>>668395
>Would Hungary have been able to pull their weight by the late 1800's or would it have been a defensive ally favouring Hungary more than Germany? I know the ethnic mess of the A-H empire in WWI didn't turn out great for you guys all the time, but I honestly can't say I know about Hungarian strength at the time.
Well, that kind of depends on what kind of border you are going to split the Habsburg Empire along. If you go along with the ethnic makeup as much as you can, then you get Austria, the German-inhabited parts of South Tirol, Sudetenland and German-inhabited Burgenland given to Germany, Czechia, Hungary (and Szeklerland?), Croatia and Slovenia becoming independent, the Serbian-majority Délvidék going to Serbia, the Polish majority territories becoming Poland and the Ukrainianif this is a legit existing nationality, not to mention the question of Ruthenians-majority territories becoming Ukraine as shown on pic1 (couldn't find a better map of ethnic makeup, and I know its not from 1866-1870, you could also ignore Bosnia, as it wasn't part of the Habsburg Empire between 1866-1870). In this scenario you get a bunch of small nation-states, most of which would had ending up being the bitchboys of Italy, Germany or getting eaten up by them or Russia. Or you can go on a more sensible route (pic2), give German Austria and Slovenia to Germany, make Czechia independent with Sudetenland included, create the independent Hungary with its traditional borders and give the Italian-majority parts of the former empire to Italy. With this, you get a Hungary that would be forced to either go on a Switzerland-esque route of giving its nationalities territorial autonomy, or go full magyarization on them, potentially ending up with rising tensions if not outright civil war in it. If the Swiss route works, then you get a Hungary that would probably be strong enough to pull its weight well into the end of 1800s if not up until today as the Carpathians provided (and it still does today to a certain degree) a good amount of raw resources, while the fertile lands of the Carpathian Basin gives more than enough food for the residents of the territory. Now what about Czechia or the Slovenes under German rulership is certainly unknown before me. Not to mention how would you give the Serbian-majority lands to Serbia, when they were still Ottoman vassals in 1866.
> I'm sure Dalmatia would have been negotiable, I wonder if German access to the Adriatic and thus Mediterranean sea would have been an interest or negotiable for Germany
Giving the entirety of Dalmatia and Istria to Germany could serve as an obstacle to a German-Italian alliance though, not to mention what the Croatians would say to it in case they become independent.
>memes aside I wonder how loyal or competent of an ally Italy would have been
There could be literally no reason for Italy to be hostile to Germany in case they get their fair share of territories. Competence might be another question, but I'd still have a united nation state as an ally over an "empire" with a patchwork of different ethnicities, religions and cultures inhabiting it.
>Is Slovakia split between Hungary and Czechia?
Then again, depends on what kind of goal you want to pursue. You either make Slovakia independent, cede it completely to Czechia or leave it with Hungary. I don't know hopw you're with it, but the last time I saw, Slovaks weren't entirely happy with being in the same state as Czechia…
>Either way were Bismarck still Chancellor, and didn't jump out of a window in autistic protest, I'd say appeasing Russia would be the most likely bet.
That's where the Galician question comes in. You either make them split between Poles and Ukrainians and amke them an easy feast for the Russians, or create the free Poland on its entirety, probably ending up with the same results, or you just give it to Russia and
a)appease their hunger for a while
b)give them additional Poles to be tied down with, as Poles had a habit of rising up against the Russians
>I don't think before WWI the Reich cared much at all about an independent Poland.
It maybe didn't, but the Poles already wanted to become independent both from Russia, Germany and the Habsburg Empire by the mid 19th century.