Difference between revisions of "Charles I of Austria" - New World Encyclopedia

From New World Encyclopedia
Line 2: Line 2:
 
[[Image:Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary.jpg|thumb|150px|'''Karl I of Austria,<br>Károly IV. of Hungary,<br>]]
 
[[Image:Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary.jpg|thumb|150px|'''Karl I of Austria,<br>Károly IV. of Hungary,<br>]]
 
'''The Blessed Karl I''' (''Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen'') ([[17 August]] 1887 &ndash; [[1 April]] 1922) (''Hungarian'': '''Károly IV''' (''Károly Ferenc József'')) was (among other titles) the last [[Emperor]] of [[Austria]], the last [[Monarch|King]] of [[King of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[King of Bohemia|Bohemia]], and the last monarch of the [[Habsburg|Habsburg Dynasty]]. He reigned as Emperor Karl I of Austria and King Károly IV of Hungary from 1916 until 1918, when he renounced the government (but did not abdicate), and spent the remaining years of his life attempting to regain the throne until his death in 1922.  His name is sometimes anglicized as "Charles".
 
'''The Blessed Karl I''' (''Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen'') ([[17 August]] 1887 &ndash; [[1 April]] 1922) (''Hungarian'': '''Károly IV''' (''Károly Ferenc József'')) was (among other titles) the last [[Emperor]] of [[Austria]], the last [[Monarch|King]] of [[King of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[King of Bohemia|Bohemia]], and the last monarch of the [[Habsburg|Habsburg Dynasty]]. He reigned as Emperor Karl I of Austria and King Károly IV of Hungary from 1916 until 1918, when he renounced the government (but did not abdicate), and spent the remaining years of his life attempting to regain the throne until his death in 1922.  His name is sometimes anglicized as "Charles".
 
==Final Days of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire==
 
 
===19th Century===
 
The Habsburg Monarchy started showing the signs of decline in the 19th century, when Emperor Francis Joseph (1848–1916) lost control of Italy and Prussia, with the latter taken over by Germany. On top of this, Russia proved to be a challenger in the Balkans. In 1867 the Habsburgs redrew the boundaries of their lands to create the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. At the same time, the job of ruling the lands became increasingly more difficult with a plethora of nationalities vying for control of their countries amidst the absence of a unifying ideology that would keep them together. Hungarians, Germans, and Poles were the most vocal nationals. Besides, the Habsburgs were unable to meet the demands of the booming middle and industrial classes.
 
 
The restructuring of the monarchy spurred crises among the various Slav peoples within the monarchy. Czechs oscillated toward the Pan-Slav movement and held the [[Prague Slavic Congress, 1848|Congress of Slavs]] in July 1908 in Prague. On the day of the 60th anniversary of the accession to the throne of the widely unpopular Francis Joseph, the discontent and criticisms spilled into riots that prompted the imposition of martial law in Prague. In 1909 Prime Minister Baron von Bienerth made an attempt to appease the nationalities by including national representatives (Landsmannminister) in his Cabinet. The Germans, on the other hand, viewed the monarchy as an extension of German culture, while the Slavs aspired to save Austria for the sake of themselves, as they formed two-thirds of the population of Austria. However, the Poles' loyalty to the central government diluted the Slavic efforts at national representation, which thus crystallized into largely a Czech-German standoff, which polarized even political parties within Bohemia.
 
 
==20th Century==
 
The twentieth century brought with it the culmination in the Balkan discontent, with Bosnia and Serbia stepping up national demands. In 1913, Austria was mulling military action against Serbia but could not follow through for lack of support from Italy and Germany. Instead, the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw its territory shrink in the Balkan peninsula, with the consequence of pushing the Turks out of Europe. It was increasingly difficult to maneuver among demands of individual nations of the Empire, and when the Habsburgs took the side of Bulgaria against Serbia, they have undercut their standing in Romania, which harbored antagonism toward the Empire due to the treatment of non-Magyar nationalities in Hungary. Consequently, Romania teamed up with Italy and Serbia in support of anti-Habsburg actions inside the monarchy. By 1914, Vienna felt it was crucial to stem these developments in order to preserve the empire.
 
