However, there were two states in particular where the extension of the franchise and the ‘nationalization of the masses’ gave rise to serious political conflicts. These were the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. In both countries the intransigence of significant national minorities battened onto the decay of liberal hegemony that was the most obvious consequence of the extension of the franchise and began to threaten the very existence of the state by the outbreak of the First World War.
