The Hapsburgs

                                                            Emperor Franz Joseph

In 1914 Emperor Franz Joseph was in his 66th year at the head of the most successful family in Europe. He ruled an Empire that extended from what is now the Czech Republic and deep inside what is now Poland to the Italian Port City of Trieste. He had been doing so since he was 18 years old, which made him one of the longest reigning monarchs in the history of the world.

Franz Joseph was a sad, tired, lonely old man who found his life boring. All he had to look back on in his life was a lifetime of disappointment and failure. It's no wonder he spoke in unguarded moments, of yearning for death. Franz knew that his dynasty was near the end of its 1,000 year run.

But what a run it had been. The Hapsburgs had been Kings of Austria and other places for 6 1/2 centuries. With little interruptions, they had been emperors for more than 4 1/2 centuries. At their apex in the 1500's they had dominated Europe and the New World as no family has done before or since.

The 1st member of the Hapsburgs to appear on record was Guntram the Rich. And even in his time a century before the Norman Conquest of England, the family was prospering to a far-from common degree. In 1273 one of Gutram's descendants became the 1st Hapsburg monarch, King Rudolf I of Germany.

His one son succeeded  on the German throne, and another son became King of Austria. After that the Hapsburgs were never less than Royal; the only question from then on, was how many kingdoms the family would rule at any given time.

Now from the year 800 when the Barbarian chief of a Germanic Tribe call the Franks went to Rome and had himself crowned Emperor Charles(we remember him as Charlemagne, the Germans as Karl der Grosse) the rulers of Germany fancied themselves successors to the ancient Emperors of Rome. Since their ancestors over ran the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, they controlled much of Italy, and kept control through the Dark and Middles Ages, and on through the Renaissance into Modern Times.

The highest honor for a German was to become Holy Roman Emperor. And the last to be crowned in Rome was a member of the Hapsburg family's Austrian Branch.

Fredrick III became Emperor in 1440, and though the throne was "elective" (the only voters were the hereditary rulers of Major German States, Including Austria, from that point on the Hapsburgs had much wealth and power that until 1711 not a single non-Hapsburg was elected to it.

Now the Hapsburg all had what they called the famous "Hapsburg Lip" it was a grotesque protuberance of the lower lip and jaw. This became a mark of the family as its members had increasing difficulty finding spouses worthy of their exalted status, so they started marrying one another. Now the Hapsburgs were not warriors or adventurers; rather they were risk-averse. They expanded their holdings less by sword than by matrimony.

Fredrick III married his son Maximilian to the heiress  to the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and the Artois and Burgundy regions. Then a generation later he married his grandson Philip to the eldest daughter and heir of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. This marriage allowed the family to acquire all of Spain's vast possessions in the New World. And no one cared that Phillips wife was insane.

Now all this was inherited by Philips son, Emperor Charles V,

who thereby ruled more of the world then any any man ever had and along the way added the Kingdoms of Portugal and Milan to his domain. Now he later divided his kingdom for it was to much for one man to rule. His son Philip II was based near Madrid as King of Spain(and was married to Marry Tudor, the Queen of England called Bloody Marry), failing to produce a child with her and thereby to secure that promising little realm for the Hapsburgs. Now Charles brother Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor and took charge of the eastern German branch of the family business.

But no matter it went down hill from here. The Spanish line of Hapsburgs died out. This due to the inbreeding and the fact that Philips insane wife also brought insanity into the mix didn't help. The last Hapsburg King of Spain Charles 2nd married 3 times, but couldn't produce an heir.

Now the Austria line was more vigorous , but beset with problems. France under Louis XIV

Seized all of the Hapsburgs' possessions west of the Rhine, including the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. The Ottoman Turks invaded Europe, conquered most of the Balkans and twice reached the gates of Vienna before being turned back. Now the reformation cast Catholic Austria into the role of enemy in newly Protestant Northern Germany. This was convenient for Prussia, the leading Protestant state on the continent, which grabbed important pieces of the Hapsburg inheritance.

Finally there came the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte.

He occupied Vienna twice, stripped away many of the Hapsburgs' southern possessions. Napoleon was determined to produce an heir, so he took a Hapsburg Princess, (which happens to be the grandniece of Marie Antoinette), as his bride.

So Napoleon ended the fiction of the Holy Roman Empire and from that point on the Hapsburg monarchs bore the humble title of Hereditary Emperors of Austria.

