Francis Joseph

Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria, born 18th August 1830, the eldest son of the Archduke Francis (son of the Emperor Francis I.), came to the imperial throne in 1848 as the successor of his uncle Ferdinand I., who had been forced to abdicate (see AUSTRIA). The new emperor’s first task was to subdue the Hungarian revolt, and to effect the pacification of Lombardy. This accomplished, an era of reaction began. The national aspirations of the various ethnic constituents of the empire for political autonomy and freedom were rigorously suppressed, and a determined effort made to fuse them into one state, the nucleus and support of which should be the army; the emperor reasserted his claim to rule as an absolute sovereign; the policy of bureaucratic centralisation was again reverted to; and a close alliance was entered into with the Roman Catholic party to combat the advocates of liberal progress. In 1859 Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia; and by the war with Prussia in 1866 Austria was excluded altogether from Germany. At the same time she was compelled to hand over Venetia to the king of Sardinia, who had fought as the ally of Prussia. From this time a change came over the policy of Austria (see AUSTRIA). The emperor thenceforward adopted a policy of conciliation towards the nationalities comprised in his dominions, and evinced an earnest desire to gratify the particular desires and aspirations of each, more especially by the official recognition of the Bohemian language in Bohemia. By the death of his only son Rudolf (1858-89), the crown passes to Francis Ferdinand, son of the emperor's brother Charles Louis, who renounced his claims to the throne. The empress, Elizabeth (1837-98), the daughter of a Bavarian duke, was stabbed at Geneva by an Italian anarchist.