the overthrow of the monarchy in France. Already in March 1848, the revolution in the Austrian Empire matured and broke out.

Workers, students, and artisans erected barricades on the streets of Vienna and demanded the resignation of the government, not being afraid of the imperial troops who advanced to suppress the unrest. The government made concessions, dismissing Metternich and some ministers. Even a constitution was promised.

The public, however, quickly armed itself: the workers in any case received nothing - not even voting rights. The students created the academic legion, and the bourgeoisie created the national guard. And they resisted when these illegal armed groups tried to disband, which forced the emperor and the government to flee Vienna.

The peasants, as usual, did not have time to take part in the revolution. In some places they spontaneously rebelled, refusing to pay rent and arbitrarily cutting down the landowners' groves. Naturally, the working class had more consciousness and organization. Fragmentation and individualism of labor do not add cohesion.

Incompleteness

Like all German revolutions, the Austrian revolution was not completed, although it can already be called bourgeois-democratic. The working class was not yet mature enough, the bourgeoisie, as always, was liberal and behaved treacherously, plus there was national discord and military counter-revolution.

Failed to win. The monarchy renewed and intensified its triumphant oppression over impoverished and disenfranchised peoples. It is positive that some reforms took place, and most importantly, the revolution finally killed it. It is also good that the country retained its territories, because after the revolutions, more homogeneous countries than Austria fell apart. The empire map has not changed.

Rulers

In the first half of the nineteenth century, until 1835, all state affairs were managed by Emperor Franz I. Chancellor Metternich was smart and had great weight in politics, but it was often simply impossible to convince the emperor. After the unpleasant consequences of the French Revolution for Austria, all the horrors of the Napoleonic wars, Metternich most of all longed to restore order so that peace would reign in the country.

However, Metternich failed to create a parliament with representatives of all the peoples of the empire; the provincial diets never received any real powers. However, economically quite backward Austria, with a feudal reactionary regime, over the thirty years of Metternich’s work turned into the strongest state in Europe. His role was also great in the creation of the counter-revolutionary in 1815.

In an effort to keep the shreds of the empire from completely disintegrating, Austrian troops brutally suppressed the uprisings in Naples and Piedmont in 1821, maintaining complete domination of the country by Austrians over non-Austrians. Very often, popular unrest outside Austria was suppressed, due to which the army of this country acquired a bad reputation among adherents of national self-determination.

An excellent diplomat, Metternich was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Emperor Franz was in charge of the internal affairs of the state. With close attention, he monitored all movements in the field of education: officials strictly checked everything that could be studied and read. The censorship was brutal. Journalists were prohibited from even mentioning the word “constitution.”

Things were relatively calm in religion, and some religious tolerance appeared. Revived Catholics supervised education, and no one was excommunicated from the church without the consent of the emperor. Jews were released from the ghetto, and synagogues were even built in Vienna. It was then that Solomon Rothschild emerged among the bankers, making friends with Metternich. And even received a baronial title. In those days it was an incredible event.

The end of a great power

Austria's foreign policy in the second half of the century is full of failures. Continuous defeats in wars.

(1853-1856).
Austro-Prussian War (1866).
Austro-Italian War (1866).
war with Sardinia and France (1859).

At this time, there was a sharp break in relations with Russia, then the creation of all this led to the fact that the Habsburgs lost influence on the states of not only Germany, but throughout Europe. And - as a consequence - the status of a great power.

Since his moderator provided his recent post with an impressive picture - a large coat of arms of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - but in response to my proposal to take this miracle apart, he honestly admitted that it was too much for him. I wanted to fill this gap. However, after publishing a post in the community, I decided that this topic might be interesting to my other friends, so I’m duplicating this entry in my own journal.

I’ll immediately make a reservation that for ease of perception I use the words “left” and “right” in their literal meaning, and not in the heraldic aspect (in heraldry, as you know, the opposite is true: the left part for the viewer is called the right and vice versa).

To attract attention - a handsome coat of arms:

This coat of arms of Austria-Hungary, the last in its history, was adopted in 1915, when the First World War was already raging. Previously, the symbol of the Habsburg Empire looked simpler and contained mainly Austrian elements. Perhaps there was some political meaning in the adoption of a new, more colorful coat of arms: to demonstrate the unification of the peoples of the empire in conditions of war, the unity of the constituent parts of the state - the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary - and their internal units. But by 1914, Austria-Hungary was in a clear crisis, in which, in addition to the economy, national movements also played a significant role. True, at that time almost no one demanded independence; everyone was more focused on autonomous status: the Czechs, for example, demanded to turn the dual monarchy into a triune Austria-Czecho-Hungary. There were also projects to create a third entity in the form of a state of the South Slavs as an integral part of the empire. In short, in this aspect, Austria-Hungary was somewhat reminiscent of modern Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which it is proposed to add a third to two existing entities.

