The Habsburg Empire is built upon centuries-old traditions of reaction
and violence. Its present power is chiefly based on the alliance which
Bohemia and Hungary concluded with Austria against the Turkish peril in
1526. The Czechs freely elected the Habsburgs to the throne of Bohemia
which remained a fully independent state, its alliance with Austria and
Hungary being purely dynastic. But soon the Habsburgs began to violate the
liberties of Bohemia which they were bound by oath to observe, and this led
finally to the fateful Czech revolution of 1618.