Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FRANCIS JOSEPH I

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 944 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FRANCIS See also:JOSEPH I . (1830- ), See also:emperor of See also:Austria, See also:king of Bohemia, and apostolic king of See also:Hungary, was the eldest son of the See also:archduke Francis See also:Charles, second son of the reigning emperor Francis I., being See also:born on the 180 of See also:August 1830. His See also:mother, the archduchess See also:Sophia, was daughter of See also:Maximilian I., king of See also:Bavaria. She was a woman of See also:great ability and strong See also:character, and during the years which followed the See also:death of the emperor Francis was probably the most influential personage at the See also:Austrian See also:court; for the emperor See also:Ferdinand, who succeeded in 1835, was physically and mentally incapable of performing the duties of his See also:office; as he was childless, Francis Joseph was in the See also:direct See also:line of See also:succession. During the disturbances of 1848, Francis Joseph spent some See also:time in See also:Italy, where, under See also:Radetzky, at the See also:battle of St See also:Lucia, he had his first experience of warfare. At the end of that See also:year, after the rising of See also:Vienna and See also:capture of the See also:city by See also:Windischgratz, it was clearly desirable that there should be a more vigorous ruler at the See also:head of the See also:empire, and Ferdinand, now that the See also:young archduke was of See also:age, was able to carry out the See also:abdication which he and his wife had See also:long desired. All the preparations were made with the utmost secrecy; on the 2nd of See also:December 1848, in the archiepiscopal See also:palace at See also:Olmutz, whither the court had fled from Vienna, the emperor abdicated. His See also:brother resigned his rights of succession to his son, and Francis Joseph was proclaimed emperor. Ferdinand retired to See also:Prague, where he died in 1875. The See also:history of the Dual See also:Monarchy during his reign is told under the heading of AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, and here it is only necessary to See also:deal with its See also:personal aspects. The young emperor was during the first years of his reign completely in the hands of See also:Prince See also:Felix See also:Schwarzenberg, to whom, with Windischgratz and Radetzky, he owed it that Austria had emerged from the revolution apparently stronger than it had been before. The first task was to reduce Hungary to obedience, for the See also:Magyars refused to acknowledge the validity of the abdication in so far as it See also:con. cerned Hungary, on the ground that such an See also:act would only be valid with the consent of the Hungarian See also:parliament.

A further See also:

motive for their attitude was that Francis Joseph, unlike his predecessor, had not taken the See also:oath to observe the Hungarian constitution, which it was the avowed See also:object of Schwarzenberg to overthrow. In the See also:war which followed the emperor himself took See also:part, but it was.not brought to a successful conclusion till the help of the Russians had been called in. Hungary, deprived of her See also:ancient constitution, became an integral part of theAustrian empire. The new reign began, therefore, under sinister omens, with the suppression of See also:liberty in Italy, Hungary and See also:Germany. In 1853 a Hungarian named Lebenyi attempted to assassinate the emperor, and succeeded in inflicting a serious See also:wound with a See also:knife. With the death of Schwarzenberg in 1852 the personal See also:government of the emperor really began, and with it that long See also:series of experiments of which Austria has been the subject. Generally it may be said that throughout his long reign Francis Joseph remained the real ruler of his dominions; he not only kept in his hands the See also:appointment and dismissal of his ministers, but himself directed their policy, and owing to the great know-ledge of affairs, the unremitting See also:diligence and clearness of See also:apprehension, to which all who transacted business with him have See also:borne testimony, he was able to keep a very real See also:control even of the details of government. The recognition of the See also:separate status of Hungary, and the restoration of the Magyar constitution in r866, necessarily made some See also:change in his position, and so far as concerns Hungary he fully accepted the See also:doctrine that ministers are responsible to parliament. In the other See also:half of the monarchy (the so-called Cisleithan) this was not possible, and the authority and See also:influence of the emperor were even increased by the contrast with the weaknesses and failures of the See also:parliamentary See also:system. The most noticeable features in his reign were the repeated and sudden changes of policy, which, while they arose from the extreme difficulty of finding any system by which the See also:Habsburg monarchy could be governed, were due also to the personal idiosyncrasies of the emperor. First we have the See also:attempt at the autocratic centralization of the whole monarchy under See also:Bach; the personal influence of the emperor is seen in the conclusion of the See also:Concordat with See also:Rome, by which in 1855 the See also:work of Joseph II. was undone and the See also:power of the papacy for a while restored. The See also:foreign policy of this See also:period brought about the See also:complete See also:isolation of Austria, and the " ingratitude " towards See also:Russia, as shown during the period of the See also:Crimean War, which has become proverbial, caused a permanent estrangement between the two great Eastern empires and the imperial families.

