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Although the expression “Habsburg Monarchy” has now currently come to designate the group of countries assembled in Central Europe by the dynasty, there is no agreement as to the definition and the operating modes of this empire. In 1867, the Austrian Empire became Austria-Hungary, but this name was not for official use. Far from being reduced to an aporia, naming and understanding the State and the Empire presented a problem until 1918. The paper attempts to understand the historical reasons for this lack of consensus on the name and nature of the empire in the 19th century.