The Russian Empire vs. the Soviet Union - a geographic/territorial comparison

[TheWPCTraveler]

Leadified said:

TheWPCTraveler said:

Austria-Hungary was on the verge of breaking apart in the years leading up to the First World War - if it wasn't for the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Franz Ferdinand.
The German Empire found themselves in hot water with both France and the Russian Empire, given how Wilhelm II screwed the diplomatic balance that Chancellor Bismarck worked hard for.

So, yeah, you really would shit your pants if you found yourself in that position.

I think you meant to say Franz Joseph there, Ferdinand was the Archduke. It seems Ferdinand had some ideas which may have saved the empire or at least prolong its life, kind of fitting that his assassination ended up being the final nail in the coffin for Austria-Hungary.

Oops :P

I keep confusing the two, because their names start with Franz and I keep reading Franz Ferdinand more than Franz Joseph.

And, well, to cover the other side of the debate over Austria...I still find the bordergore proposal of a "United States of Greater Austria" to be very amusing. Ugly German Bohemia and Moravia territories to cover Sudetenland, and numerous ugly autonomous German enclaves in practically every other part of the empire - not to mention splitting Hungary into three distinct parts...

It definitely wouldn't have survived for long, though.