 
===World War I===
 
The declaration of the war became imminent when Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir of Francis Joseph, was assassinated by a Bosnian nationalist at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, an event that served as a pretext for curbing the Serbian threat. Supported by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian foreign office officially assigned responsibility for the assassination to the Serbian government. This was to the dislike of the Hungarian prime minister, István, Count Tisza, who feared that a military action against Serbia and the country's subjugation would increase the number of Serbian population in the monarchy, but once he was assured of the opposite, he joined the war club. The Serbian government agreed to all but two Austro-Hungarian demands but the monarchy was already decided to go to war with Serbia, notwithstanding that such action could spur war between the Great Powers. The European governments offered compromise solutions, but on July 28, 1914, Francis Joseph signed the declaration of war.
 
 
The German government took advantage of the Habsburg woes and declared war against France and Russia in an effort to address its own predicament with those countries. Germany and Austria-Hungary entered into a military agreement that bound the latter to giving up the military action against Serbia and protecting the German invasion of France against Russian intervention instead. Austria-Hungary thus reluctantly became a military satellite of Germany.
 
 
German public was in favor of the war and so were some Polish leaders, albeit as a result of the mounting anti-Russian feeling, but the Czechs had had enough of the monarchy at this point. One of the most prominent proponents of the Czech cause, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, emigrated to western Europe, and the Pan-Slavism advocate Karel Kramár was imprisoned for treason. Ethnic Germans living in Austria had seen most of their influence dissipated; in military matters they could only follow German orders. Hungarians had the upper hand in economic affairs; they controlled the food supply. In January 1915 the foreign office went again to a Magyar, István, Count Burián, whose skills were not sufficient to keep Italy and Romania, which had territorial claims, out of the war.
 
  
 
==Life and Heritage==
 
==Life and Heritage==
[[Image:emperorcharlesofaustria.jpg|frame|right|Karl I]]
+
[[Image:emperorcharlesofaustria.jpg|frame|right|Karl I]]
  
 
[[Image:Karloath.jpg|thumb|250px|left|King Charles taking his oath as part of the coronation ceremonies<br><small>[[Budapest]], December 1916.</small>]]   
 
[[Image:Karloath.jpg|thumb|250px|left|King Charles taking his oath as part of the coronation ceremonies<br><small>[[Budapest]], December 1916.</small>]]   
Karl became heir-presumptive when his uncle [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Franz Ferdinand]] was assassinated in [[Sarajevo]], the capital of [[Bosnia]], in 1914 on the anniversary of the battle of Kosovo of 1379, in which [[Serbia]] lost independence after defeat by the [[Turkey|Turks]]. The Serbian nationalists feared that the archduke would oppress the Serbs. the event which precipitated World War IKarl's reign began in 1916, with the death of his grand-uncle, [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]]. In 1916, he also became a Generalfeldmarschall in the Austro-Hungarian Army. In 1917, Karl secretly entered into peace negotiations with France.  Although his foreign minister, Ottokar Czernin, was only interested in negotiating a general peace which would include Germany as well, Karl himself, in negotiations with the French with his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian army, as intermediary, went much further in suggesting his willingness to make a separate peace. When news of the overture leaked in April 1918, Karl denied all involvement until the French prime minister [[Georges Clemenceau]] published letters signed by him.  This led to Czernin's resignation, forcing Austria-Hungary into an even more dependent position with respect to its seemingly wronged German ally.
+
Karl was the son of Archduke Otto Franz of Austria (1865&ndash;1906) and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony (1867&ndash;1944). He was also a nephew of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, whose assassination triggered World War I.  He became heir-presumptive in 1914 when his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in [[Sarajevo]], the capital of [[Bosnia]], on the anniversary of the battle of Kosovo of 1379, in which [[Serbia]] lost independence to the [[Turkey|Turks]].  His reign began two years later, with the death of his grand-uncle, [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph]]. In 1916, he also became a Generalfeldmarschall in the Austro-Hungarian Army.  
[[image:Karlfamily.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Karl as '''King Charles IV''' of Hungary, with Zita of Bourbon-Parma and Crown Prince Otto von Habsburg.<br><small>coronation portrait, [[Budapest]], 1916.</small>]]
 
