Franz Joseph I of Austria

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Categories: Emperors of Austria | Hungarian monarchs | Bohemian monarchs | Austrian Field Marshals | Field Marshals of Germany | Knights of the Garter | British Field Marshals | 1830 births | 1916 deaths | Habsburg | Habsburg-Lorraine

This article is about the Austrian Emperor. For Franz Joseph the artist and author, see Franz Joseph (artist).

Francis Joseph I (in German often abbreviated Franz Joseph or Franz Josef, and in English also Francis Joseph) (August 18, 1830 – November 21, 1916) of the Habsburg Dynasty was Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia from 1848 until 1916 and Apostolic King of Hungary from 1867 until 1916. He was born in Vienna, Austria.

Archduke Franz was the oldest son of Archduke Franz Karl, who was brother and heir of Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I, and his wife Sophie, Archduchess of Austria and Princess of Bavaria). Franz was also the older brother of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Because his father renounced his claim to the throne, Franz was brought up by his mother as a future Emperor with emphasis on devoutness, responsibility and diligence. His youth was marked with seclusion and he never got approximated even with his brothers and sisters. At the age of 13 he started a career as a colonel in Austrian army. Since then his fashion was dictated by army style and he wore the uniform for most of his life.

He became Austrian Emperor as Franz Joseph I when Ferdinand abdicated near the end of the Revolution of 1848, on December 2, 1848. His imperial career was at first connected with the personality of Felix Schwarzenberg and was targeted to restore absolutism and regain the powerful position in foreign affairs. He abolished the Constitution of 1849 and became a sovereign monarch in 1852. However, the 1850s witnessed several failures of Austrian external policy (Crimean War and breaking-up with Russia, Austro-Sardinian War of 1859 against armies of the House of Savoy and Napoleon III).

The set-backs continued in the 1860s with Austro-Prussian War of 1866. It resulted in Austrian-Hungarian Dualism in 1867.

In 1854 Franz Joseph married Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria (also Princess of Bavaria through her mother's side of the family), who became Elisabeth of Austria ("Sisi" or "Sissi"). Their only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, committed suicide in 1889 in the (in)famous Mayerling episode with his young mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera. Rudolf's killing of the Baroness Vetsera was an extremely grim chapter in the long line of outbreaks of mental instability in the Habsburg Dynasty caused by their long history of inbreeding. The younger brother to Emperor Franz Joseph, the Archduke Viktor Ludwig, spent most of his life exiled on the island of Capri, following a series of scandals involving dressing up in women's clothes and molesting his military aides.

Notwithstanding the scandals, there were times when Franz Joseph took firm moral stands. When Pope Pius IX detained the six year old Jewish boy Edgardo Mortara on account of the claim that a housekeeper had secretly baptized him, Emperor Franz Joseph sent the Pope a plea to return the child to his parents. The Pope refused his request.

When World War I erupted, Austria-Hungary fought in alliance with Germany, but the Austro-Hungarian Army proved ill-prepared and ill-equipped. Franz Joseph's conservatism was partly to blame: when presented with the suggestion that the army should acquire a newly-developed mechanical weapon, namely tanks, he famously retorted: "Absolutely not. The horses will be startled!".

Their three other children were Archduchess Sophie of Austria (1855 - 1858), Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856 - 1932) and Archduchess Marie-Valerie of Austria (1868 - 1924).

The archipelago Franz Josef Land in the Russian high arctic was named in his honor in 1873. Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand's South Island also bears his name.

Names in other languages: German: Franz Josef, Italian: Francesco Giuseppe (in Italy he was also known as Cecco Peppe), Romanian: Francisc Iosif, Czech: František Josef, Hungarian: I. Ferenc József, Slovak: František Jozef I, Polish: Franciszek Józef, Croatian: Franjo Josip, Slovenian: Franc Jožef, Serbian: Franjo Josif, French: François-Joseph.

Official Grand Title of Franz Joseph I from 1849

His Imperial and Apostolic Majesty,

Franz Joseph I,

By the Grace of God, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia,

King [of Lombardy and Venice]¹, of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Lodomeria and Illyria; King of Jerusalem etc., Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Kraków, Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and of the Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz (Oświęcim) and Zator, of Teschen (Cieszyn/Český Těšín), Friuli, Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and Zara (Zadar); Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trent (Trento) and Brixen (Bressanone); Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc.; Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro (Kotor), and in the Wendish Mark; Grand Voivode of the Voivodina of Serbia etc. etc.

Personal Motto

Viribus Unitis - "with united forces"; probably Franz Joseph's version of the American E pluribus unum.

Nicknames

Italian: Cecco Peppe, from shortened forms of It. Francesco Giuseppe used especially by Italian troops who fought during "La Grande Guerra" (World War I). There is also a pacifist poem written by an Italian poet Trilussa where Franz Joseph is called Cecco Peppe.

Czech: Starej Procházka (Old Prochazka) or František Procházka (Francis "Walk-Round"), Procházka is one of common Czech surnames and Franz Joseph started to be called this name after his visit to Prague in 1901 when his picture walking across a Prague bridge was published in Czech newspapers with accompanying line: "Walk on the bridge", in Czech "Procházka na mostě"). It could be an urban legend and according to some historians Franz Joseph was called Starej Procházka much earlier because his arrival was being announced by a cavalryman called Procházka.

¹ removed from the title in 1866/1869 after the loss of the Italian countries.

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