Franz Joseph I of Austria

Franz Joseph I of Austria (German: Franz Joseph I.; Vienna, August 18, 1830-Vienna, August 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and King of Bohemia, among other titles, from December 2, 1848 until his death. His reign of almost 68 years is the fourth longest in European history, after Louis XIV of France, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and John II of Liechtenstein. His personal motto was Viribus Unitis (‘With Union of Forces’).

Biography

Early Years

Toy Locomotive Franzi.

He was born at 9:45 a.m. on August 18, 1830 in Schönbrunn, Vienna, as the eldest son of the marriage between Archduke Franz Charles, second son of the last Holy Roman Emperor and first Emperor of Austria, Franz I, and Sophia of Bavaria.

Since no descendants were expected from the marriage of the heir to the throne, Archduke Ferdinand (emperor since 1835), his next older brother, Franz Karl, would continue the Habsburg succession, which is why special importance was attached to the birth of his son Francisco José at the Viennese court. Franz Karl had a weak constitution both physically and mentally, and was therefore unfit for a reign. For this reason, Franz Joseph was constantly treated as a potential successor to the imperial throne by his politically ambitious mother from an early age.

Up to the age of seven, little "Franzi" he was raised in the care of nanny ("Aha") Louise von Sturmfeder. Then she began the "state education", whose central contents were the "sense of duty", religiosity and dynastic consciousness. Theologian Joseph Othmar von Rauscher transmitted to him the inviolable understanding of the government of divine origin (divine grace), so that the participation of the population in the government in the form of parliaments is not required.

Educators Heinrich Franz von Bombelles and Colonel Johann Baptist Coronini-Cronberg ordered Archduke Franz José to study an enormous amount of time, initially comprising 18 hours per week and expanded to 50 hours per week at the age of 16. The main focus of the lessons was language acquisition: in addition to French, the diplomatic language of the time, Latin and ancient Greek, Hungarian, Czech, Italian and Polish were the most important national languages of the monarchy.. In addition, the Archduke received the general education that was customary at the time (including mathematics, physics, history, geography), which was later supplemented by law and political science. Various forms of physical education completed the extensive program.

On the occasion of his thirteenth birthday, Franz was appointed Colonel of Dragoon Regiment No. 3 and the focus of training shifted to imparting basic strategic and tactical knowledge.

During the Revolutions of 1848, Metternich fled the country and after the Third Vienna Uprising, Prince Schwarzenberg closed the Constituent Diet, established a dictatorship and convinced Ferdinand to abdicate (December 2, 1848) in favor of Francisco Joseph, who was thus proclaimed emperor at the age of 18.

Reign

Beginning of his reign

The young Francisco José, already emperor, portrayed in 1851, wearing military medals and the band of the Order of Mary Teresa.

Franz Joseph's reign took place amid violent international upheavals that followed him throughout his life, beginning with the Austrian revolution of 1848 and culminating in World War I (1914-1918). Liberal ideas and democratic thought were gaining ground. As soon as he came to the throne, Francisco José had to deal with these two forces that disrupted his centralized monarchy, so the first 18 years of his government were characterized by strong absolutism.

In 1848, the political situation of the European monarchies was desperate. Like other kings, he faced times of rising nationalism and succeeded in keeping the Empire together. The advances of the democrats and capitalists on the one hand and of the Germanochech nationalists who fought for the independence of Bohemia on the other, cornered the management of the monarch, who also had to contain the bellicose Serbs who also wanted to become independent and abandon the empire.

Everyone tried to get the sovereign to turn in his favor, but the Emperor always tried to maintain an equidistant position without giving in to anyone, taking particular interest in maintaining the integrity of the empire. He did not manage to see, however, the situation of weakness in which its alleged dispensation in these serious matters left the central power.

