Austria and Russia - the fall of dynasties # 2024

Austria and Russia – this relationship is historically more complex than is commonly believed.

Even in the revolution of 1848, Habsburg managed to overthrow the rebellious Hungarians only with Russian military support. At the Vienna World Exhibition of 1873, the Austrian and German emperors as well as the Russian Tsar reaffirmed their unbreakable union at the Dreikaisertreffen. At that time, all three saw each other as logical partners. However, it soon becomes apparent that this alliance depends on individual people. With a change of rule in Russia, the wind changes its direction, and the contrast into which Europe will then run results in the First World War. In the end, it is not so much the strategic contradictions between the individual powers that determine the course of history, but the rejection of monarchies by their own subordinates. The German army leadership in Switzerland puts Vladimir Ilyich Lenin on the train to Russia in order to destabilize the tsarist Empire through the communist revolution. However, the prediction of Emperor Charles comes true that this revolution will come back and hit them all.

The Erbe Österreich new production explores the causes of the fall of Europe's dynasties and tells the story from the perspective of the Austrian ambassador in Russia and the Russian ambassador in Vienna.