Twilight of the Hapsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph, Palmer - B+

                       The longest serving Hapsburg was born in 1830. His father, Francis Charles, was a "kindly non-entity" and his mother Sophie of Bavaria was bright and ambitious. His grandfather, the emperor, died when Franz was five and the title passed to his uncle, "an amiable simpleton and epileptic." Sophie saw that Franz received a traditional education. He loved everything about the military, and excelled at languages learning to speak French, Magyar, Czech, and Italian. He had an excellent memory, but lacked "intellectual curiosity" and was "not disposed to analyze ideas to question acknowledged truths. " Unrest and revolution spread throughout Europe in 1848. In Vienna, Count Metternich's long career came to an end and throughout the vast reaches of the empire, people agitated for freedom. Foremost were the Italians, and seventeen year old Franz was sent to Verona to serve under Field Marshal Radetzky. Hungary was insisting on an enhanced role in the empire and radicals had taken to the streets of Vienna. The extensive turmoil led to the army insisting on the emperor's abdication in December, and the ascension of his nephew Franz Joseph to the crown. He would be the monarch for almost sixty-eight years. The Hungarians declared independence and battled the Austrians into the following year, before the government prevailed. Franz was determined to rule absolutely and ended all talk of a constitutional monarchy.

                         In 1854, he married his sixteen year old cousin, Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria, who was known as Sisi. He rejected the recommendations of his ministers and avoided involvement in the Crimean War. He ordered the removal of Vienna's defensive walls leading to the construction of the famous Ringstrasse, making the city one of the most beautiful in Europe. In the first two years of their marriage, Sisi and Franz welcomed two daughters into the family. A son and heir, Rudolph, was born in 1858. The following year saw Austria at war with the French in northern Italy. At Solferino, the empire was defeated, but Franz and Napoleon III sat down to work out an armistice. In the ensuing peace, the empire gave up a modest amount of its Italian territories. The tensions between the free-spirited Sisi and her demanding mother-in-law led  Sisi to despise life in Vienna, leaving for months at a time. She spent weeks in Madeira, Corfu and a five month winter in Venice. Franz continued to resist any modernization of the monarchy, but in 1863 a radiant Elizabeth was at Franz's side, and in the ensuing three years "would possess the vision and skill to coax Franz Joseph into accepting the greatest of all changes in the structure of his Empire."

                          The accession of Bismarck to the Prussian chancellorship led to an increase in Prussian aggression and ambition. In 1866, the Austrians were defeated at Sadowa, and forswore any future ambitions in Germany. He turned his attention to Hungary and the following year signed the Austro-Hungarian Compromise. Unlike other Hapsburg lands, Hungary had been a free standing kingdom in the past and hoped for a recognition of its unique status. Sisi particularly encouraged Franz toward some sort of accommodation. A dual monarchy, The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was created, and substantial powers of self-government were bestowed on Hungary. Later that year, Franz agreed to a constitution devolving limited domestic powers to a Reichstat with an upper and lower house. When the Franco-Prusssian War broke out in 1870, Franz emphatically insisted that the empire would not join the fray. 

                        Although embarrassed by the diminishment of its roles in Germany and Italy, a peaceful empire saw prosperity, foreign investment, and growth in manufactures, all at a time of bountiful harvests in central Europe. Vienna was entering a golden era capped by the vast 1873 World Exhibition. At home, Sisi continued to travel while Franz worked assiduously from early in the morning until late at night. When his uncle, the former emperor died he inherited a fortune, but personal wealth had little impact on the ascetic emperor. The Crown Prince Rudolf married and soon added a granddaughter to the family. The 1880's saw a burst of financial growth throughout the empire, and a rising middle class in Vienna, Budapest and Prague. Vienna remained the music capital with Strauss, Bruckner, Mahler, and Brahms all creating new works. Throughout the country, particularly on the Ringstrasse, there were architectural accomplishments on a grand scale. In early 1888, Vienna turned out for a massive Hapsburg procession and the unveiling of a monument to Maria-Theresa.

                      The life of the liberal, anti-German Crown prince took a turn for the worse in the late 1880's. He and his wife lived separately, and it is believed that in the course of his dissolute life, Rudolf contracted gonnorhea. He proposed a suicide pact to one of his mistresses. After a spat with his father, Rudolph removed himself and a lover to his lodge at Mayerling. On the morning of Jan. 30, 1889, Rudolf's and Mary Vesta's bodies were found in a locked room there. Nine years later, in the midst of the celebrations of his 50th year on the throne, Franz received the news that Sisi was assassinated in Geneva. As Franz turned 70, he remained mentally and physically fit, still working long hours at his desk, but becoming increasingly isolated. 

                    Franz had successfully kept the empire out of war since 1866, and the prosperity occasioned by peace was evident. To the south though, the Balkans were becoming increasingly volatile. The backbone of Franz's foreign policy had always been a peaceful relationship with Russia. The troublesome Serbs constantly agitated for change and were often supported by their Slavic Orthodox brethren. Franz annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908 and visited Sarajevo later in the year. Soon the eighty-year old was attending fewer and fewer meetings and relying on his ministers to manage the empire. When the Balkans exploded in 1912 and finally threw out the Ottomans, Franz resisted those who were hungering to enter the war. However, one of the cataclysmic events of the 20th century took place when the Empire's heir was assassinated on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo by a Bosnian Serb.

                       Franz wanted Serbia punished, but did not want war. He approved the Foreign Office's ultimatum because he believed a war would be localized in the Balkans. He was surprised when it broke out and told a family member that it would end in defeat and revolution. The war went satisfactorily in 1915, but deteriorated the following year. He did not live to see the end, succumbing to pneumonia on Oct. 21, 1916. Eventually, Franz Joseph was fondly remembered as the "old gentleman of Schonbrunn." He once said that the monarchy"is a place of refuge, an asylum for all those fragmented nations scattered over central Europe, who if left to their own resources would lead a pitiful existence, becoming the playthings of more powerful neighbors." For the Poles, Ukrainians, Czechs, Slovaks, Hungarians, Transylvanians, Croats, and Bosnians who suffered the depredations of Nazi Germany, and later, forty-five years of communist tyranny, he was clearly correct.