  
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was wracked by inner turmoil in the final years of the war, with much tension between ethnic groups. [[United States of America|US]] President [[Woodrow Wilson]] demanded that the Empire allow for the self-determination of its peoples as part of his [[Fourteen Points]]. In response, Karl agreed to reconvene the Imperial parliament and allow for the creation of a [[confederation]] with each national group exercising self-governance. However, the reforms quickly spiraled out of control, with each national government declaring complete independence. Karl's political future quickly became uncertain. For a while it appeared as though he might reign as monarch of a newly independent Austria, but Austria's new Republicanism government ultimately vetoed this idea.
+
In 1911, he was married to Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, with whom he had eight children:
 
 
On 11 November 1918, he proclaimed formally "I relinquish every participation in the administration of the State" but did not abdicate his thrones.<ref>May 22, 2004, "Emperor Karl I's Abdication Proclamation, 11 November 1918" ''First World War Website'' [http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/abdication_karl.htm]</ref> He then fled to [[Switzerland]] and continued to pursue regaining power from exile. Encouraged by Hungarian nationalists, he sought twice in 1921 to reclaim the throne of Hungary but failed due to various factors including the lack of support of the Hungarian Regent [[Miklós Horthy]]. Horthy's failure to support Karl's restoration attempts is often described as "treasonous" by monarchists. Critics suggest that Horthy's actions were more firmly grounded in political reality than the King of Hungary and his supporters. He left Hungary from the city of Baja forever.
 
 
 
He died of severe pneumonia (brought on after Karl, an already sickly man, walked into town on a freezing winter's day) on the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] island of Madeira in 1922. His remains are still kept in the island, in the Church of Our Lady of the Monte, in spite of several attempts to move them to the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna. During his stay on the island, his personal chaplain was Priest Jorge de Faria e Castro.
 
 
 
Karl was the son of Archduke Otto Franz of Austria (1865&ndash;1906) and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony (1867&ndash;1944); he was also a nephew of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, whose assassination triggered World War I.  In 1911, he was married to Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
 
 
 
He had eight children (six boys and two girls):
 
  
 
* Crown Prince Otto (1912&ndash;), married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen and has issue
 
* Crown Prince Otto (1912&ndash;), married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen and has issue
Line 45: Line 19:
 
* Archduke Rudolf (1919&ndash;), married firstly Countess Xenia Tschernyscheva-Besobrasova and secondly Princess Anna of Wrede
 
* Archduke Rudolf (1919&ndash;), married firstly Countess Xenia Tschernyscheva-Besobrasova and secondly Princess Anna of Wrede
 
* Archduchess Charlotte (1921&ndash;1989), married Count Georg of Carlow, Duke of Mecklenburg
 
* Archduchess Charlotte (1921&ndash;1989), married Count Georg of Carlow, Duke of Mecklenburg
* Archduchess Elisabeth (1922&ndash;1993), married Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein and had issue
+
* Archduchess Elisabeth (1922&ndash;1993), married Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein  
 +
 
 +
The last emperor of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy died of pneumonia after taking a walk, already a sickly man, on a freezing winter's day on the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] island of Madeira in 1922. He remains buried in the island’s Church of Our Lady of the Monte despite several attempts to move his remains to the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna.
 +
 
 +
After World War I, members of the family who refused to renounce the throne were exiled from Austria; the exile was repealed in 1996.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
===Abdication===
 +
[[image:Karlfamily.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Karl as '''King Charles IV''' of Hungary, with Zita of Bourbon-Parma and Crown Prince Otto von Habsburg.<br><small>coronation portrait, [[Budapest]], 1916.</small>]]
 +
Two years into World War I, a U.S. offer of mediation failed, and Charles, desperately trying to put an end to the war, resorted to secret negotiations directly with the Entente powers in 1917, namely France.  Although his German-Czech foreign minister, Count Ottokar Czernin, was only interested in negotiating a general peace which would include Germany as well, Karl, aided by his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian army, went much further in suggesting his willingness to make peace separately from Germany. When news of the overture leaked in April 1918, Karl denied all involvement, but the French Prime Minister [[Georges Clemenceau]] published letters signed by the emperor himself.  Czernin played a part in the compromised negotiations and their ultimate fiasco. As a result, The French president and the British Premier Lloyd George came to view the emperor as a man who could not be trusted by his own subjects and could not continue in the peace negotiations. The events became further complicated by Russia’s revolution in 1917 and the entry of the United States into the war in the same year.
  
