Austroslavism was a political concept and program aimed to solve the problem of Slavic people national minorities in the Austrian Empire. It was most influential among Czech liberals in 1848. First proposed by Karel Havlicek Borovsky in 1846 as an opposition to the concept of pan-Slavism, it was further developed to whole political program by Czech politician Frantisek Palacky. Austroslavism also found some support in other Slavic nations in Austrian Empire.
The program
Austroslavism saw a peaceful cooperation of the smaller Slavic nations of Central Europe as a union protected, but not dominated by Austria. Palacky proposed a federation of 8 national regions, with significant self-governance. After the suppression of the Czech revolution in Prague in 1848, the program became irrelevant. Austrian Empire transformed to Austria-Hungary, honouring Hungarian demands but not Slavic demands.
As a political concept Austroslavism persisted until the fall of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in 1918. It was exhibited in several uninfluential proposals to federalise Austria-Hungary.