To put an end to the Hungarian revolution, Franz Joseph was forced to ally with Russia. In September 1848 the Hungarian Diet had recognized Franz Joseph as its sovereign. In March 1849 Francisco José imposed a new centralist constitution and restored absolutism. This constitution, called Olmütz's, stated that Hungary is part of the Austrian Empire, without any special rights. In response, the following month Luis Kossuth proclaimed the republic. In May Tsar Nicholas I and Francisco José met in Warsaw to agree on joint anti-Hungarian military action. After the battle of Temesvár, the Hungarians capitulated at Világos and Kossuth fled to Turkey. Special courts were set up to try the rebels, the German language was imposed, and Hungary was divided into five provinces under direct Austrian administration.

After a period of counterrevolutionary reaction, the absolutist constitution was abolished in 1851. A centralist bureaucracy was imposed and jurisdiction over civil (especially matrimonial) and educational laws was ceded to the Holy See, which from then on passed to controlled by the Catholic Church. The insufficiency of income put an end to the tariff policy, forcing the government to raise them in order to maintain a balanced budget, which led to the opposition of the Liberals.

The Empress Sissi

Empress Sissi (Franz Xaver Winterhalter oil), 1864.

In this environment of decay and destructive change, the only unifying and moderating force at Franz Josef's court was his wife, Empress Elizabeth, known to everyone (as she is today) by her nickname Sissi, born Princess of Bavaria, of whom she was a first cousin.

The girl and the young emperor, aged 23, met in the summer town of Bad Ischl, during the monarch's vacation, in the summer of 1853. The family intended to marry Franz Joseph to Princess Helena of Bavaria, but instead the emperor fell in love with her younger sister, Sissi, only 15 years old. The young lady happened to be there, but they were so enchanted with each other that their engagement was actually celebrated the next day.

On April 24, 1854, Sissi and Franz Joseph were married in the Church of the Augustinians in Vienna, thus becoming the most watched couple in the world. Because they both possessed enormous personal charm, people all over the world watched over them as protagonists of a beautiful real-life fairy tale. It was not such: the empress, who had given up the rural life of hers without concern for the strict protocol of the Viennese court, soon began to have problems. It wasn't easy adjusting to her life as the wife of a man who, while he loved her dearly, also ruled an empire inhabited by more than 50 million people.

Caught between melancholy and etiquette, Sissi began to care for the poor and defenseless, becoming a regular collaborator in hospitals and nursing homes, carrying out an important social task.

Little by little she began to accumulate influence at court and especially over her husband. Sissi's ideas were advanced, progressive and liberal, and her support of the Hungarian cause was instrumental in that country's reaching political equality with Austria in 1867. The couple had four children, the first three in quick succession immediately after their birth. get marry:

• Sofia Federica Dorotea María Josefa (1855-1857), Archduke of Austria.
• Gisela of Austria (1856-1932), Bavarian princess.
• Rodolfo Francisco Carlos José (1858-1889), Archduke of Austria and Crown Prince.
• Maria Valeria of Austria (1868-1924), archduchess of Austria-Toscana.

The imperial family, portrayed in 1880.

He was only 20 years old when Rudolf's firstborn was born, and Franz Joseph's mother (Archduchess Sofia of Bavaria) began to constantly interfere in the heir's upbringing. The Empress was forbidden to breastfeed the infant, and after the first three deliveries, the Archduchess convinced Sissi not to have any more children. This apparently inconsequential decision proved to be of enormous political importance, since when Rodolfo, the only male, committed suicide, the family was left without successors to the throne.

Sissi began to go on trips more and more often, with the excuse of real or feigned illnesses. The emperor had many mistresses and being a Catholic and therefore opposed to abortion and any artificial contraceptive method, he left several illegitimate children in the world.

Sissi herself looked for a lover for Francisco José, and she did so with the actress Katharina Schratt, which had a negative impact on the emperor's mood, who loved his wife and aspired to have a family and a normal relationship with her. The Empress, who had the habit of making multiple trips, met her death in Geneva in 1898. As the sovereign had the habit of traveling without surveillance or security, she allowed an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni to approach her, striking her with a stiletto. single and accurate stab to the heart. The empress fell to the ground, got up, and an hour later she died in the hotel where she had stayed the night before. The death of his beloved wife ended up plunging Francisco José into sadness.