===The Sixtus Debacle===
+
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was wracked by inner turmoil in the final years of the war, with much tension between ethnic groups. [[United States of America|US]] President [[Woodrow Wilson]] demanded that the Empire allow for the self-determination of its peoples as part of his [[Fourteen Points]]. In response, Karl agreed to reconvene the Imperial Parliament and allow for the creation of a [[confederation]] with each national group exercising self-governance. However, the reforms quickly spiraled out of control, with each national government declaring complete independence. Karl's political future quickly became uncertain. For a while it appeared as though he might reign as monarch of a newly independent Austria, but Austria's new Republican government ultimately vetoed this idea.
A U.S. offer of mediation had miscarried in December 1916, and Charles resorted to secret negotiations directly with the Entente powers, involving his brother-in-law, Sixtus, Prince von Bourbon-Parma. Charles envisioned that peace could come as a result of cooperation with Germany or even acting as a sole party. In December 1916, he appointed the German-Bohemian Count Ottokar Czernin as foreign minister, who played a part in the compromised Sixtus negotiations and their ultimate fiasco. As a result, The French president Clemenceau and the British Premier Lloyd George emperor came to view the emperor as a man who could not be trusted by his own subjects and could not continue in the peace negotiations. The events became further complicated by Russia’s revolution in 1917 and the entry of the United States into the war in the same year.  
 
  
Two months after the public exposure of the Sixtus negotiations, the French government recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as an official agency of the Czechs, followed by the U.S.A. and Great Britain. At the same time, national revolutions within the monarchy were gaining momentum. It was impossible for the country to survive another winter of hostilities, and on Sept. 14, 1918, Burián published an appeal to all belligerents to discuss the possibilities of ending the war. When this move was opposed by the Germans as well as by the Allied powers, Burián tried for a separate peace settlement for Austria-Hungary.  
+
Attempts were made in late October to save the Habsburg monarchy; Charles issued a manifesto announcing a federal union of four components (German, Czech, South Slav, and Ukrainian), but it was impossible to sway events outside of Vienna any longer, and an armistice was signed on Nov. 3, 1918. The government still hoped that the Habsburg dynasty could continue on in what had remained of it after the secession of the Slav areas, but Charles wisely took the advice of Heinrich Lammasch, a renowned authority in the field of international law, and on November 11, 1918, proclaimed "I relinquish every participation in the administration of the State" but did not abdicate his thrones.<ref>May 22, 2004, "Emperor Karl I's Abdication Proclamation, 11 November 1918" ''First World War Website'' [http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/abdication_karl.htm]</ref>. This declaration marks the formal dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy. He then fled to [[Switzerland]] and continued to pursue regaining power from exile. Encouraged by Hungarian nationalists, he sought twice in 1921 to reclaim the throne of Hungary but failed due to various factors including the lack of support of the Hungarian Regent [[Miklós Horthy]], which monarchists view as treason, although critics attribute Horthy's actions to his firm footing in political reality.
  
On Oct. 14, 1918, he sent a note to President Wilson asking for an armistice on the basis of the Fourteen Points. When U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on October 18, 1918, rejected the Habsburg Empire's offer of [[Fourteen Points]], on grounds that “in view of the political development of the preceding months and, especially, in view of the fact that Czechoslovakia had been recognized as being at war with the Central Powers, the U.S. government was unable to deal on the basis of the Fourteen Points anymore.” REF, the monarchy was on the way to total dissolution. This was evidenced by the fact that serious negotiations were held with the representatives of the Austro-Hungarian nationalities rather than the monarchy’s Joint Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On October 27 Gyula, Count Andrássy, who had replaced Burián as foreign minister, sent a new note to Wilson; in asking for an armistice, he declared full adherence to the statements set forth in the U.S. note of October 18, thus explicitly recognizing the existence of an independent Czechoslovak state. The dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy was thus consummated by the end of October 1918—that is, before the war actually ended.
 