The 1915 coat of arms clearly demonstrates the entire system government system Austria-Hungary at that time: it is divided into two halves - Austrian (Cisleithania) and Hungarian (Transleithania) - each of which includes the coats of arms of the lands that were part of each entity at that time and had different statuses (from duchies and margraviates to kingdoms ). Here and there there are intersections and repetitions - this was also done for a reason, but in accordance with the state government system. But the main idea of the entire coat of arms is the unity of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The binding element here is not only the Latin inscription "Indivisibiliter ac inseparabiliter"(“One and indivisible”) in the lower part, but also the location of the Habsburg family coat of arms (as emperors of Austria and at the same time kings of Hungary) with the main state orders between the two halves.

Let's number all the components of the coat of arms:

As you can see, the left part of the coat of arms symbolizes the Austrian Empire, the middle - the power of the Habsburg dynasty, the right - the Kingdom of Hungary. In addition to the traditional names, there was also a designation for the Leitha River (aka Litava, the right tributary of the Danube): Cisleithania (“on this side of Leitha”) and Transleithania (“across Leitha, on the other side of Leitha”). Let's look at each of the parts, moving inside clockwise.

I. Austrian Empire (Cisleithania).
There are as many as five (sic!) shields presented here, one inside the other. The main shield includes a large Austrian double-headed eagle with a sword, scepter and orb in its claws (similar to the Russian eagle, but ours did not have a sword, but the coats of arms were located on the wings), on the chest of which there is a smaller shield. The largest shield is topped with the traditional crown of the Austrian emperors.
1. Kingdom of Bohemia. On a red background, a white lion wearing a gold crown, standing on two paws. The center of the kingdom was Prague. Still used today as part of the coat of arms of the Czech Republic, whose historical basis is Bohemia.
2. Kingdom of Dalmatia. On an azure background there are three golden lion heads in crowns. Center - Zadar. After 1918, the land became part of the kingdom of the SHS (except for Zadar and Lastovo), then the FPRY (already with Zadar and Lastovo), now almost the entire territory (including the lands of the now defunct Republic of Serbian Krajina) is in Croatia.
3. Duchy of Salzburg. The shield is divided into two parts: in the left half there is a black lion standing on two paws, on a golden background, in the right half there is a traditional Astrian red-white-red banner. Center - Salzburg. Entirely part of Austria.
4. Princely District of Tyrol. On a silver background there is a red eagle with golden paws and a crown. Center - Innsbruck. Historical Tyrol already by the beginning of the 20th century. was divided between Austria, Italy and Bavaria. After the First World War, the territory of the district was again divided: the larger part (with the village of Tyrol, around which the formation of the historical land began) went to Italy, the smaller part remained with Austria. However, in the human mind, Tyrol is still associated more with Austria (even the eponymous football team exists in Austria). In the Italian Tyrol, more than two-thirds of the population speaks German, and there was even a separatist movement that resisted Italianization and was remembered for blowing up power lines. The German language now has a special status in the Italian Tyrol.
5. Bosnia and Herzegovina. Center - Sarajevo. Formally, it did not belong to any of the parts of the empire, it was governed by them jointly, and therefore its coat of arms was included in both halves. It represents a hand with a saber emerging from a cloud - a symbol that is not so rare in European heraldry and was used not only in the Balkans (for example, almost the same coat of arms still remains in the Latvian city of Valki). I wonder why this warlike coat of arms was not remembered in 1992, when Bosnia and Herzegovina seceded from Yugoslavia?

