In 1867 Austria and Hungary united under the leadership of Emperor
Franz Josef. Over 51 million people lived
in the 675,000 square kilometres of the empire. The two largest ethnic
groups were Germans (10 million) and Hungarians (9 million). There
were also Poles, Croats, Bosnians, Serbians, Italians, Czechs, Ruthenes,
Slovenes, Slovaks and Romanians. Overall, fifteen different languages
were spoken in the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The government decided to allow those not happy with this arrangement
to emigrate to the United States. This was especially true of those
who were not members of the Roman Catholic faith as their sects were
suppressed by the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
Large numbers of Czechs from Bohemia decided to take advantage of
this decision. By the end of the century there were significent sized
colonies in Chicago, New York, St. Louis and Cleveland. Others became
farmers in states such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Texas. Attempts
were made to preserve their language and culture. There were towns
in Nebraska and Texas called Prague. In these places very little English
was spoken. These colonies published Czech-language newspapers and
had Bohemian orchestras. In Nebraska alone there were Bohemian churches
in 44 towns and villages.
Slovaks from the north-eastern corner of Hungary were another group
that emigrated to the United States in large numbers. Many went to
America to escape the policy of Magyarization imposed by the Hungarian
government. Other came to improve their economic circumstances while
some young men emigrated in order to avoid military service. About
30 per cent of Slovaks who arrived in the United States were illiterate
and most were forced to accept unskilled work in America's coal and
steel towns.
After 1870 large numbers of Poles decided to leave the Austrian-Hungarian
Empire. The main reason for this was economic with primitive agricultural
methods unable to provide enough food for a fast growing population.
Between 1870 and 1890 over 270,000 Poles arrived in the United States.
This continued to increase until it reached a peak in 1912-13 when
over 174,300 people entered the country. Most were unskilled with
only one in sixteen having a trade.
Large numbers of Poles went to Wisconsin and the first Polish newspaper,
the Przysci Ludn, appeared in 1878. The Kuryer Polski, established
in Milwaukee in 1888, became the community's most important newspaper.
After 1891 all state laws in Wisconsin had to be printed in Polish.
Most of the Poles who arrived in the United States were Roman Catholics.
Only about 7 per cent were Protestants. The Polish Roman Catholic
Church was established in Polania in 1863 and two years later the
first Polish church was opened in Milwaukee.
The majority of Hungarians in the United States are also Roman Catholics.
They mainly settled in New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit. However,
there are small Hungarian communities in rural areas, such as Budapest
(California) New Buda (Iowa) and Koussuthville (Florida).
Between 1820 and 1920 over 3,700,000 people emigrated from the Austrian-Hungarian
Empire to the United States. Only Germany
(5,500,000), Ireland (4,400,000) and
Italy (4,190,000) had higher figures.
An investigation carried out in 1978 revealled that since 1820 over
4,315,000 people emigrated to the United States from Austria-Hungary.
This amounted to 8.9 per cent of the total foreign immigration. Important
figures who moved to the United States include Louis
Kossuth, Joseph Pulitzer, Harry
Houdini, Felix Frankfurter, Luise
Rainer, Victor Berger, Rosika
Schwimmer, Walter Trier, Joseph
Bromberg, Antonin Dvorak, Poli
Negri and Paul Muni.
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