Hello there, people of Reddit.

I've been reading a lot about the history of Austria-Hungary, out of personal interest. As far as I have understood, the consensus is that by the time the Ausgleich was signed, the Dual Monarchy was dysfunctional Byzantine mess and a ticking time bomb. Old Franz's reactionary rule, coupled with Italian and Serbian nationalism and Hungarian opposition, meant that the "state" of Austria-Hungary was not a state in any form, but a poorly integrated and unfriendly personal union where both polities were pulling against each other and ripping themselves apart internally.

My question to this community, in better terms is: could a more competent Emperor and cabinet have prevented the sorry state of affairs in which AH saw itself by the time WWI kicked off? It's not quite a "what if" scenario I'm asking; more like "was it an inevitable consequence of historical context that the Habsburg Monarchy was dysfunctional and doomed by the beginning of the 20th century, or was it a set of bad circumstances that may have been averted but were instead catalyzed by poor governance?". Also implied is the question "am I totally incorrect here and things were actually not that bad, and my sources might have been overselling the internal conflicts and generally bad footing in which the Monarchy saw itself".

Thank you kindly.