Franz did not rush to state his position. Trying to merge all of Austria's ethnic groups into one was no simple matter. Aside from the commoners at the bottom, who did not even know what ethnicity was, most people would likely find it difficult to accept.
If they could not gain everyone's wholehearted recognition and merely created an Austrian ethnicity in name, the final result might be extremely awkward.
Nationalism had originated in eighteenth-century Europe. In order to break the power of divine right and feudalism, the bourgeoisie had launched nationalist movements.
The bourgeois revolutions from 1789 to 1871 and the establishment of the nation-state system had all been driven by nationalism.
Southeastern Europe was comparatively conservative. Nationalism there had almost entirely emerged only after ideological exports from the great powers.
Hungarian nationalism, for instance, had been exported by the French and was only just beginning. Only after it absorbed the ordinary people would the Hungarian nation of later generations truly take shape.
In the mid-nineteenth century, the Tsarist government stirred up "Pan-Slavism" in order to launch wars of aggression. Nationalism spread into the Balkans, and this was also what sparked the fuse of the World War.
"Mr. Karl, if we establish an Austrian ethnicity, what happens to the existing ethnic groups?
"Are we to withdraw from the German lands and establish a separate Austrian Empire?" Prime Minister Felix asked with a frown.
The window paper had been pierced, and the atmosphere in the room instantly grew oppressive.
"As early as 1806, when the Holy Roman Empire fell, Austria became independent from the German lands. Could we possibly establish the Holy Roman Empire again now?" Karl countered.
"The German lands cannot possibly be unified. Austria may stand independent from the German lands, but we cannot abandon Germany. That is a