The system led inevitably to See also:

bankruptcy and ruin; the war of 1859, by bringing it to an end, saved the monarchy. After the first defeat Francis Joseph hastened to Italy; he commanded in See also:person at See also:Solferino, and by a See also:meeting with See also:Napoleon arranged the terms of the See also:peace of Villafranca. The next six years, both in See also:home and foreign policy, were marked by great vacillation. In See also:order to meet the universal discontent and the See also:financial difficulties constitutional government was introduced; a parliament was established in which all races of the empire were represented, and in See also:place of centralized despotism was established Liberal centralization under See also:Schmerling and the See also:German Liberals. But the Magyars refused to send representatives to the central parliament; the Slays, resenting the Germanizing policy of the government, withdrew; and the emperor had really withdrawn his confidence from Schmerling long before the constitution was suspended in 1865 as a first step to a reconciliation with Hungary. In the complicated German affairs the emperor in vain sought for a See also:minister on whose knowledge and See also:advice he could depend. He was guided in turn by the inconsistent advice of Schmerling, See also:Rechberg, Mensdorff, not to mention more obscure counsellors, and it is not surprising that Austria was repeatedly outmatched and outwitted by See also:Prussia. In 1863, at the Furstentag in See also:Frankfort, the emperor made an attempt by his personal influence to solve the German question. He invited all the German sovereigns to meet him in See also:conference, and laid before them a See also:plan for the reconstruction of the con-federation. The momentary effect was immense; for some of the See also:halo of the See also:Holy Empire still clung See also:round the head of the See also:house of Habsburg, and Francis Joseph was welcomed to the ancient See also:free city with See also:enthusiasm. In spite of this, however, and of the skill with which he presided over the debates, theconference "came to nothing owing to the refusal of the king of Prussia to attend. The German question was settled definitively by the battle of.

See also:

Koniggratz in 1866; and the emperor Francis Joseph, with characteristic Habsburg opportunism, was See also:quick to accommodate himself to the new circumstances. Above all, he recognized the See also:necessity for reconciling the Magyars to the monarchy; for it was their discontent that had mainly contributed to the collapse of the Austrian power. He had already, in 1859, as the result of a visit to See also:Budapest, made certain modifications in the Bach system by way of concession to Magyar sentiment, and in 1861 he had had an interview with Dealt, during which, though unconvinced by that statesman's arguments, he had at least assured himself of his See also:loyalty. He now made Beust, See also:Bismarck's Saxon antagonist, the head of his government, as the result of whose negotiations with See also:Dale the Austro-Hungarian See also:Compromise of 1867 was agreed upon. A See also:law was passed by the Hungarian See also:diet regularizing the abdication of Ferdinand; at the beginning of See also:June Francis Joseph signed the inaugural diploma and took the oath in Magyar to observe the constitution; on the 8th he was solemnly crowned king of Hungary. The traditional See also:coronation See also:gift of roo,000 florins he assigned to the widows and orphans of those who had fallen in the war against Austria in 1849. Once having accepted the principle of constitutional government, the emperor-king adhered to it loyally, in spite of the discouragement caused by party struggles embittered by racial antagonisms. If in the Cisleithan half of the monarchy parliamentary government See also:broke down, this was through no See also:fault of the emperor, who worked hard to find a modus vivendi between the factions, and did not shrink from introducing manhood See also:suffrage in the attempt to establish a See also:stable parliamentary system. This expedient, indeed, probably also conveyed a veiled See also:threat to the Magyar chauvinists, who, discontented with the restrictions placed upon Hungarian See also:independence under the Compromise, were agitating for the complete separation of Austria and Hungary under a personal See also:union only; for universal suffrage in Hungary would mean the subordination of the Magyar minority to the hitherto subject races. For nearly See also:forty years after the See also:acceptance of the Compromise the attitude of the emperor-king towards the Magyar constitution had been scrupulously correct. The agitation for the completely separate organization of the Hungarian See also:army, and for the substitution of Magyar for German in words of command in Hungarian regiments, broke down the See also:patience of the emperor, tenacious of his See also:prerogative as supreme " war See also:lord " of the See also:common army. A Hungarian deputation which came to Vienna in See also:September 1905 to urge the Magyar claims was received ungraciously by the emperor, who did not offer his See also:hand to the members,addressed them in German, and referred them brusquely to the See also:chancellor, See also:Count See also:Goluchowski.

