The debates on the future of Austria-Hungary on the Eve of the first world war

The purpose of this paper is contextualise the debates on the future of the Habsburg Monarchy on the Eve of the First World War. The context included the assumed possibility of a European war, the issue of proposals to partition provinces and "National Compromises" in Cisleithania; the prominence of the debates on the electoral reform of 1906/1907, and the relevance of concerns on trends in ethnic demography. The final section of the paper makes reference to the terms in which the collapse of the Monarchy could be envisaged, and in conclusion addresses the issue of the actual collapse.