In the mid-eighteenth century Europe, there were no 'nation-states' as we know them today.Eastern and Central Europe were under autocratic monarchies, having people of diverse ethnic groups. The Habsburg Empire was one such example. It ruled over Austria-Hungary, a patchwork of many different regions and peoples. It included the Alpine regions — the Tayrol,Austria and Switzerland — as well as Bohemia, where the aristocracy was predominantly German-speaking. It also included Italian-speaking provinces of Lombardy and Venetia. In Hungary, half the population spoke Magyar, while the other half spoke a variety of dialects.In Galicia, the aristocracy spoke Polish. Besides these three dominant groups, there also lived within the territories a mass of subject peasant peoples — Bohemians, Slovaks to the north,Slovenes in Carinola, Croats to the south, the Roumans to the east in Transylvania. The only tie binding these diverse groups together was a common allegiance to the emperor.