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WARS

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 934 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WARS , &c.) The See also:

emperor's firmness averted what would have been an irreparable loss of position. Seeing that the See also:Empire was in the last See also:stage of See also:dissolution, and that, even were it to survive, it would pass from the See also:house of See also:Habsburg to that of See also:Bonaparte, he in 1804 assumed the See also:title of hereditary emperor of See also:Austria. The See also:object of this prudent measure was See also:double. In the first See also:place, he guarded against the danger that his house should sink to a See also:lower See also:rank than the See also:Russian or the See also:French. In the second place, he gave some semblance of unity to his complex dominions in See also:Germany, Bohemia, See also:Hungary and See also:Italy, by providing a See also:common title for the supreme ruler. His See also:action was justified when, in r8o6, the See also:establishment of the See also:Confederation of the See also:Rhine forced him to abdicate the empty title of See also:Holy See also:Roman emperor. In 1805 he made an important See also:change in the working of his See also:administration. He had hitherto been assisted by a See also:cabinet See also:minister who was in See also:direct relation with all the " chanceries " and boards which formed the executive See also:government, and who acted as the channel of communication between them and the emperor; and was in fact a See also:prime minister. In 18o5 See also:Napoleon insisted on the removal of See also:Count Colloredo, who held the See also:post. From that See also:time forward the emperor See also:Francis acted as his own prime minister, superintending every detail of his administration. In See also:foreign affairs after 1809 he reposed full confidence in See also:Prince Metternich. But Metternich himself declared at the See also:close of his See also:life that he had sometimes held See also:Europe in the See also:palm of his See also:hand, but never Austria.

Francis was See also:

sole See also:master, and is entitled to whatever praise is due to his government. It follows that he must See also:bear the blame for its errors. The See also:history of the See also:Austrian empire under his See also:rule and since his See also:death bears testimony to both his merits and his limitations. His indomitable See also:patience and See also:loyalty to his inherited task enabled him to See also:triumph over Napoleon. By consenting to the See also:marriage of his daughter, See also:Marie See also:Louise, to Napoleon in 181o, he gained a See also:respite which he turned to See also:good See also:account. By following the guidance of Metternich in foreign affairs he was able to intervene with decisive effect in 1813. The See also:settlement of Europe in 1815 See also:left Austria stronger and more compact than she had been in 1792, and that this was the See also:case was largely due to the emperor. During the twenty years which preceded his death in 1835, Francis continued to oppose the revolutionary spirit. He had none of the mystical tendencies of the See also:tsar See also:Alexander I., and only adhered to the See also:half fantastic Holy See also:Alliance of 1815 out of pure politeness. But he was wholly in sympathy with the policy of repression " which came. in popular view, to be identified with the Holy Alliance; and though Metternich was primarily responsible for the See also:part played by Austria in the " policing " of Europe, Francis cannot but be held personally responsible for the cruel and impolitic severities, associated especially with the sinister name of the fortress See also:prison of the Spielberg, which made so many martyrs to freedom. It is not surprising that Francis was denounced by Liberals throughout Europe as a See also:tyrant and an obscurantist. But though at See also:home, as abroad, he met all suggestions of innovation by a steady refusal to depart from old ways, he was always popular among the See also:mass of his subjects, who called him " our good Kaiser See also:Franz." In truth, if in the spirit of the traditional Landesvater he chastised his disobedient See also:children mercilessly, he was essentially a well-meaning ruler who for-warded the material and moral good of his subjects according to his See also:lights.

But he held that, by the will of See also:

God, the whcle See also:sovereign authority resided in his See also:person, and could not be shared with others without a dereliction of See also:duty on his part and disastrous consequences; and his See also:capital See also:error as a ruler of Austria was that he persisted in maintaining a See also:system of administration which depended upon the indefatigable See also:industry of a single See also:man, and was entirely outgrown by the See also:modern develop-ment of his subjects. Before his death, government in Austria was almost choked, and it See also:broke down under a successor who had not his capacity for See also:work. Like his ancestor See also:Philip II. of See also:Spain, Francis carried caution, and a disposition to See also:sleep upon every possible proposal, to a See also:great length. He died on the 2nd of See also:March 1835. See See also:Baron J. A. Helfert, Kaiser Franz and See also:die osterreichischen Befreiungs-Kriege (See also:Vienna, 1867). Ample See also:bibliographies will be found in Krones von Marchland's Grundriss der osterreichischen Geschichte (See also:Berlin, 1882).

End of Article: WARS

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