The next five coats of arms form the third shield within the second (in its lower part) and represent the Austrian Maritimes (plus Vorarlberg, which belonged to the Tyrol).
6. County of Gradiška. Silver four-pointed cross against a background of yellow and azure stripes. Together with Goritsa formed . Gradiska after the Second World War was divided between the SFRY (now this part is in Slovenia) and Italy (the latter also ceded the center of the region - the city of Gradiska).
7. Free imperial city Trieste. The coat of arms is divided into two halves: on the top there is a black Austrian double-headed eagle on a gold background (a symbol of the city’s Habsburg affiliation), on the bottom there is a golden lily (the traditional symbol of Trieste) on the background of an Austrian red-white-red banner. In addition to the city itself, the land also included some surrounding areas. After 1918, the entire land passed to Italy, after 1945 it again became “free territory,” until in 1954 the city and the lands to the west of it finally went to Italy, and the lands from the east to the FPRY (now part of these lands belong to Slovenia, part - to Croatia). However, some Slovenian radicals still call the city nothing more than “Trst” and dream of annexing it to Slovenia.
8. Gorica County. The coat of arms consists of two parts, separated by a slash: on the left - three white and three red stripes, alternately repeated, and on the right - on an azure background, a golden lion in a crown, standing on two paws. This is the ancient coat of arms of the Counts of Goritsky, whose dynasty ended in the 16th century, after which the land passed to the Habsburgs. Together with Gradiška she composed Princely District of Gorica and Gradiška. Goritsa (aka Goriska) was divided after World War II: one part went to the FPRY, the other to Italy. At the same time, the city of Goritsa, the center of the region, was also divided: eastern part, which went to the FPRY, was expanded, rebuilt and named “Nova Gorica”. Now - in Slovenia.
9. Land of Vorarlberg. On a silver background there is a medieval red banner of a complex shape with fringe. Center - Bregenz. It is interesting that after the First World War, the residents of Vorarlberg voted in a plebiscite to join Switzerland, but by the will of the Entente the land remained part of Austria, where it remains today. In addition to the Austrians, many Slavs also live here: Croats, Slovenes and even Bosnians.
10. Margraviate of Istria. The coat of arms - a golden goat with red horns and hooves - is present on today's coat of arms and flag of Croatia. At the same time, Istria today does not belong entirely to Croatia: part of it is located in Slovenia. Before this, Istria in 1918 - 1945. was part of Italy, and then passed to the FPRY.

We return to the second shield.
11. Duchy of Bukovina. The coat of arms, approved in 1862, is divided into two parts: the left is red, the right is azure, on top of both parts is a black buffalo head with three gold six-pointed stars. Center - Chernivtsi (now Chernivtsi). After 1918, it completely went to Romania, but in 1940 the northern part (with Chernivtsi) went to Ukraine.
12. Margraviate of Moravia. A white eagle with a red check (there is no historical connection with the Croatian Shahovna) with golden paws and a crown. It is still used as part of the coat of arms of the Czech Republic, of which it is located. Center - Brunn (now Brno).
13. Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia. On a golden background there is a black crowned single-headed eagle with golden paws. Still used today as part of the Czech coat of arms, although most historical Silesia is located in Poland (it was conquered by Prussia in 1742). The center is Troppau (now Opava). According to the original plan, Austrian Silesia was supposed to remain with Austria, but in the end almost all of it went to Czechoslovakia (several areas to Poland), and in 1938, together with the Sudetenland, was annexed to Germany. After the Second World War, this part of Silesia again ended up in Czechoslovakia, and after its collapse - in the Czech Republic.
14. Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. In the upper part there is a black jackdaw, in the lower part there are three golden crowns - the symbol of Galicia, and between them there is a red stripe. Previously, two more red and white chess stripes were used, very reminiscent of the Croatian checkerboard (interestingly, in ancient times, even a people called “White Croats” lived in this territory), but in the middle of the 19th century. they disappeared. Center - Lemberg (now Lviv). Galicia comes from the name of the city of Galich, and Lodomeria is the Magyarized name of Volyn (aka Volodymyr region with its center in Vladimir-Volynsky). Hungary repeatedly laid claim to the territory of the kingdom, but its efforts were not crowned with success: Galicia remained in the Austrian part of the empire. Most of the territory of the kingdom (except for Krakow, Przemysl and surrounding lands) belongs today to Ukraine (it also managed to visit the independent Western Ukrainian People's Republic, and then part of Poland), periodically tries to engage in separatism. It is interesting that among Ukrainian nationalists there was a group of those who proposed turning Ukraine into... a monarchy. And to place a representative of the Habsburg dynasty on the throne, on the basis that they owned Western Ukraine(i.e. Galicia and Lodomeria). Whatever they come up with...

We move on to the fourth shield, as part of the second. Most of the lands represented here (except the Carnivo region) constitute the territory of today's Austria.
15. Archduchy of Lower Austria. Center - Vienna. After the First World War, together with Upper Austria, it formed the core of the Austrian Republic.
16. Archduchy of Upper Austria. The coat of arms is divided into two parts: on the right - a golden single-headed eagle on a black background, on the left - two red and two silver stripes, alternating with each other. Center - Linz. After the First World War, together with Lower Austria, it formed the core of the Austrian Republic.
17. Archduchy of Carinthia. In the left half there are three black lions on a gold background, in the right half there is the traditional Austrian red-white-red banner. Center - Klagenfurt. After the First World War it remained part of Austria, although problems still often arise here with a significant Slovenian population.
18. Duchy of Carniola. On a white background, an azure eagle wearing a gold crown with red legs and beak and a curved red and yellow stripe on the chest. Center - Laibach (now Ljubljana). The Krajna region is the basis of modern Slovenia.
19. Duchy of Styria. On a green background, a silver panther on two legs with red claws and flames from its mouth. Center - Graz. After the First World War, the north and center of the duchy remained part of Austria, and the south became part of the Kingdom of the CXC, today it belongs to Slovenia.

