Among the Imperialist countries, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's economy had always been relatively fragile. In the past, Russia had been there to prop it up from below, but unfortunately, Tsarist Russia had already gone to meet God. As for the Soviet economy, they were no longer playing by those rules!
The Austro-Hungarian Empire's economy could only compete with Spain in a race to the bottom. Of course, this fragility did not mean that the Austro-Hungarian economy was weak.
Rather, like its politics, the Austro-Hungarian economy was deeply fragmented. Its resources could not be effectively integrated. In terms of geography, resources, heritage, and so on, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was no worse than Germany, yet the economic conditions of the two countries were now as far apart as heaven and earth.
Geographically, Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire each had their strengths. Both lay at the heart of Europe, one backed by the Baltic Sea and the other bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Germany, however, also had a small stretch of land in its northwest corner touching the Atlantic Ocean.
There was not much difference between them in area or terrain. Germany now covered six hundred thousand square kilometers, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire approached seven hundred thousand. Both had mountains and broad plains, and the Hungarian region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire possessed somewhat better agricultural conditions than Germany. Its lower latitude and more favorable light and heat conditions better suited the development of grain cultivation. Thus, neither side held the upper hand in geographical conditions.
As for resources, although the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not possess gigantic coalfields like Germany's Ruhr area, self-sufficiency was no problem at all. At the same time, its resource varieties were more diverse than Germany's, including the oil resources Germany dreamed of obtaining.
In terms of heritage, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's predecessor,