  
From this moment, it remained only to liquidate the war. On October 22 Heinrich Lammasch, a renowned authority in the field of international law and a respected pacifist, formed a new Cabinet. He hoped to save the Habsburg monarchy by drawing up a federative structure. Instead, however, he found himself charged with the task of supervising the dissolution of the empire and bringing about an orderly transfer of power. The government could not influence events outside of Vienna any longer, and from October 30 it was even challenged in the central agencies by the German-Austrian state council. Hostilities were ended by an armistice signed on Nov. 3, 1918. The Austro-Hungarian high command, which had blundered into the war unprepared in 1914, did little better at its conclusion. Owing to inaccuracies in the wording of the documents, more than 300,000 soldiers were taken prisoner by the Italian army.
+
==Final Days of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire==
  
For some days the government hoped that, in spite of the secession of the Slav areas, the Habsburg dynasty could survive in the remaining lands. But even the German Austrians had lost faith in the Habsburgs, and, with revolutionary agitation on the rise and republican passion widespread, Charles adhered to the advice of Lammasch and decided to waive his rights to exercise political authority. On Nov. 11, 1918, he issued a proclamation acknowledging “in advance the decision to be taken by German Austria” and stating that he relinquished all part in the administration of the state. The declaration of November 11 marks the formal dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy.
+
===19th Century===
 +
The Habsburg Monarchy started showing the signs of decline in the 19th century, when Emperor Francis Joseph (1848–1916) lost control of Italy and Prussia, with the latter taken over by Germany. On top of this, Russia proved to be a challenger in the Balkans. In 1867 the Habsburgs redrew the boundaries of their lands to create the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. At the same time, the job of ruling the lands became increasingly more difficult with a plethora of nationalities vying for control of their countries amidst the absence of a unifying ideology that would keep them together. Hungarians, Germans, and Poles were the most vocal nationals. Besides, the Habsburgs were unable to meet the demands of the booming middle and industrial classes.
  
Territories ruled by Germany-directed governments represented an authoritarian system of government, and national agitation in the Habsburg monarchy assumed the character of a democratic liberation movement, winning the sympathies of western European and American public opinion. From early 1918, the Allied governments began officially to promote the activities of the émigrés from Austria, foremost among them Masaryk, and in April 1918 a Congress of Oppressed Nationalities was organized in Rome. But the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy cannot be ascribed to the Allied policy of supporting the independence claims of the Habsburg nationalities, which was only a belated adjustment to the changed conditions within Austria-Hungary. From the summer of 1917, the activities of the nationalist movements within the empire made the situation increasingly untenable. Two days before U.S. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed his Fourteen Points, one of which demanded the reorganization of the Habsburg monarchy in accordance with the principles of national autonomy, the Czechs demanded outright independence (Jan. 6, 1918). Within a month, Polish and South Slav deputies, together with the Czechs, presented to the Reichsrat a program demanding the establishment of independent constituent assemblies for nationally homogeneous areas.
+
The restructuring of the monarchy spurred crises among the various Slav peoples within the monarchy. Czechs oscillated toward the Pan-Slav movement and held the [[Prague Slavic Congress, 1848|Congress of Slavs]] in July 1908 in Prague. On the day of the 60th anniversary of the accession to the throne of the widely unpopular Francis Joseph, the discontent and criticisms spilled into riots that prompted the imposition of martial law in Prague. In 1909 Prime Minister Baron von Bienerth made an attempt to appease the nationalities by including national representatives (Landsmannminister) in his Cabinet. The Germans, on the other hand, viewed the monarchy as an extension of German culture, while the Slavs aspired to save Austria for the sake of themselves, as they formed two-thirds of the population of Austria. However, the Poles' loyalty to the central government diluted the Slavic efforts at national representation, which thus crystallized into largely a Czech-German standoff, which polarized even political parties within Bohemia.
 +
 
 +
===20th Century===
 +
The twentieth century brought with it the culmination in the Balkan discontent, with Bosnia and Serbia stepping up national demands. In 1913, Austria was mulling military action against Serbia but could not follow through for lack of support from Italy and Germany. Instead, the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw its territory shrink in the Balkan peninsula, with the consequence of pushing the Turks out of Europe. It was increasingly difficult to maneuver among demands of individual nations of the Empire, and when the Habsburgs took the side of Bulgaria against Serbia, they have undercut their standing in Romania, which harbored antagonism toward the Empire due to the treatment of non-Magyar nationalities in Hungary. Consequently, Romania teamed up with Italy and Serbia in support of anti-Habsburg actions inside the monarchy. By 1914, Vienna felt it was crucial to stem these developments in order to preserve the empire.
 +
 