Now the fall of Napoleon gave the Hapsburg's back some of their most important southern holdings, including northern Italy. After that things remained tranquil for more than 30 years.

But the Revolution of 1848 brought the survival of the Hapsburg Empire into question. With everyone from France to Russia, rising up against their rulers and demanding reform. Now everyone was hoping 18 year old Franz Joseph could win the loyalty of his subjects, and was able to do just that.

But personally and politically, however, Franz Joseph's reign was almost as sorrowful as it was long. Nothing went right for him. He married the Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria,

but after 6 happy years and 4 children, he passed gonorrhea onto his wife, which he caught from one of his Italian campaigns. This needless to say ended his marriage.

Then in 1859 Austria was driven out of Lombardy in Northern Italy by the rising forces of Italian Nationalism. Shortly there after it also lost Tuscany and Modena as well.

In 1866 Prussia defeated Austria and forced it to its ancient claim to leadership over Germany. Fearful of further loss, Franz Joseph entered into a compact under which Hungary became not merely one of the Empire's possessions, but an equal partner in a new and peculiar kind of dual monarchy. Austria and Hungary each would have its own prime minister and parliament, though the war finance and foreign affairs ministries would be centralized in Vienna.

This arrangement was successful as it gave the Magyars who dominated Hungary, a more powerful and secure position in European politics then they had before. This gave them reason to want to keep the empire alive. But this caused them more problems than they could ever imagine. Policy making was complicated, because all important decisions had to be approved in Vienna at the Hungarian Capital of Budapest. This also gave Hungary reason to oppose anything that might weaken its position within the Empire. Hungary would also resist the transformation of the dual monarchy into a 3-cornered arrangement that included the Slavs. Even though by 1914 3/5 of the empire's subjects were Slavic; Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ukrainians, Serbs and others.

In 1889 Archduke Rudolf,

Franz Joseph's only son commits suicide with his teenage mistress, leaving no male heir.Then 9 years later Empress Elizabeth

was stabbed to death.

And 2 years later came the refusal of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's

marrying  Countess Sophie Chotek. In his seemingly endless old age Franz Joseph was a lonely old man who had no one to share his life with. Even though he remained loyal to his duties, his still had alot of heart ache to deal with and decisions he didn't want to allow or make.

A mess of countries

Leopold von Berchtold and Franz Conrad were polar opposites as men and were always at odds with one another. But after Franz Ferdinand was assassinated they put their differences aside and became partners.

Conrad was a soldier down to the marrow of his bones. He became Chief of the Austria-Hungarian General Staff in 1906. Conrad was determined to turn the hodgepodge Austro-Hungarian armies into a modern and effective fighting force. Conrad was certain that the empire could save itself only by asserting itself in the Balkans, by eliminating Serbia. In 1911 Conrad had been dismissed from his position as Chief of Staff because of his obsessive aggressiveness. But a year later when war broke out in Balkan his talents and energy seemed indispensable. So he was recalled to duty.

Count Berchtold was an enormously wealthy, deeply cultivated, pleasure-loving aristocrat of an Ancient Family. But he was regarded as weak, lazy, frivolous, and unreliable. Berchtold became the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Russia in 1907 and was appointed Foreign Minister in 1912. His conduct in the Balkan crises of that year and 1913, when Serbia enlarged itself at the expense of the Turks and Bulgarians while Vienna stood by watching. This cemented his reputation for passivity and vacillation.

Because of this Conrad was convinced that Berchtold lacked the backbone to protect Hapsburg. Now Berchtold was aware that people seen him as an unworthy Foreign Minister and that he needed to repair his reputation. So within 48 hours of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, he was calling for a final and fundamental reckoning with Serbia. Showing how the two men where so different.

In 1914 Austria-Hungary was a 2nd rate declining empire trying to hang onto its traditional place among the nations that was recognized as Europe's leading powers. But a half century before the assassination of Ferdinand, they were displaced as leader of the German states. Otto von Bismarck, Prussia's great Chancellor and creator of the German Empire evicted Autria-Hungary from Germany's leader of state.

After being evicted they lost hunks of territory to a new kingdom of Italy. Austria-Hungary had become obsolete and ahead of its time. In an era of nationalism, it was hardly a nation at all. It was a jumbo mess of 13 nationalities that spoke 16 languages, belonged to 5 major religions, and where organized into 17 lands, served by 20 parliaments. But they had the potential to provide a model for Europe where diverse people could live together in peace and even unite. Archduke Franz Ferdinand understood this potential. Franz being murdered left the empire without the man who might have been strong and canny enough to lead it through the crisis of 1914. The Archduke was the man the monarchy needed.

