SMS Szent István
Montecuccoli's plans for the construction of "Szent István" and her sister ships earned the approval of Emperor Franz Joseph I in January 1909, and by April plans for the design, construction, and financing for the battleships had been laid out. For a full year, the Austro-Hungarian Navy attempted to keep the looming construction of the first two battleships a state secret. This did not prevent rumors from circulating across Europe of two dreadnought battleships being constructed in Austria-Hungary. The French Naval Attaché in Vienna complained to Paris in 1910 of extensive secrecy within the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which manifested itself in several ways. Among these were a ban on photography in the Pola, future home port of "Szent István", and near-constant observation by the Austro-Hungarian police.
Anschluss
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the "Ausgleich", provided for a dual sovereignty, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, under Franz Joseph I. The Austrian-Hungarian rule of this diverse empire included various different ethnic groups including Hungarians, Slavic ethnic groups such as Croats, Czechs, Poles, Rusyns, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as Italians and Romanians ruled by a German minority. The empire caused tensions between the various ethnic groups. Many Austrian pan-Germans showed loyalty to Bismarck and only to Germany, wore symbols that were temporarily banned in Austrian schools and advocated the dissolution of the empire to allow an annexation of Austria to Germany. Although many Austrians agreed with pan-Germanism ideas, a lot of them still showed allegiance to the Habsburg Monarchy and wished for Austria to remain an independent country. After the Nazis gained power in Germany in 1933, they used propaganda to try to coerce Austrians into advocating for an "Anschluss" to the German Reich by using slogans such as "Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" ("One People, One Empire, One Leader").