“Austria as a great power,” said Rieger,[18] in a speech delivered in
parliament in 1861, “dates back only to the days when the Bohemian
Crown and the Hungarian Crown united with Austria. We Bohemians raised
it to the dignity of a state of the first magnitude when, by a free
election, our diet summoned, on October 23, 1526,[19] Ferdinand I.
to the sovereign throne of our kingdom. Our action was followed on
November 26th of that year by the Hungarians, who placed the crown of
their country on the head of this Hapsburg. From that time on Austria,
composed of three states in one, started on its career of a world
power. The three units were the basis, the origin, the rise of the
Austrian Empire. All else is really the result of accident. Eastern
Galicia has belonged to Austria only since 1772, Bukovina since 1777,
Western Galicia since 1795, Venice and Dalmatia since 1797, Southern
Tyrol (Trient and Brixen) since 1801, Salzburg and other smaller lands
since 1814, while Cracow is part of Austria only since 1846. All these
possessions have not made Austria a great power, for even without them
it would still be one; however, an Austrian Empire is unthinkable and
Austria as a great power is inconceivable without one of the three
crowns--that of Austria, Bohemia, or Hungary.”