This incident caused a considerable sensation, and was the prelude to a long crisis in Hungarian affairs, during which the emperor-king, while quick to repair the unfortunate impression produced by his momentary pique, held inflexibly to his resolve in the See also:

matter of the common army. In his relations with the Slays the emperor displayed the same conciliatory disposition as in the See also:case of the Magyars; but though he more than once held out hopes that he would be crowned at Prague as king of Bohemia, the project was always abandoned. In this, indeed, as in other cases, it may be said that the emperor was guided less by any abstract principles than by a common-sense appreciation of the needs and possibilities of the moment. Whatever his natural prejudices or natural resentments, he never allowed these to influence his policy. The German empire and the See also:Italian See also:kingdom had been built up out of the ruins of immemorial Habsburg ambitions; yet he refused to be See also:drawn into an See also:alliance with See also:France in 1869 and 187o, and became the mainstay of the Triple Alliance of Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy. His reputation as a consistent moderating influence in See also:European policy and one of the See also:chief guarantors of European peace was indeed rudely shaken in See also:October 1908, the year in which he celebrated his sixty years' See also:jubilee as emperor, by the issue of the imperial rescript annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina to the Habsburg dominions, in violation of the terms of the treaty of See also:Berlin. But his opportunism was again justified by the result. See also:Europe lost an ideal; but Austria gained two provinces. In his private See also:life the emperor was the victim of terrible catastrophes—his wife, his brother and his only son having been destroyed by sudden and violent deaths. He married in 1854 See also:Elizabeth, daughter of Maximilian Joseph, See also:duke of Bavaria, who belonged to the younger and non-royal See also:branch of the house of See also:Wittelsbach. The empress, who shared the remarkable beauty common to all her See also:family, took little part in the public life of Austria. After the first years of married life she was seldom seen in Vienna, and spent much of her time in travelling.

She built a See also:

castle of great beauty and magnificence, called the Achilleion, in the See also:island of See also:Corfu, where she often resided. In 1867 she accompanied the emperor to Budapest, and took much See also:interest in See also:tile reconciliation with the Magyars. She became a See also:good Hungarian See also:scholar, and spent much time in Hungary. An admirable horsewoman, in later years she repeatedly visited See also:England and See also:Ireland for the See also:hunting See also:season. In 1897 she was assassinated at See also:Geneva by an Italian anarchist; previous attempts had been made on her and on her See also:husband during a visit to See also:Trieste. There was one son of the See also:marriage, the See also:crown prince See also:Rudolph (1857-1889). A See also:man of much ability and promise, he was a good linguist, and showed great interest in natural history. He published two See also:works, Fifteen Days on the See also:Danube and A See also:Journey in the See also:East, and also promoted the publication of an important illustrated work giving a full description of the whole Austro-Hungarian monarchy; he personally shared the labours of the editorial work. In 1881 he married Stephanie, daughter of the king of the Belgians. On 3oth See also:January 1889 he committed See also:suicide at Mayerling, a See also:country house near Vienna. He See also:left one daughter, Elizabeth, who was betrothed to Count See also:Alfred Windischgratz in Igoe. In 1900 his widow, the crown princess Stephanie, married Count Lonyay; by this she sacrificed her See also:rank and position within the Austrian monarchy.

Besides the crown prince 'the empress gave See also:

birth to three daughters, of whom two survive: Gisela (born 1857), who married a son of the prince See also:regent of Bavaria; and See also:Marie Valerie (born 1868), who married the archduke See also:Franz Salvator of See also:Tuscany. See J. Emmer, Kaiser Franz Joseph (2 vols., Vienna, 1898); J. Schnitzer, Franz Joseph I. and See also:seine Zeit (2 vols., ib., 1899) ; Viribis unitis. Das See also:Buch vom Kaiser, with introduction by J. A. v. Halfert, ed. M. Herzig (ib., 1$98); R. Rostok, See also:Die Regierungszeit See also:des K. u. K. Franz Joseph I.

(3rd ed. lb., 1903).

End of Article: FRANCIS JOSEPH I

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FRANCIS IV 		[next]
FRANCIS OF ASSISI, ST

Site © 2006 - Net Industries