Austro-Hungarian Emblems

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Wulpe
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Austro-Hungarian Emblems

#1

Post by Wulpe » 01 Aug 2003, 18:17

Windward wrote:... This is the emblem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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You can see the motto was "INDIVISIBILITER AC INSEPARABLILITER", which means "Indivisibility and inseparableness".

PS, Austria and Hungary have their own coat of arms too. You can see both them above.
Right, this is the last "medium" (sorry for the translation, but there are small, medium and large emblems/coat of arms) common emblem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from 1915.

After the Napoleonic Wars and the Vienna Congress it was necessary to change the old emblem, but it took until May 13 1836 until the final version was decreed by Ferdinand I.

During the rule of Franz Joseph I there were a lot of inofficial rearrangements, additions and cuts to the large emblem. After the defeat at Königgrätz the large emblem was quietly disposed of, and the small imperial emblem was used with only one minor change (the crown) until 1915:

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After the Ausgleich (Compromise) with Hungary it wasn´t before the second year of WW I until Austria and Hungary could agree on a common emblem - in fact, Austria blocked most attempts, and Hungary tried to push, but it took the war to make the introduction possible. Still, there was no agreement on the large emblem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, consens was only reached on the small and medium one. The large emblem was to be issued "at a later date".

Common medium emblem 1915:

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Common small emblem 1915:

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Common small emblem 1916:

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It can still be seen today at a hero memorial in the town Bruck/Leitha

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Austrian small emblem 1915

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Austrian medium emblem 1915

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Hungarian small emblem 1916

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Hungarian medium emblem 1915

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Source: Peter Diem "Die Symbole Österreichs" ISBN 3-218-00594-9

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#2

Post by Windward » 02 Aug 2003, 08:18

Very interesting. And I noticed that the emblem of Lorraine family was put amid the two emblems instead on the chest of the Habusburg eagle. Did it means the respect to the Lorraine-Habusburg family and stand for the two countries' unity under the rule of royal family?
Last edited by Windward on 02 Aug 2003, 10:22, edited 1 time in total.


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Wulpe
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#3

Post by Wulpe » 02 Aug 2003, 09:48

Windward wrote:... I noticed that the emblem of Lorraine family was put amid the two emblems instead on the chest of the Habusburg eagle. Did it means the respect to the Lorraine-Habusburg family and stand for the two country's unity under the rule of royal family?
Yes, it was meant to show the two emancipated parts of the Reich, which were hold together by the ruling House of Habsburg-Lorraine in personal union, and by the Pragmatic Sanction, where the motto on the ribbon below was taken from.

When you look at the middle emblems closely, you will notice that both the shields of Austria and Hungary contain the hand coming out of the cloud which carries a sword - the emblem of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The unresolved status of Bosnia-hercegovina was one reason why there was no agreement on a large emblem.

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#4

Post by Windward » 03 Aug 2003, 13:26

Very interesting. Thank you. And was that sword the so called "Handschar"? The 13th Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS (Muslim volunteers from Bosnia) had used this symble (but without the hand) as their emblem as I know.

And weren't Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled by Austria? On all historical maps I collected, they were parts of CisLeithania, not TransLeithania. I read that some governors before 1906 were Hungarian, but did Hungarian Parliament claimed Magyar's sovereign over these two former Ottoman provinces? And I also read that on Oct. 6 1906, Austrian ambassadors delieved notes to European governments and informed them Bosnia and Herzegovina were formally annexed by Austria(THE LANDS BETWEEN, A History of East-Central Europe since the congeress of Vienna by Alan Palmer, P.111).

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#5

Post by Marcus » 03 Aug 2003, 15:35

Interesting, thanks.

/Marcus

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Wulpe
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#6

Post by Wulpe » 04 Aug 2003, 10:53

Windward wrote:Very interesting. Thank you. And was that sword the so called "Handschar"? The 13th Waffen-Gebirgs-Division der SS (Muslim volunteers from Bosnia) had used this symble (but without the hand) as their emblem as I know.
Yes, the "Handschar" is a curved turkish sword and has been a bosnian symbol since the days of the bosnian ruler & Duke Hrvoje Vukcic Hrvatinic, the "uncrowned king of Bosnia", in the 14th century. He allied with the invading Turks to defeat his hungarian-slavonian enemies.
And weren't Bosnia and Herzegovina ruled by Austria? On all historical maps I collected, they were parts of CisLeithania, not TransLeithania. I read that some governors before 1906 were Hungarian, but did Hungarian Parliament claimed Magyar's sovereign over these two former Ottoman provinces? And I also read that on Oct. 6 1906, Austrian ambassadors delieved notes to European governments and informed them Bosnia and Herzegovina were formally annexed by Austria(THE LANDS BETWEEN, A History of East-Central Europe since the congeress of Vienna by Alan Palmer, P.111).
Since the Congress of Berlin in 1878, Bosnia-Herzegovina was occupied as a corpus separatum under austrian administration, while formally still under turkish suzerainty. In 1908, it was formally annexed. The country now belonged to the Holy Crown (Hungarian Kingdom), but it was put under the direct control of the Ministry of Finance, which was a joint austro-hungarian ministry - not under Budapest´s jurisdiction. It was the only territory in the empire under joint control, and historical maps often fail to make that clear.

EDIT: here is a correct example, a map showing the 1914 nationalities/languages mix in Cis- and Transleithania, where Bosnia-Herzegovina is separate.

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Source: Hugo Portisch Österreich I - Die unterschätzte Republik p. 552 ISBN 3 218 00485 3

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#7

Post by Wulpe » 04 Aug 2003, 18:26

I finally found the time to scan and upload the large austrian emblem from 1836, which was missing in the first post:

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#8

Post by Windward » 04 Aug 2003, 18:58

Hey Wulpe thanks for your excellent answer. It make me clear. And thanks for the large emblem. Cheers!

Jasen

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