 +
===World War I===
 +
The declaration of the war became imminent when Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir of Francis Joseph, was assassinated by a Bosnian nationalist at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, an event that served as a pretext for curbing the Serbian threat. Supported by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian foreign office officially assigned responsibility for the assassination to the Serbian government. This was to the dislike of the Hungarian prime minister, István, Count Tisza, who feared that a military action against Serbia and the country's subjugation would increase the number of Serbian population in the monarchy, but once he was assured of the opposite, he joined the war club. The Serbian government agreed to all but two Austro-Hungarian demands but the monarchy was already decided to go to war with Serbia, notwithstanding that such action could spur war between the Great Powers. The European governments offered compromise solutions, but on July 28, 1914, Francis Joseph signed the declaration of war.
 +
 
 +
The German government took advantage of the Habsburg woes and declared war against France and Russia in an effort to address its own predicament with those countries. Germany and Austria-Hungary entered into a military agreement that bound the latter to giving up the military action against Serbia and protecting the German invasion of France against Russian intervention instead. Austria-Hungary thus reluctantly became a military satellite of Germany.
 +
 
 +
German public was in favor of the war and so were some Polish leaders, albeit as a result of the mounting anti-Russian feeling, but the Czechs had had enough of the monarchy at this point. One of the most prominent proponents of the Czech cause, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, emigrated to western Europe, and the Pan-Slavism advocate Karel Kramár was imprisoned for treason. Ethnic Germans living in Austria had seen most of their influence dissipated; in military matters they could only follow German orders. Hungarians had the upper hand in economic affairs; they controlled the food supply. In January 1915 the foreign office went again to a Magyar, István, Count Burián, whose skills were not sufficient to keep Italy and Romania, which had territorial claims, out of the war.
  
===Social Unrest===
+
===In the Wake of the Sixtus Debacle===
During the period in which the national-independence movement reached its final stage, another dangerous development manifested itself. From 1915 on, the supply situation had worsened increasingly, and by January 1918 there were dangerous shortages, especially of food. Prompted by the difficult food situation and inspired by the Bolshevik victory in Russia, a strike movement developed. Demands for more bread and a demand for peace were combined with nationalist claims into open opposition to the government.  
+
Two months after the public exposure of the Sixtus negotiations, the French government recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as an official agency of the Czechs, followed by the U.S.A. and Great Britain. At the same time, national revolutions within the monarchy were gaining momentum. Foreign Minister Burián sent a note to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on October 14, 1918, asking for an armistice on the basis of the [[Fourteen Points]], which Wilson rejected on grounds that “in view of the political development of the preceding months and, especially, in view of the fact that Czechoslovakia had been recognized as being at war with the Central Powers, the U.S. government was unable to deal on the basis of the Fourteen Points anymore.” REF
  
The strikes among the civilian population were followed by mutinies in the army and navy. The hopes that the government had placed in peace settlements with the eastern states were not fulfilled. The peace treaty with Ukraine (signed in February 1918), the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Soviet Russia (March 3, 1918), and the Treaty of Bucharest, which established peace with Romania (May 7, 1918), did not alleviate the supply situation and irritated the Poles because of certain provisions of the Ukrainian settlement.
+
The monarchy was on its knees, which was evidenced by the fact that serious negotiations were held with the representatives of the Austro-Hungarian nationalities rather than the monarchy’s Joint Ministry of Foreign Affairs. National councils were established in all the provinces of the empire and acted as national governments. On October 27, Foreign Minister Gyula, Count Andrássy, sent a new armistice note to Wilson, accepting all the statements set forth in the U.S. note of October 18, thus recognizing the existence of an independent Czechoslovak state. The Poles declared their independence as a unified state on October 7, while the South Slavs advocated union with Serbia. The dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy was thus consummated by the end of October 1918—that is, before the war actually ended.  
  
In January and February 1918 the army and the government succeeded in suppressing social unrest and antiwar demonstrations. But, from the same date, the national opposition movement gathered momentum. The unresolved problems of the Hapsburg monarchy remained to torment the Balkan successor states. After World War I, members of the family who refused to renounce the throne were exiled from Austria; the exile was repealed in 1996.
 