Now across Hungary's southern most border was nightmare of Serbia, stirring up unrest whenever  it could. For many Austrians the empire faced a simple choice, maintain a strong position or it could allow itself to be undone by, Russian-sponsored Balkan trouble makers.  Now the many ethnic groups inside Austria-Hungary  was seeking independence and unions with whatever Balkan nation they where linked to by culture, religion, blood and geography. This situation was a recipe for disaster and throughout the decade leading up to 1914, this added new poisons to the mix.

The 1st of these was the 1906 Pig War. Serbia still being a tiny country, sitting on Bosnia's border gave it plenty of opportunities for mischief. The officials in Vienna were desperate to strike out at Serbia. Vienna decided to punish Serbia by refusing to import its livestock, pigs included. Vienna enacted an embargo that lasted for 5 years. Doing nothing but making themselves look ridiculous. The Serbs found other markets for their animal and this caused their exports to increase, but in doing so they thought they could defy the mighty Hapsburgs and not pay a heavy price.

In 1908, Austria couldn't keep Serbia from causing trouble in Bosnia and Herzegovina and was concerned because of the strict legal terms these two countries didn't belong to Austria. Vienna feared the consequences of this territory every becoming part of Serbia. So with the Serbs being hostile and the Ottoman Empire decrepited, Vienna announced it was annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Serbia was outraged and went to Russia for help. Russia was still recovering from the war with Japan and couldn't intervene. Conrad was entering his 3rd year as Austria's Chief of Staff and he wanted to send troops into Serbia. He had 360,000 troops to Serbia's 20,000. Plus Conrad had the support of Germany who was worried about Austria's slow decline. Conrad wanted to go to war with Serbia, saying it would help patch things up with their neighbors and get them more allies.

Not everyone in Austria and Berlin wanted war. Emperor Franz Joseph going on his 16th term on the throne had more military defeats than victories and had no desire to go into a new war. The Hungarian's on the other hand didn't want anymore Serbs(Slavs) coming into the country. They were afraid it would turn the monarchy into a 3 cornered system with the Slavs as equals. And people who knew Ferdinand where convinced that once he took the throne, he planned to bring the Slavs into the monarchy.

So Germany got involved and issued an ultimatum: the Russians had to approve the annexation or Germany would regard Vienna as being justified in moving against Serbia. Russia had no choice but to yield, they where in no shape to go to war. Now Conrad seen this as a disaster and some of Germany's leading generals did to. Saying that Austria had come out of the crisis without acquiring any territory and not weakening the Serbs, who where highly outraged over the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Three years after the annexation crisis. The nation of Montenegro launched an attack on the once invisible Turks in 1912. With Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece joining them they drove the Turks out. Serbia than gained control of more land and was becoming big enough to be a problem for Austria.

This shifted the balance of power in Balkan and all over Europe and was not to Vienna's advantage. The Ottoman Empire was no longer a presence in Balkan. Demands came for Vienna to have military action and of course Conrad was in favor all the way. Berchtold on the other opposed him. Ferdinand also opposed this knowing that making war on the Slav neighbors was no way to win the loyalty of Vienna's 10 million Slavic subjects.

But nothing was done by anyone. Vienna couldn't mobilized or do anything because Russia was fearful of war. Plus Berlin was not supporting them either. Bulgaria who won the war in 1912 hated Serbia and that made them a potential ally for Austria.

Bulgaria was not happy with its victory of 1912 and  launched an attack in 1913 on Serbia. Which turned out to be a bad mistake. Because Greece, Montenegro, Romania and Turkey all came to the aid of Serbia and costs Austria to loose Bosnia and Herzegovina. Once peace was restored, Vienna insisted that Serbia withdrawal from the coast and they refused. Vienna then gave Serbia an ultimatum. They withdrawal from the coast or they would attack. Now Serbia once again went to Russia for help her again turned them down. Serbia also faced the problem of Britain and France opposing them having the coast also.

Outraged the Serbs withdrew. The territory then became the new Nation of Albania. Now by the summer of 1914 everyone in the Balkan region was in an up roar over what they gained and lost. And the region became a very unstable one. Russia was also fuming for the facted that they had become so weak, and Austria was upset because they had the opportunity to take care of Serbia and done nothing.

