Emperor Franz Josef was in his study when word reached him that his son, Crown Prince Rudolf, had committed suicide. Ten years later, a young Italian anarchist stabbed the Emperor's wife to death. And sixteen years after that, the Franz Josef's nephew and heir would be gunned down by a Bosnian Serb in Sarajevo-the event that propelled Europe into the world war. The Emperor would not live to see the end of the conflict, nor the subsequent dismemberment of his multinational empire.
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For those who are fascinated by the lives of people throughout history, Time-Life's What Life Was Like is the first book series to offer an intimately detailed, deeply human prospective on global history that lets you experience what life was really like and connect with people of the past.
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Chapter 1: In the House of Habsburg
On the morning of December 2, 1848, in a provincial palace 100 or so miles northeast of Vienna, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria was preparing to abdicate the throne. A weak man with little control over his own government, the 55-year-old Ferdinand nevertheless had the good sense to realize that his empire needed a younger person at the helm. Without children of his own, he had chosen as his successor his nephew, 18-year-old Franz Josef. For this, his final official appearance, Ferdinand, as was his habit, wore civilian dress; his nephew-a particularly handsome man with a slender figure-donned the tight-fitting white tunic and red trousers of a general officer in the imperial army. Only a small group had been assembled to witness the abdication: ministers of government, several high-ranking army officers, and the members of the Habsburg royal family. Among the latter were Franz Josef's parents: Archduke Franz Karl, the emperor's brother, who, considered as ineffectual as Ferdinand, had stepped aside in favor of his oldest son; and bursting with maternal pride and splendidly turned out in a court dress of white moiré silk with a jeweled rose in her hair, Archduchess Sophie, the guiding force behind her "Franzi's" accession to the throne. In a nervous voice, halting between words and occasionally emphasizing the wrong syllables, Ferdinand read out a prepared statement on behalf of himself and his wife, the empress Maria Anna. "Important reasons," he began, "have led Us to the irrevocable decision to lay down Our Crown in favor of Our beloved nephew, Archduke Franz Josef." After various other official acts were read aloud by Prime Minister Felix zu Schwarzenburg, the new emperor of Austria approached his uncle and knelt before him. Ferdinand stroked the young man's hair and, lifting him to his feet, proclaimed, "God Bless you! Be good and God will protect you. I have done this willingly."
Franz Josef, who was born on August 18, 1830, had seemed destined for great things from a very early age. His education had been entrusted to two powerful tutors: in the art of statecraft, to Klemens Metternich, the chancellor of the empire; in the matters of philosophy and religion, to the Archbishop of Vienna, Joseph von Rauscher. Between the age of six and his ascendancy to the throne, he was indoctrinated with the political philosophy of the monarch's divine right to rule. He was also taught French, Italian, Hungarian, and Czech in addition to his native German-all the languages that might be of use to a future Habsburg emperor, whose many royal titles included king of Hungary and Bohemia, king of Lombardy and Venetia, grand duke of Tuscany and Krakow, grand duke of Transylvania, and margave of Moravia.
Franz Josef would rule for longer than any other European monarch. The 68 years of his reign would be marked by monumental changes in political, economic, social, and cultural life. His prestige would hold together 50 million subjects-including nearly a dozen different peoples with countless conflicting tensions- who made up the polyglot and amorphous realm that was the Austrian Empire.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
BEAUTIFUL PICTURE BOOK...LIGHT ON SUBSTANCE.,
This review is from: What Life Was Like: At Empire's End : Austro-Hungarian Empire Ad 1848-1918 (Hardcover)
This is one of a series of books covering major events and era in history. It is a smallish coffee table book and quite pretty and well made with high quality of paper and very nice binding.
This particular work covers the period in Europe between the years 1848 and 1918; the fall and collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The text consists of little bits and splats of this and that follows a chronological line. There is not much depth to the information offered up in this book but then that really is not the reason it was written and published. This is a very brief introduction to this fascinating period of time, and I do mean brief. While all of the information contained here appears to be correct; it never the less hardly scratches the surface. The strength of this book, and the reason I checked it from the library, are the photographs and reproductions of paintings, both in color and black and white of this period of time. I must say that the editors of this work did a bang-up job here. One section that I found interesting was a chapter dealing with the various cultures encompassed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This was a very large area of the earth and a very diverse area. Illustrations show typical dress and village scenes. This was a most interesting time and place in history and the opulence displayed by the ruling class was a sight to behold. It is doubtful if we shall ever see such a glittering time again. Now don't take me wrong...there was much to criticize during that time and I most certainly would not like to have been a member of the lower class, the working class or the peasants. Times were hard and that should not be forgotten. But still and all, if you viewed things from the top, there were delights to behold. Of course much of this story centers around Vienna, which for a brief moment in history, was the cultural and artistic center of the world. Like another reviewer here, I should hope that a book like this (A sort of book I call a "seed book"), should stimulate the reader to delve further into this area of history. There was seldom a time like it before and there certainly will not be a time like it again. I pretty well have to give this one three stars and from my point of view the three stars are for the pictures and photographs....if that were all I were rating in this book I would give it five stars. Don Blankenship The Ozarks
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Glimpse of Vienna 100 Years Ago,
By A Customer (North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: What Life Was Like: At Empire's End : Austro-Hungarian Empire Ad 1848-1918 (Hardcover)
Recently picked up this title through a remaindered book catalog and enjoyed the wonderful illustrations. We had the pleasure of taking a riverboat cruise down the Danube last year and were captivated by the places we visited in the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. Many of the historic sites we saw are shown in the book as they looked over a century ago. Recommended.
3.0 out of 5 stars
A nice intro, but nothing further,
By Erica Bell (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What Life Was Like: At Empire's End : Austro-Hungarian Empire Ad 1848-1918 (Hardcover)
A good intruduction, and very well illustrated---in fact, this is largely a picture book of photos, paintings, advertisements etc. of the late-19th and early 20th Century. A few brief bios---Pacifist and Nobel-Laureate Bertha Kinski, The last emperor and his (probably) anorexic wife Elizabeth--the Mayerling affair, national costumes of the many peoples stuffed into this sprawling Empire. Lots of snippets of info and color to whet your taste for a really MEATY History of this faded and falling institution, and a hint of what men lost to nationalism, the coming Wars, and future squallor and prosperity alike. Ahead of its time and hopelessly dated, life dictated from Vienna was bound to eventually fail. Grand 20th Century writer Josef Roth could never be fooled by his Empire's flaws, and yet he mourned the passing of this glittering world--and the unifying influence of his Emperor--for the rest of his life. Cradle of Kafka and Roth, of Rilke, Lugosi, Weille, and so many others, the end of the Austro-Hungarian empire is endlessly fascinating and sad. Let not this book, at least, be your final look at it.
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