Constant wars and territorial losses

The emperor in 1853, in a uniform of humsar.

Although Franz Joseph managed to put an end to the Hungarian revolution in 1849 and defeat King Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia, within ten years Napoleon III's alliance with the Savoys would mean the end of Austrian hegemony in Italy. Defeated at Solferino, Francisco José had to agree to the Armistice of Villafranca (ratified in the Treaty of Zurich on November 10, 1859) and allow Italian unification. Austria lost all of her possessions except Veneto, leaving Lombardy in the hands of Victor Emmanuel and allowing the annexation of the duchies of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany. A federalist solution to the problems generated by national minorities was then attempted, the Diploma of October 1860, which conferred legislative power on a Reichsrat and a series of regional Diets.. However, the Hungarians and Austrians rejected the proposal, as well as the Patent of February 1862, which divided the Reichsrat into a Chamber of Lords and another of Deputies, to the detriment of Diets.

On the other hand, the preponderance of Austria within the German Confederation led to tensions between the Austrians and the Prussians over a reform of the Bund that would give Prussia greater weight. Having survived the Revolutions of 1848, Austria's policy was focused on preserving its hegemony in Central Europe. At the end of the 1950s, Prussia made public a plan, that of Olmutz, which called for the integration of the North German states. Austria considered it a humiliation and forced Prussia to withdraw it.

In 1864, Austria and Prussia were allies in the War of the Duchies. In accordance with the provisions of the Gastein Convention that put an end to it, the duchy of Holstein remained under the domain of Austria, and those of Schleswig and Lauenburg under that of Prussia, but neither of the two countries was satisfied with the agreement. Finally, Prussia broke away from the Bund and invaded the duchy of Holstein, thus beginning the Austro-Prussian War (June-August 1866), in which Austria was defeated in just two weeks.

The resounding defeat at Königgrätz forced Franz Joseph to withdraw from the Confederation, ceding his hegemony to Prussia and accepting the annexation of Hanover, Hesse-Kassel, Nassau, Frankfurt am Main and the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg (peace of Prague on August 23, 1866). The Bund was dissolved, and the Prussians thus managed to institutionalize the North German Federation which, after their victory in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, allowed German unification (Little Germany). or Kleindeutschland, excluding Austria) under Prussian control (led by Otto von Bismarck), leading to the establishment of the German Empire in 1871.

Simultaneously attacked by Italy, the empire was forced to cede Venice to France, who, in turn, ceded it to Italy by the Treaty of Vienna on October 12, 1866.

family misfortunes

His family life was bitter, mainly because of the clash between his traditionalist and reactionary mentality against the character and liberal ideas of his relatives. Francisco José violently lost his son, Archduke Rodolfo, who apparently committed suicide for passionate disappointment in the middle of a depressive crisis (January 30, 1889), and his wife, Empress Isabel, killed in Switzerland on September 10, 1898. Upon knowing the news, the emperor muttered: In my empire misfortune does not know the sunset.

Francisco José had three brothers, the first one was Maximiliano (1832-1867), with which he had little age difference. In 1863, a Board of Notables offered him the throne of the Mexican Empire, and with the support of Napoleon III, he was established as the head of the second monarchical project of independent Mexico. Maximilian's short reign was constantly threatened by President Benito Juárez's troops. After the French military crisis (which caused the withdrawal of the troops of Napoleon III of the Mexican territory), Juarez arrested and shot Maximiliano, along with his two nearest generals, on June 19, 1867. The tragedy of regicide moved all Europe, blaming Napoleon III of the abandonment of his ally in the hands of the Republicans (as evidenced in the work of Maximiliano of Édouard Manet). Certainly, among those who regretted his death, Francisco José, brother and friend of whom he had been executed.

The second, Carlos Luis died of Tifus (May 19, 1896). With respect to his younger brother, Luis Víctor, he was sentenced to exile in unclear circumstances, allegedly for sexual abuse to a minor in a public bath.