  
===Attempts to Resurrect the Monarchy===
+
==End of the War==
In April 1918, Czernin was replaced as foreign minister by Burián. This change was the result of a conflict between Czernin and Charles over the desirability and possibility of Austria's concluding a separate peace with the Allies. Unknown to Czernin, Charles had in 1917 made secret overtures to the Allies, which were revealed by the French premier Georges Clemenceau. The Germans were outraged, and Czernin was dismissed on their orders. Burián returned to the foreign office on April 16 and immediately reported to the German high command at Spa, where Charles and Burián had to assure the German emperor, William II, of their unchanging loyalty. While this act of submission satisfied the German Austrians, it further incensed the Slav opposition. In May 1918 a Slav national celebration in Prague demonstrated the strength of the independence movements. But Charles and the German elements in the central government were still not aware of the extent of the disintegration.  
+
Territories ruled by Germany-directed governments represented an authoritarian system of government, and national agitation in the Habsburg monarchy assumed the character of a democratic liberation movement, winning the sympathies of western European and American public opinion. From early 1918, the Allied governments began officially to promote the activities of the émigrés from Austria, foremost among them Masaryk, and in April 1918 a Congress of Oppressed Nationalities was organized in Rome. But the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy cannot be ascribed to the Allied policy of supporting the independence claims of the Habsburg nationalities, which was only a belated adjustment to the changed conditions within Austria-Hungary. From the summer of 1917, the activities of the nationalist movements within the empire made the situation increasingly untenable.  
  
In July 1918 Prime Minister Seidler resigned, and his successor, Max Hussarek von Heinlein, began a belated effort to reorganize the Habsburg monarchy. Hussarek's efforts to federalize the empire in the moment of imminent military defeat unintentionally turned out to provide the basis for the formal liquidation of the Habsburg monarchy. On Oct. 16, 1918, Charles issued a manifesto announcing the transformation of Austria into a federal union of four components (German, Czech, South Slav, and Ukrainian). The Poles were to be free to join a Polish state, and Trieste was to be given a special status. The lands of the Hungarian crown were to be excepted from this program. Within a few days, national councils were established in all the provinces of the empire and for all practical purposes acted as national governments. The Poles proclaimed the union of all Poles in a unified state and declared their independence at Warsaw on Oct. 7, 1918. The South Slavs advocated union with Serbia, and on Oct. 28, 1918, the Czechs proclaimed the establishment of an independent republic.
+
During the period in which the national-independence movement reached its final stage, another dangerous development manifested itself. From 1915 on, the supply situation had worsened increasingly, and by January 1918 there were dangerous shortages, especially of food. Prompted by the difficult food situation and inspired by the Bolshevik victory in Russia, a strike movement developed. Demands for more bread and a demand for peace were combined with nationalist claims into open opposition to the government.
  
 
== After his death ==
 
== After his death ==

Revision as of 17:56, 16 March 2007

File:Emperor Karl I of Austria-Hungary.jpg
Karl I of Austria,
Károly IV. of Hungary,

The Blessed Karl I (Karl Franz Josef Ludwig Hubert Georg Maria von Habsburg-Lothringen) (17 August 1887 – 1 April 1922) (Hungarian: Károly IV (Károly Ferenc József)) was (among other titles) the last Emperor of Austria, the last King of Hungary and Bohemia, and the last monarch of the Habsburg Dynasty. He reigned as Emperor Karl I of Austria and King Károly IV of Hungary from 1916 until 1918, when he renounced the government (but did not abdicate), and spent the remaining years of his life attempting to regain the throne until his death in 1922. His name is sometimes anglicized as "Charles".

Life and Heritage

King Charles taking his oath as part of the coronation ceremonies
Budapest, December 1916.

Karl was the son of Archduke Otto Franz of Austria (1865–1906) and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony (1867–1944). He was also a nephew of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, whose assassination triggered World War I. He became heir-presumptive in 1914 when his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, on the anniversary of the battle of Kosovo of 1379, in which Serbia lost independence to the Turks. His reign began two years later, with the death of his grand-uncle, Franz Joseph. In 1916, he also became a Generalfeldmarschall in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

In 1911, he was married to Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma, with whom he had eight children:

  • Crown Prince Otto (1912–), married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen and Hildburghausen and has issue
  • Archduchess Adelheid (1914–1971), unmarried
  • Archduke Robert]] (1915–1996), married Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta
File:Karl horse.jpg
A crowned King Charles on horseback on the coronation mound
One of the traditional features of the coronation of Hungarian monarchs.
  • Archduke Felix (1916–), married Princess Anna-Eugénie of Arenberg
  • Archduke Karl Ludwig (1918–), married Princess Yolande of Ligne
  • Archduke Rudolf (1919–), married firstly Countess Xenia Tschernyscheva-Besobrasova and secondly Princess Anna of Wrede
  • Archduchess Charlotte (1921–1989), married Count Georg of Carlow, Duke of Mecklenburg
  • Archduchess Elisabeth (1922–1993), married Prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein

The last emperor of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy died of pneumonia after taking a walk, already a sickly man, on a freezing winter's day on the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1922. He remains buried in the island’s Church of Our Lady of the Monte despite several attempts to move his remains to the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna.