The Austrians also concluded that the international conferences that ended both Balkan wars, had done them no good. And finally the Austrians where disgusted with Germany for not supporting them. Germany knowing this knew they had to step up their game and be there for Austria. They where the only ally they had and if they lost them it would leave them alone surrounded by enemies. Never again would Germany give Vienna reason to doubt their alliance to them. For 3 weeks and more following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, that was the German position.

The Serbs

It was never a surprise that trouble had broken out in the southeastern corner of Europe. And that the Serbs were right in the middle of it. The Balkan Peninsula was the most unstable region in Europe in 1914. A big mess of ill-defined small nations. It had violently shifting borders and a huge intermingled ethnic groups who hated each other and felt they had a right to expand.

The trouble in Europe ran deep. Two millennium ago there was a line that divided the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. This line runs right through Balkan and this line line divides the Catholic and the Orthodux to this day.

Now after the Turks' forced there way into Europe, the Balkans became the home of Europe's only Mulsim population. The point where European Christendon ends and Islam begins, but the Balkans was nothing more than a prize being fought over by Muslim Turkey, Catholic Austria, and Orthodux Russia.

Now the Serbs had been part of a wave of so called South Slav(Yugoslavs) that moved into the Balkan region during the 7th century. In the centuries that followed the Serbs built a miniature empire under their own Tsar. For a time it was uncertain wether all the Serbs would be Orthodux or some would be Roman Catholic. Eventually they settled into the Orthodux faith.

From the late middle ages in the aftermath of their defeat at Kosovo, the Serbs were trapped inside the empire of the Ottoman Turks. In 1829 a Russia victory over the increasingly incompetent and helpless Turks,made possible the emergence of a new principality that was, if almost invisibly tiny, the 1st Serbian state in almost half a millennium and a rallying point for Serbia nationlism.

In the 1870's another Russia-Turkish war broke out. This time with Serbia fighting on the side of Russia and gaining more territory. Now there was once again a kingdom of Serbia, a rugged mountainous, and a landlocked little country surrounded by the whole boiling ethnic stew of the Balkans.

Despite the inconvenient fact that the Serbs were only a minority of the Bosnia population, the incorporation of Bosnia into an Orthodux and Slav Greater Serbia became an integral part of the Serbs' national dream.

As the years passed, trouble erupted with increasing frequency, and sometimes with shocky brutality. At the start of the 20th century Serbia had a king and queen who were friendly to Hapsburg Vienna. In 1903 a group of disgruntled army officers staged a coop, they shot the royal pair to death and replaced them with a dynasty loyal to Russia.

In 1908 Austria-Hungary enraged Serbia by annexing Bosnia and the adjacent little district of Herzegovina permanently making them povinces of Hapburg Empire. Serbia turned to Russia for help, but because of the 1905 war with Japan, they where unable to do anything to support the Serbs.

In 1911 the same people who killed the royal family formed the group The Black Hand. In 1912 the 1st Balkan War broke out and of course Serbia joined with several of its neighbors to drive out the Turks. This helped double the kindoms size and raise its population.

In the 2nd Balkan war. Serbia defeated its neighbor and one time ally Bulgarier, and expanded the Serbia Kingdom once again. But had to withdrawal and give up the land when the Austrians threatened to invade. With no support from Russia, France seen an opportunity and started providing money, arms and training to the Serbs. France was hoping to make the Serb army strong enough to fight a war with Austro-Hungarian, so France, Russia and Britain could take on Germany by themselves.

Now to what extent did the government of Serbia know in advance of the plot to kill Franz Ferdinand? To what extent could Belgrade therefore be held responsible? That answer is neither clear or simple. Prime Minister Nikola Pasic did hear about the plots weeks before the shooting and disapproved. He put out the word that the plot should be called off. On the other hand, Serbian officialdom was not entirely innocent.

The leader of the Black Hand was country's chief of military intelligence, one Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic. He was the mastermind behind the strategy that led Serbias successes in the Balkan wars. Now in 1914 he was the mastermind behind the plot to kill Franz Ferdinand. There is no evidence that Prime Minister Pasic or his cabinet was involved.

But Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, The Black Hand, and the military saw Pasic as an obstacle. The Colonel wanted war and the Minister didn't. So in June 1914 the generals forced Pasic out of office. He was immediately put back in office at the insistence of the Russians and French, who regarded him as sane and sensible. This of course was a defeat for Colonel Dimitrijevic, so he seen the assassination of Franz Ferdinand as a way of causing the fall of Prime Ministers Pasic's government. Hoping it would lead to war. Pasic new that Serbia was in no shape to go to war physically or financially. Russia was still in no shape to help or support.