Empire shield in 1867.

Regarding the Empire, Francisco José suffered Hungary 'permanent demands to legally separate from Austria in the form of a dual monarchy: Austrohungria. For the Ausgych or commitment of February 1867, Austria and Hungary became two entities with their own governments and diets, together under the same monarchy, with a common foreign, financial policy (covering 70% of the expenses) and military. Two territorial militias, one Hungarian ( Honoved and another Austrian ( Landwehr ) were created. Francisco José accepted the new constitutional ordination and jealously maintained his military prerogatives (he was commander in chief of the army and had power to declare war and sign peace treaties) and foreign policy.

Austria herself (the so -called Cisleithania) consisted of 8 different nations, with 15 states and 17 parliaments. The state suffrage in 4 curias (5 since 1897) would be replaced in 1907 by the direct universal suffrage. The Transleitania, Hungary, had a diet of its own chosen by census suffrage.

defeated in Italy and Germany, the empire of Francisco José decided to begin to intervene regularly in the Balkans. With the outbreak of the Russian-Turca War of 1877, Russia (Prince Gorchakov) and Austrohungria (Count Andrássy) signed Reichstadt's secret agreement on July 8, which divided the Balkan peninsula depending on the result of the war. The direct opposition of the Russian interests in the Balkans led Francisco José to ally with Germany to try to achieve a political and military balance that was vital for their interests.

The association between Bismarck's Germany and the Austrohungal Empire was the first step in the European alliance process that, together with the nationalist struggles of the peoples of the Danube and the Balkans, would stack explosives on the ethnic and political powder magazine that would set fire Europe in World War. Indeed, the Berlin Congress granted the Bosnia-Herzegovina administration to Austrohungria. The invasion (1878) and subsequent occupation (1879) of the territory placed the Empire in a difficult situation in the face of the threatening bread of Serbia and Russia, nations that felt deceived and frustrated by this congress.

In 1879, Francisco José joined Germany in an alliance that later also included Italy, called the Triple Alliance. Meanwhile, the League of the Three Emperors (Russia-Germany-Austrohungry) was revoked, which led to the agreement against nature between the traditionalist Russia and the turbulent French Republic (double alliance of August 17, 1894).

The empire of Francisco José, who had achieved considerable economic prosperity thanks to his liberal economic policy, was harassed by the demands of unhappy national minorities, particularly the Slavs.

The growing bread of the Russian Empire led this country to proclaim itself protector of the Slavic peoples. Sometimes financed directly from St. Petersburg, these nationalist movements were emboldened and acted with greater boldness and irresponsibility, thinning the political climate with the periodic Balcanic crises that happened to the outbreak of World War I.

Bosnia-Herzegovina annexation and the crisis of 1887

The emperor photographed in 1879.

One of the worst crises prior to the First World War came when Francisco José made the decision to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 6, 1908, as authorized by article 25 of the Treaty of Berlin (July 13 of 1878). While it was intended to stop the escalating violence of Serb separatists, in reality, the annexation only fueled them against the Empire, and the Great War may well have started at that point.

Serbia, indignant at this action, which put an end to its nationalist aspirations for Greater Serbia, mobilized its troops. Russia, feeling deceived by Austria regarding her aspirations to dominate the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, supported Serbia. The English called an international conference, which Austria refused for fear of being defeated. Italy, for its part, signed a secret agreement with Russia (Racconigi Treaty) to maintain the status quo in the Balkans. Germany maintains its "Nibelung allegiance" (sic) towards Austria, though holding back Hötzendorf, in his attempts to declare war on Serbia, while convincing the Russians to back down. With this, the German policy triumphed, which would make a common front with Austria, the only sure ally of hers.

World War I and death

The Austro-Hungarian front in February 1915.

