Why even Belgium has colonies, but Austria-Hungary does not?

Link:/question/31781501/answer/55086768

Source: Zhihu.

Copyright belongs to the author. Please contact the author for authorization.

1. Located in Central and Eastern Europe, it goes without saying that it is far from the New World. Austria conquered northern Italy and Venice only after modern times, and was beaten back by France and Italy a few years later ... The only coast really controlled by the Austrian Empire is Dalmatia, and the only main port is Trieste, which is really inconvenient to go to sea.

2. The geographical location and consistent tradition determine that Austria is the overlord of Europe, and at the same time it faces multiple pressures from Italy, North Germany, Russian Empire and Ottoman Empire. At the same time, there are more than a dozen nationalities in the Austrian Empire, and half of them are always thinking about how to rebel ... The administrative efficiency and military strength of the Empire are really worrying, and there is no room for exploring overseas colonies.

Not only does Austria not have enough strength, but it is also unnecessary for Austria to open up colonies. Most of the territory of the empire is an agricultural society with underdeveloped trade. Only Bohemia and Austria's industries are commendable, and the goods produced can be completely digested in the domestic market ... In fact, you can regard all parts of the Austrian Empire except the former holy Roman Empire as "economic colonies". The whole empire had the third population in Europe on the eve of the outbreak of World War I, but most of them were not industrialized and did not need to seek colonies economically.

4. Not only economically, but also politically, Austria has no colonial motive. The ambition of the world empire was abandoned as early as Charles V, the crown of the Roman Empire was shattered by Napoleon's violence, and even the dominance of the German region was taken away by Prussia. I can only play my brother in the "fraternal alliance" with Germany ... The Austrian Empire has actually been (forced) to be satisfied with the status of a regional hegemon and has no motivation to compete with Britain, France and Germany for world hegemony.

Of course, as a regional hegemon, there is still ambition. If Austria, Bohemia and Hungary are regarded as "inland colonies" of the empire, in fact, their scope has been expanding. Until about 1888, Austria also seized Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire and brought it under its own rule, which led to Russian dissatisfaction and the upsurge of Serbian nationalism. Austria decided to stick to its own interests in the Balkans ... As we all know, the empire was destroyed after the shooting in Sarajevo.