Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reign, his realms and territories were referred to as the Austrian Empire, but in 1867 they were reconstituted as the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866, he was also president of the German Confederation.
In December 1848, Franz Joseph's uncle Emperor Ferdinand I abdicated the throne at Olomouc, as part of Minister President Felix zu Schwarzenberg's plan to end the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Franz Joseph then acceded to the throne. In 1854, he married his first cousin Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, with whom he had four children: Sophie, Gisela, Rudolf, and Marie Valerie. Largely considered to be a reactionary, Franz Joseph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains. The Austrian Empire was forced to cede its influence over Tuscany and most of its claim to Lombardy–Venetia to the Kingdom of Sardinia, following the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. Although Franz Joseph ceded no territory to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the Peace of Prague settled the German Question in favour of Prussia, which prevented the unification of Germany from occurring under the House of Habsburg.
Franz Joseph was troubled by nationalism throughout his reign. He concluded the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which granted greater autonomy to Hungary and created the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. He ruled peacefully for the next 45 years, but personally suffered the tragedies of the execution of his brother Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico in 1867, the suicide of his son Rudolf in 1889, and the assassinations of his wife Elisabeth in 1898 and his nephew and heir presumptive, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in 1914.
After the Austro-Prussian War, Austria-Hungary turned its attention to the Balkans, which was a hotspot of international tension because of conflicting interests of Austria with not only the Ottoman but also the Russian Empire. The Bosnian Crisis was a result of Franz Joseph's annexation in 1908 of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which had already been occupied by his troops since the Congress of Berlin. On 28 June 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo resulted in Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against the Kingdom of Serbia, which was an ally of the Russian Empire. This activated a system of alliances declaring war on each other, which resulted in World War I. Franz Joseph died in 1916, after ruling his domains for almost 68 years. He was succeeded by his grandnephew Charles I & IV.
Early life
Franz Joseph was born on 18 August 1830 in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna as the eldest son of Archduke Franz Karl, and Sophie, Princess of Bavaria. Because his uncle, reigning from 1835 as the Emperor Ferdinand, was disabled by seizures, and his father unambitious and retiring, the mother of the young Archduke "Franzi" brought him up as a future emperor, with emphasis on devotion, responsibility and diligence.For this reason, Franz Joseph was consistently built up as a potential successor to the imperial throne by his politically ambitious mother from early childhood.
Up to the age of 7, little "Franzi" was brought up in the care of the nanny Louise von Sturmfeder. Then the "state education" began, the central contents of which were "sense of duty", religiosity and dynastic awareness. The theologian Joseph Othmar von Rauscher conveyed to him the inviolable understanding of rulership of divine origin, and therefore a belief that no participation of the population in rulership in the form of parliaments was required.
The educators Heinrich Franz von Bombelles and Colonel Johann Baptist Coronini-Cronberg ordered Archduke Franz to study an enormous amount of time, which initially comprised 18 hours per week and was expanded to 50 hours per week by the age of 16. One of the main focuses 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 general education that was customary at the time, which was later supplemented by law and political science. Various forms of physical education completed the extensive program.
On his 13th birthday, Franz Joseph was appointed Colonel-Inhaber of Dragoon Regiment No. 3 and the focus of his training shifted to imparting basic strategic and tactical knowledge. From that point onward, army style dictated his personal fashionfor the rest of his life, he normally wore the uniform of a military officer. Franz Joseph was soon joined by three younger brothers: Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian ; Archduke Karl Ludwig, and Archduke Ludwig Viktor, and a sister, Archduchess Maria Anna, who died at the age of 4.