Some ask why didn't Prime Minister Pasic stop the assassination? He did by putting himself  at risk, by sending an order that the 3 assassins needed to be stopped before they crossed the border into Bosnia. but he had been to late, they had already crossed into Bosnia. So he directed his abvassador in Vienna to deliver the warning, but the ambassador was a Serb nationalists, so he never went to great lengths to get the message to the right people. Pasic never knew that his message had been diluted, and there was nothing more he could do.

Serbia was in the midst of election and Pasic didn't want to muddy the waters for his re-election by becoming the enemy to any high officials. But by this point the assassins was the only ones who could stop the killing. The Black Hand committee wanted the assassination called off. The Colonel told the assassins not to kill Franz but it fell on deaf ear. The Colonel and Black Hand had lost control of the situation. So on June 28, 1914 Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

He was born Dec 18, 1863 in Graz Austria. The eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria. At the age of 12 his cousin Duke Francis V of Modena committed suicide, leaving his father to be heir to the throne of Austria. His father turned it down and gave it to Franz. The emperor agreed on the condition that he would add Este to his name. Thus making Franz the wealthiest  man in Austria.

Now before his turn at the throne was to come. Franz joined the Austria-Hungary army at a very young age. Which is common among the young men of the ruling Habsburg line. He was promoted at the age of 14 to Lieutenant, and the promotions kept coming. He was Captain at 22, Colonel at 27, and finally Major General at 31. Never having formal staff training he was still eligible to command and led the 9th Hussar Regiment. In 1898 he was given commission by his Majesty. All military services and agencies had to give Franz full access to their papers. He even exerted influence on the armed forces even when he didn't hold a military command.

Now in 1913 as heir-presumptive he had been appointed Inspector General of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary. But no matter the accomplishments he had made. He was not a charming man. He was dark in appearance and emotion. One who validated an aura of strangeness and cast a shadow of violence and recklessness. He felt no compulsion to reach out and greet anyone.

The only on he showed any compassion or emotion to was his wife Sophie. Whom he met back in 1894. But he was not allowed to marry her for she was not from a reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. Even though one of her direct ancestors was Albert IV Count of Hasburg. But the emperor would still not allow it.
That was until Pope Leo XIII, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and the German Emperor Wilhelm II all went to the emperor and argued that the disagreement between him and Franz Ferdinand was undermining the stability of the monarchy. So in 1899 the emperor agreed to let Franz marry Sophie on one condition that none of their descendants would have succession  rights to the throne. Plus Sophie wouldn't share her husband's title or have any of the privileges that came to being married to him. She couldn't even go out in public with her husband.

Maybe that was why he had no emotion for anything. He constantly clashed with the emperor over ideas and never got along with alot of the leaders from other countries. He didn't even like the Hungarian language even though it was the countries language and got angry when the troops spoke it.

So maybe his disposition was the reason no one thought it was a big deal when he was assassinated. The emperor was even glad he was killed. But as time would tell it was a mistake that could not be undone.

History is a part of who we are. But alot of people don't seem to care about history or what it stands for. Especially when it comes to history that has long past like all the wars that our country fought in order for us to have freedom. Most people say it was long ago and most say sadly we don't care we were not part of it. We are all a part of what happen in the wars. If not for all the lives that where lost we would not be free and living they way we do today. It saddens me to even read my son's history books from school. They put very little in them on the wars. I guess talking about Ceasar is and the Olympian gods is more important. But for me it's different. I had family who fought and died in the wars and I want to revisit that history. So I am going to start with World War 1.

I hope you enjoy my history as much as I do. And please if I miss anything along the way do let me know. And I promise I will post about the Civil War and Revolutionary war to. I'm Just going ass backwards as most would say =)

World War 1

A four year war that started in 1914 and ended in 1918. A war that most people don't realize started with the assassination of one man. Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The assassination was a political move by the Serbian Military hoping to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a greater Serbia or a Yuhoslavia.

The Serbian Military provided the assassins with the weapons and training to carry out their mission. So on June 28, 1914 Franz Ferdinand was shot and killed in Sarajevo by Princip. Those who did not kill themselves where rounded up and brought to justice. But no one at the time cared or thought it was a big deal that the Archduke had been killed.

Until one month later on July 28, 1914 when World War 1 began.