Our title for this episode is German for "the roaring twenties," which is what we call the decade following the Great War in the United States. We call it that because of all the partying and wealth that proliferated in that decade for Americans. For Austrians, however, things were slightly different.
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Episode 20: The End of Empire
The war is over, but we still have some things to talk about, including how the Austrians occupied Serbia (badly), how the Austrian army lent itself to generating Habsburg loyalty (pretty well), and how the last Habsburg emperor abdicated (incompletely). It's the final episode of the year, so what better way to celebrate than with the abolition of the Habsburg monarchy.
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Episode 19: The War Episode
We’ve finally made it to the Great War. In this episode, we consider how Austria fared in World War I. Spoiler alert: They lost. That said, the campaigns led by Austria-Hungary are among the least discussed in a war that included the Battle of the Somme and Gallipoli. Here, Vittorio Veneto gets its (his?) due.
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Episode 18: Countdown to War
Shots fired in the Balkans! Shots fired in the Reichsrat!! Shots fired in Sarajevo!!! It's an action-packed episode this time around as we cover the final years of the Austro-Hungarian Empire before the outbreak of World War One. Plus, we consider the question of why Franz Ferdinand was the crown prince to begin with.
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Episode 17: The Emperor Strikes Back
In this episode, we work our way into the 20th century, with new election laws, new political parties, new leaders of the government, but the same old emperor. He's lost some steam over his more than fifty years in power, to say nothing of territory and political power, but he still has some tricks up his sleeve. Can you say "Jus exclusivae"? Franz Joseph sure can.