Revolutions of 1848
During the Revolutions of 1848, the Austrian Chancellor Prince Klemens von Metternich resigned. The young archduke, who would soon succeed his uncle on the throne, was appointed Governor of Bohemia on 6 April 1848, but never took up the post. Sent instead to the front in Italy, he joined Field Marshal Radetzky on campaign on 29 April, receiving his baptism of fire on 5 May at Santa Lucia.By all accounts, he handled his first military experience calmly and with dignity. Around the same time, the imperial family was fleeing revolutionary Vienna for the calmer setting of Innsbruck, in Tyrol. Called back from Italy, the archduke joined the rest of his family at Innsbruck by mid-June. It was here that Franz Joseph first met his cousin and eventual future bride, Elisabeth, then a girl of 10, but apparently the meeting made little impression.
Following Austria's victory over the Italians at Custoza in late July 1848, the court felt it safe to return to Vienna, and Franz Joseph travelled with them. But within a few weeks, Vienna again appeared unsafe, and in September, the court left once more, this time for Olmütz in Moravia. By now, Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, an influential military commander in Bohemia, was determined to see the young archduke soon put on the throne. It was thought that a new ruler would not be bound by the oaths to respect constitutional government to which Ferdinand had been forced to agree, and that it was necessary to find a young, energetic emperor to replace the kindly but mentally unfit Ferdinand.
By the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father, Franz Joseph succeeded as Emperor of Austria at Olmütz on 2 December 1848. At this time, he first became known by his second as well as his first Christian name. The name "Franz Joseph" was chosen to bring back memories of the new Emperor's great-granduncle, Emperor Joseph II, remembered as a modernising reformer.
Under the guidance of the new prime minister, Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg, the new emperor at first pursued a cautious course, granting a constitution in March 1849. At the same time, a military campaign was necessary against the Hungarians, who had rebelled against Habsburg central authority in the name of their ancient constitution. Franz Joseph was also almost immediately faced with a renewal of the fighting in Italy, with King Charles Albert of Sardinia taking advantage of setbacks in Hungary to resume the war in March 1849.
File:Győri csata.jpg|thumb|The Battle of Győr on 28 June 1849. Franz Joseph enters Győr leading the Austrian troops.
However, the military tide began to turn swiftly in favor of Franz Joseph and the Austrian whitecoats. Almost immediately, Charles Albert was decisively beaten by Radetzky at Novara and forced to sue for peace, as well as to renounce his throne.
Revolution in Hungary
Unlike other Habsburg ruled areas, the Kingdom of Hungary had an old historic constitution, which limited the power of the crown and had greatly increased the authority of the parliament since the 13th century.The Hungarian reform laws were based on the 12 points that established the fundaments of modern civil and political rights, economic and societal reforms in the Kingdom of Hungary. The crucial turning point of the Hungarian events were the April laws which was ratified by his uncle King Ferdinand, however the new young Austrian monarch Francis Joseph arbitrarily "revoked" the laws without any legal competence. The monarchs had no right to revoke Hungarian parliamentary laws which were already signed. This unconstitutional act irreversibly escalated the conflict between the Hungarian parliament and Francis Joseph. The Austrian Stadion Constitution was accepted by the Imperial Diet of Austria, where Hungary had no representation, and which traditionally had no legislative power in the territory of Kingdom of Hungary; despite this, it also tried to abolish the Diet of Hungary
The new Austrian constitution also went against the historical constitution of Hungary, and even tried to nullify it. Even the territorial integrity of the country was in danger: On 7 March 1849, an imperial proclamation was issued in the name of the Emperor Francis Joseph, according to the new proclamation, the territory of Kingdom of Hungary would be carved up and administered by five military districts, while the Principality of Transylvania would be reestablished. These events represented a clear and obvious existential threat for the Hungarian state. The new constrained Stadion Constitution of Austria, the revocation of the April laws and the Austrian military campaign against the Kingdom of Hungary resulted in the fall of the pacifist Batthyány government and led to the sudden emergence of Lajos Kossuth's followers in the Hungarian parliament, who demanded the full independence of Hungary. The Austrian military intervention in the Kingdom of Hungary resulted in strong anti-Habsburg sentiment among Hungarians, thus the events in Hungary grew into a war for total independence from the Habsburg dynasty.