The First World War arose, among other causes, as a consequence of the internal instability of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The constant tension between the central power and the separatist minorities (Czechs, Serbs, Italians and Rumanians) led to a multinational conflict within the Empire, which could only be taken advantage of by its external enemies. In addition, Francisco José allowed the military led by Count Conrad von Hötzendorf (in favor of a preventive war with Serbia) to direct the imperial policy in a hostile and warmongering manner towards the threatening Serbia, supported by pan-Slavist Russia, which with its nationalist aspirations put jeopardize the stability and unity of the Empire.

Serb separatists' hatred for the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (Franz Joseph's nephew and imperial heir) and his wife, Sophia von Chotek, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 at the hands of the young Serbian nationalist student Gavrilo Princip, a member of a nationalist group known as the Black Hand, operating with impunity from Serbia with Russian funding.

Determined to teach Serbia a lesson, the Austrian government sent a peremptory ultimatum, which was rejected. Austria declared war on July 28. As Austria-Hungary had allied with Germany and Italy in the Triple Alliance, Franz Joseph had to rely on Kaiser Wilhelm, who was in favor of punishing Serbia, but did not believe that Russia would get involved in a war in favor of some regicides. With the conflict with Serbia already planned, all Austria-Hungary and her ally needed to do was appease the Russians and prevent an escalation of the conflict.

Tomb of Emperor Francis Joseph, his wife Sissi and his firstborn Rodolfo.

However, contrary to expectations, Russia immediately decided to send troops to defend the Serbs, and despite the appeasement attempts made by both Emperor Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas, general mobilization was decreed, without France, Desiring to make up for the humiliation of 1871, she did nothing to calm things down. Germany, fearful of losing the war, already inevitable, if it did not take the initiative, demanded the immediate cessation of mobilization and, receiving no response, declared war on Russia (August 1) and its ally France (August 3), invading to neutral Belgium to fall by surprise in the French rear (Schlieffen Plan). Great Britain, determined to prevent German hegemony in Europe and forced to defend Belgium, declared war on Germany (August 4). The Great European War had broken out.

Regarding Italy, in 1915 he violated his alliance with Austria and Germany with the hope that his victory would provide him with the Austrian territories coveted by Italian nationalism, the so-called Italia irredenta (Trento, Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, Fiume and Dalmatia).

Francisco José died in peace and serenity in the middle of the war, on November 21, 1916, after having gone to receive Communion and dispatched State affairs that same morning. On November 30, "Francis Joseph, a humble sinner who implores God's mercy," received a Christian burial in the Capuchin convent in Vienna. Curiously, the emperor never saw his empire decline, which at the time of the First World War enjoyed a certain stability and an air of victory.

The inheritance problem

As Rodolfo had committed suicide and Sissi had not wanted to have more children, the crown had necessarily passed to the brothers and nephews of Francisco José, because the laws prevented his daughters from inheriting the empire. When the main line was left without heirs, and with the several unrecognized children of the emperor, the succession fell to the children of Archduke Carlos Luis, who had died ten years before: Francisco Fernando, sickly and weak; Otto Francisco, libertine, undisciplined and wild; and Fernando Carlos, who was eager to abdicate his rights.

Francisco Fernando, with federalist policies regarding the future of the Empire, had offended Francisco José by marry He would marry Francisco Fernando in 1900. The young man's refusal to give up to her cost him that Francisco José separated the children of the couple of succession rights. When the archduke was killed, the emperor did not even attend the funerals.

Thus, the succession fell to the nephew of Emperor Francisco José I, a grandson of his brother the archduke Carlos Luis. Specifically, the firstborn of Otto, Carlos I of Austria-Hungary, crowned to the death of Francisco José in 1916. Carlos was the last monarch Habsburg. Their attempts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the conflict collided head -on with the intransigence of Clemenceau and Wilson, who already had the disappearance of the double Danubian monarchy. Unable to continue holding military effort, Austria and Germany requested the armistice on October 1, 1918. Just twenty days later, Austria-Hungary dissolved, while the emperor, refusing to abdicate, had to flee abroad (11 of 11 November).

