EMPEROR FRANCIS JOSEPH: Life, Death and the Fall of the Habsburg Empire

In 1848, the Year of Revolutions, the popular but feeble-minded Emperor Ferdinand of Austria abdicated and his heir Archduke Francis Charles renounced his place in the succession in favour of his son Francis Joseph. Aged eighteen, Francis Joseph began a reign which would last for almost sixty-eight years, longer than any other modern European monarch. Yet, despite some successes, his reign would see the decline of the powerful Habsburg Empire, which had held sway in southern Europe for several centuries, and would be coloured by family tragedies.
As a ruler Francis Joseph was a natural autocrat but tempered absolutism with reform: during his reign he introduced general suffrage and presided over the Reichsrat, the forerunner to a constitutional parliament. Politically, his reign was a disaster: Austrian defeats in Italy led to the loss of the states of Lombardy, Tuscany and Modena, and the Empire was expelled from the German Confederation after her ally Prussia declared war and defeated Austria in a six-week campaign. The decline of the Empire was exacerbated by the horrific events in Francis Joseph's own family. His brother Maximillian, chosen as Emperor of Mexico in 1864, reigned over a country torn apart by civil war and was executed by firing squad three years later. Francis Joseph's wayward wife, Elizabeth, was assassinated in Geneva in 1898. Two of his heirs met violent deaths - his only son Rudolf killed his mistres and then committed suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling, while the assassination of his nephew Francis Ferdinand at Sarajevo precipitated the First World War.
John Van der Kiste's new book examines the personal relationships of Francis Joseph and the Habsburg family against the turbulent background of Europe in the nineteenth century. It is an account of the man who, despite the brief reign of his successor and great-nephew Charles, was to all intents and purposes the last Emperor of Austria.

John Van Der Kiste has written nearly 20 books on British and European royalty. His most recent are: 'William and Mary' and with Coryne Hall, 'Xenia: Sister of Nicholas' (June 2002. He also writes historical articles and reviews afor local and national journals. and contributed to the New Dictionary of National Biography.