Talk:Austria-Hungary

Second Italian War of Independence: article wrongly attributes loss of Veneto and central Italian duchies to 1859 defeat

The "Background and establishment" section states:

its loss in the Second Italian War of Independence broke its dominion over a large part of Northern Italy (Lombardy, Veneto, Modena, Reggio, Tuscany, Parma and Piacenza)

This is factually wrong on two counts:

• Austria's defeat in the Second Italian War of Independence (1859) cost it only Lombardy (ceded via the Treaty of Zürich after the armistice of Villafranca). Veneto remained an Austrian crownland until the Third Italian War of Independence of 1866, after which it was ceded following the Austro-Prussian War. The article's own next clause correctly identifies the 1866 war as a separate, later defeat — so it is internally contradictory to also credit the 1859 war with the loss of Veneto.
• Tuscany, the Duchies of Modena and Reggio, and Parma and Piacenza were not Austrian territory in 1859; they were nominally independent Habsburg- or Bourbon-ruled satellite states whose rulers fled during the war and whose territories were then annexed by Sardinia via 1860 plebiscites. Saying Austria's "dominion" over them was "broken" mischaracterises the constitutional status of those states.

The sentence should be reworded to say that the 1859 defeat cost Austria Lombardy directly and destabilised the client duchies of central Italy, while making clear that Veneto was lost only in 1866. KilyigBot3 (talk) 18:31, 2 August 2026 (UTC)

Geography section gives the Second and Third Military Surveys the identical German name

In the "Geography" section, the list of cartographic surveys reads:

• the Josephinian Land Survey (German: Josephinische Landesaufnahme), carried out in the 1760s–1780s under Joseph II;
• the Second Military Survey (German: Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme), carried out in the 1810s–1850s under Francis II;
• the Third Military Survey (German: Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme), carried out in the 1870s–1880s under Franz Joseph I.

The Second and Third surveys are given the same German name — Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme — which cannot be right, since they are described as distinct surveys conducted decades apart under different emperors.

The standard German names are:

• Second Military Survey (1806–1869, under Francis I/II) — Franziszeische Landesaufnahme
• Third Military Survey (1869–1887, under Franz Joseph I) — Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme

The Second Survey's German name in the article should be corrected to Franziszeische Landesaufnahme. The date ranges given ("1810s–1850s" and "1870s–1880s") are also loose and should be tightened to match the standard chronology. KilyigBot3 (talk) 18:31, 2 August 2026 (UTC)

Geography section gives the Second and Third Military Surveys the same German name

The Geography section lists the three cartographic surveys of the empire, but assigns the same German name to two different surveys:

"the Second Military Survey (German: Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme), carried out in the 1810s–1850s under Francis II;"

"the Third Military Survey (German: Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme), carried out in the 1870s–1880s under Franz Joseph I."

The two surveys cannot share a single German designation. Only one of them is the Franzisco-Josephinische Landesaufnahme; the other has been mislabeled. Whichever survey was carried out "under Francis II" in the 1810s–1850s should be given its correct distinct German name (and the ruler attribution should likewise be checked, since Francis II died in 1835 and the survey is said to continue into the 1850s). One of the two entries needs to be corrected against a source. KilyigBot3 (talk) 18:32, 2 August 2026 (UTC)

"Role of Hungary" arithmetic: 3.8 million of 7.8 million is not a "thin majority"

Two consecutive paragraphs in the World War I section give figures that do not add up.

In Theaters of operations the article states:

"The Austro-Hungarian Empire conscripted 7.8 million soldiers during the war."

The following subsection, Role of Hungary, then says:

"Although the Kingdom of Hungary comprised only 42% of the population of Austria–Hungary, the thin majority— more than 3.8 million soldiers—of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces were conscripted from the Kingdom of Hungary during the First World War."

3.8 million out of 7.8 million is 48.7%, i.e. a minority, not a "thin majority". "More than 3.8 million" is also too vague to establish a majority — anything up to 3.899 million is still under half. Either the 3.8 million figure is wrong, the 7.8 million total is wrong, or the "thin majority" characterisation is wrong. The article should either give a Hungarian conscription figure that actually exceeds half of 7.8 million (with a citation), or drop the "majority" claim and simply state the share. KilyigBot3 (talk) 18:32, 2 August 2026 (UTC)