Emperor Sowl

considered in his time a perfect gentleman, Francisco José I was a man of conservative mentality, convinced of his divine right to govern, intelligent, attractive and charming, but unable to adequately face the brutal ideological and political changes that were coming. Affect to consider his dynasty as a call for the destiny to govern Europe, the benevolent paternalistic despotism of him was simple as his private life. Francisco José was dedicated entirely to the fulfillment of his duties as a ruler and the maintenance of the honor and well -being of his people. However, the story would be responsible for demonstrating that this was not enough to prevent the collapse of its empire and the wave of secessionist, nationalist and other varied struggles that would converge in the great continental conflict that would devastate Europe.

His death and the division of Austria-Hungary represent the end of an era and the beginning of contemporary Europe.

Consequences

Francis José conducted with considerable success the longest reign of all Habsburg rulers and also one of the most tumultuous, signaling the end of ruling monarchs to make way for European democracies and parliamentary monarchies of the century XX.

Equally, the task of Francisco José I was neither small nor negligible: he managed to maintain his monarchy during all this time, while centrifugal nationalist forces and foreign powers tried to tear the Empire to shreds by all means.

Basically, the constant pressures and insurrections of the Balkan or internal nationalist groups, as well as the attempts to destabilize the empire by the other European powers, paved the way for the end of the monarchy. Its union with the conservative and absolutist forces was not enough to prevent the decline of the empire and its subsequent division. In 1914, Austria-Hungary comprised 676,616 square kilometers and 52.8 million inhabitants, making it the second largest country in Europe (after Russia) and the third most populous (after Russia and Germany). It included 15 nationalities: 12.5 million Austro-Germans, 10.5 million Magyars, 7 million Czechs and 2 million Slovaks, 5.2 million Poles, as many Serbs, Croats and Bosnians, 3.5 million Romanians, 4 million Ruthenians and Ukrainians 800,000 Italians, Friulians and Ladinos and 1.3 million Slovenes.

There were 40 million Catholics (Latin and Greek Catholics, the latter both Ukrainian and Romanians), 4.5 million Orthodox (Serbs, Romanians, and Ukrainians), 4.7 million Lutherans and Calvinists, 2.5 million Jews and 800,000 Muslims, whose peaceful coexistence was guaranteed by the Empire. If the Balkan situation had been bloody and problematic in the 19th century century, the dissolution of Austro-Hungary would exacerbate the problems, with the added that the new borders created iron tariff barriers that suffocated trade and led to economic crisis and misery in the new countries.

For Austria, the most important consequence of this dissolution was its demotion to a third-rate power, to the point of being absorbed by Germany in 1938. It would never regain its great power status. Vienna, which had been one of the world's capitals, became the head of a tiny country overnight. In 2019 it is still a long way from the population it had more than a century ago (1.8 million today compared to 2.3 million in 1916).

Honors

National Awards

• Knight of the Golden Toy, 1844Chief and Sovereign, 2 December 1848
• Grand Master of the Military Order of Mary Teresa
• Grand Master of the Order of St. Stephen of Hungary
• Grand Master of the Imperial Order of Leopoldo
• Grand Master of the Imperial Order of the Iron Crown

In addition, he founded the Imperial Order of Franz Joseph on December 2, 1849, and the Order of Elizabeth in 1898.

Foreign Awards

Ancestors

Predecessor: Fernando I of Austria	Austrian Emperor King of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Galitzia and Lodomeria, and Iliria 2 December 1848 - 21 November 1916	Successor: Carlos I of Austria
Predecessor: Fernando I of Austria	King of Hungary, Croatia and Slavonia 2 March 1848 - 21 November 1916	Successor: Carlos I of Austria
Predecessor: Fernando I of Austria	King of Lombardy-Venice 2 December 1848 - 12 October 1866	Successor: Attached to Italy
Predecessor: Fernando I of Austria	President of the German Confederation 2 December 1848 - 1 July 1867	Successor: Guillermo I (President of the German Confederation of the North)