Finally, the last, fifth, smallest shield in the middle.
20. Historical coat of arms of the Austrian Archduchy. Red-white-red banner - ancient symbol Austria, legend connects it with the appearance of the Austrian coat of arms of Duke Leopold V. At the Battle of Accra, the Duke fought so fiercely that his entire knightly cloak was soaked in the blood of his enemies and only a narrow strip under the belt remained white. This flag, as is commonly believed, served as the prototype of the coat of arms and banner. This is the coat of arms of the state from which all the power of the Habsburgs began, which gradually grew and acquired new territories. A kind of heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Perhaps that is why such a heart was placed in the center of the entire Austrian part of the state coat of arms.

II. Habsburg dynasty.
21. Family coat of arms of the Habsburg imperial dynasty, divided into three parts: on the left - the family coat of arms of the entire family (on a golden background a red lion standing on two paws), in the central - the already familiar coat of arms of the Austrian Archduchy, on the right - the coat of arms of the House of Lorraine (in memory of the dynastic union of 1745). , when the husband of Maria Theresa of Habsburg, the former Duke of Lorraine Francis I, became Holy Roman Emperor). As already mentioned, the central location of the Habsburg family coat of arms symbolizes the unity of the two components of the empire under the rule of the dynasty.

III. Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania).
A large shield topped with an ancient Hungarian crown of St. Stephen with a bent cross (according to legend, thieves tried to steal this crown, putting it in a too small casket, which caused the cross to be bent). Inside it is a small shield with the coat of arms of Hungary.
22. Dalmatia. Repeated once again, since part of the historical land of Dalmatia was part of Croatia, which in turn belonged to the lands of the Hungarian crown. At the same time, Hungarian Dalmatia did not have any special status, but its coat of arms was registered. Present on today's coat of arms and flag of Croatia.
23. Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. In the large imperial coat of arms it was designated the Croatian Shahovna, but the kingdom also had its own separate coat of arms, combining Dalmatian, Croatian and Slavonian elements. Center - Agram (now Zagreb). Almost the entire territory now belongs to Croatia (including the lands of the now defunct Republic of Serbian Krajina), only a small piece is in Serbia.
24. Transylvania. The coat of arms is divided into two parts: in the upper part there is a part of an eagle with a sun and a crescent, in the lower part there are seven red fortress towers on a golden background. The parts are separated from each other by a large red stripe. Transylvania did not have a special status within the Kingdom of Hungary, but its coat of arms was registered to indicate that the territory belonged to Hungary. After the First World War, it completely went to Romania, under Hitler it was divided for some time between Hungary and Romania, after which it again went entirely to the latter. However, the Romanians still have a lot of problems with Transylvania and with the significant Hungarian population that remained there (unlike, say, the Istra Italians, who did not live in the FPRY). The coat of arms of Transylvania is part of the modern coat of arms of Romania.
25. Free City of Fiume. On a red background there is a black crowned double-headed eagle sitting on a rock and holding in its paws a jug from which water is pouring. Fiume was the only Hungarian seaport and the main trading competitor of Austrian Trieste. After 1918 it was occupied by Italy, but until 1924 it retained its free status, after which it was annexed by Mussolini. After World War II, it went entirely to the FPRY, and after its collapse - to Croatia. It is interesting that the name of the city in both cases means “river”: the Italian “Fiume” and the Slavic “Rijeka”.
26. Bosnia and Herzegovina. As already stated, the territory was jointly administered by Cisleithania and Transleithania, so the coat of arms is present on both halves.
27. Slavonia. On an azure background there is a red stripe with a running marten edged in silver, above the stripe there is a six-pointed gold star. Slavonia did not have an independent status; it was part of the kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia. Present on today's coat of arms and flag of Croatia.

Small shield in the center.
28. Kingdom of Hungary. The shield is divided into two parts: the left includes four red and four white stripes, alternating with each other (it is believed that the white stripes symbolize the four rivers of Hungary - the Danube, Tisza, Drava and Sava), the right depicts a six-pointed cross with a crown on a green three-headed hill (this the symbol migrated to the coat of arms of Slovakia, but without the crown and with the blue color of the hill). The core of Transleithania became the basis of an independent Hungary after 1918, but in a greatly reduced form.

What's left to add? Perhaps only that all National emblem support traditional heraldic figures: a griffin on the left and an angel on the right.
This motley coat of arms did not last long: three years later Austria-Hungary would lose the First World War and will disintegrate into nation-states. Many successor countries will also take on components of the imperial coat of arms. Some of these elements will temporarily give way to communist symbols, so that in the early 1990s. return to your place again. And the large coat of arms of Austria-Hungary will remain in history as a monument to this large, but very fragile state.

Thank you for attention.

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