Best division of Austria-Hungary after WWI

Halagaz

Right. As for the manner of division itself, I think OTL makes an acceptable starting base, but some things would be better off changed.

Ukrainians in the north-east get their own state;
Yugoslavia should either be a federal Kingdom from the start (internal borders should mostly be decided by plebiscite) or 3-4 different states (again, through plebiscites);
An autonomous province for the Szekelys within Romania;
Allow Austria to join Germany;
Not sure what would be the best solution for the Germans in Czechia.
 
Clandango

Clandango

Keep them in Czechia and see about Czecksovakia giving the Germans a some key roles in each cabinet. The country at that point had enough Germans, Jews, Czecks, Ruthenians, Poles, Ruyns, Magyars, and Slovaks to balance things out. There is a reason it stood standing until the French and British threatened the Czekoslovaks if they refused to give Germany there land, while it took threats by Hitler to the Slovaks of letting them be partitioned between Hungary and Poland if they did not declare independence.
 

Karelian

Magnum said:
Perhaps a solution would have been to have it joined to the Kingdom of Romania via a personal union, but with foreign policy, defense and trade regulations handled by Bucharest, and with free movement of people, goods and capital and a unified currency.

But even OTL, they were not treated badly by any account and integrated themselves well in the economic and cultural life of the new nation.
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Yep - and that was a non-factor for Hungarian irredentists who just wanted their old borders back without regards to the ethnic structure of the lands they claimed for themselves. This arrangement would not be nice for the local population involved in the ethnic re-shuffling, but it would take away a major rallying point of Hungarian far right and thus stabilize the region in the long run. Sure, Romanian nationalists would object this but they'd still have gained most of their claims from the-war territories of the Dual Monarchy.
 
machine3589

machine3589

Clandango said:
That was because he thought it was a perfect size in both area and population to be made into a single Reichsgau.
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Sources, please.

Besides, why do that to one of the only countries you occupied to not give you trouble?
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That would be a good argument for why they didn't annex Northern Schlesvig in 1941.,1942., 1943. or 1944. even, but it's not a good explanation for why they didn't do it in 1940. right after the Heer overran the place.

Plus Denmark fed millions of Germans, so best not to rock the boat.
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That didn't seem to help the Ukraine...

And keep in mind that a lot of the areas the Germans won by plebiscite looks to have been rigged in their favor, such as not letting people who came to settle there vote, but instead letting the German army and administrators who left as soon as they lost th eland to vote.
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I assume you are talking about Upper Silesia, because that's literally the only place this argument could be raised. But even then you'd have to seriously squint your eyes to claim that the final division of Upper Silesia created by the Entente favored the Germans...
 
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Mikestone8

Paul V McNutt said:
Sudentland and Austria to Germany, that way Hitler loses much of his appeal.
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Actually, it probably doesn't. His rise to power had little to do with foreign policy, it was due to the economic situation.

It might, OTOH, have affected the attitude of other powers. If his first territorial claim is to somewhere not inhabited by Germans, it is likely to arouse stiffer opposition. Note the way Anglo-French attitudes hardened after the occupation of Prague.
 
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