After World War I, members of the family who refused to renounce the throne were exiled from Austria; the exile was repealed in 1996.


Abdication

Karl as King Charles IV of Hungary, with Zita of Bourbon-Parma and Crown Prince Otto von Habsburg.
coronation portrait, Budapest, 1916.

Two years into World War I, a U.S. offer of mediation failed, and Charles, desperately trying to put an end to the war, resorted to secret negotiations directly with the Entente powers in 1917, namely France. Although his German-Czech foreign minister, Count Ottokar Czernin, was only interested in negotiating a general peace which would include Germany as well, Karl, aided by his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian army, went much further in suggesting his willingness to make peace separately from Germany. When news of the overture leaked in April 1918, Karl denied all involvement, but the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau published letters signed by the emperor himself. Czernin played a part in the compromised negotiations and their ultimate fiasco. As a result, The French president and the British Premier Lloyd George came to view the emperor as a man who could not be trusted by his own subjects and could not continue in the peace negotiations. The events became further complicated by Russia’s revolution in 1917 and the entry of the United States into the war in the same year.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was wracked by inner turmoil in the final years of the war, with much tension between ethnic groups. US President Woodrow Wilson demanded that the Empire allow for the self-determination of its peoples as part of his Fourteen Points. In response, Karl agreed to reconvene the Imperial Parliament and allow for the creation of a confederation with each national group exercising self-governance. However, the reforms quickly spiraled out of control, with each national government declaring complete independence. Karl's political future quickly became uncertain. For a while it appeared as though he might reign as monarch of a newly independent Austria, but Austria's new Republican government ultimately vetoed this idea.

Attempts were made in late October to save the Habsburg monarchy; Charles issued a manifesto announcing a federal union of four components (German, Czech, South Slav, and Ukrainian), but it was impossible to sway events outside of Vienna any longer, and an armistice was signed on Nov. 3, 1918. The government still hoped that the Habsburg dynasty could continue on in what had remained of it after the secession of the Slav areas, but Charles wisely took the advice of Heinrich Lammasch, a renowned authority in the field of international law, and on November 11, 1918, proclaimed "I relinquish every participation in the administration of the State" but did not abdicate his thrones.[1]. This declaration marks the formal dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy. He then fled to Switzerland and continued to pursue regaining power from exile. Encouraged by Hungarian nationalists, he sought twice in 1921 to reclaim the throne of Hungary but failed due to various factors including the lack of support of the Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy, which monarchists view as treason, although critics attribute Horthy's actions to his firm footing in political reality.


Final Days of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire

19th Century

The Habsburg Monarchy started showing the signs of decline in the 19th century, when Emperor Francis Joseph (1848–1916) lost control of Italy and Prussia, with the latter taken over by Germany. On top of this, Russia proved to be a challenger in the Balkans. In 1867 the Habsburgs redrew the boundaries of their lands to create the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. At the same time, the job of ruling the lands became increasingly more difficult with a plethora of nationalities vying for control of their countries amidst the absence of a unifying ideology that would keep them together. Hungarians, Germans, and Poles were the most vocal nationals. Besides, the Habsburgs were unable to meet the demands of the booming middle and industrial classes.

The restructuring of the monarchy spurred crises among the various Slav peoples within the monarchy. Czechs oscillated toward the Pan-Slav movement and held the Congress of Slavs in July 1908 in Prague. On the day of the 60th anniversary of the accession to the throne of the widely unpopular Francis Joseph, the discontent and criticisms spilled into riots that prompted the imposition of martial law in Prague. In 1909 Prime Minister Baron von Bienerth made an attempt to appease the nationalities by including national representatives (Landsmannminister) in his Cabinet. The Germans, on the other hand, viewed the monarchy as an extension of German culture, while the Slavs aspired to save Austria for the sake of themselves, as they formed two-thirds of the population of Austria. However, the Poles' loyalty to the central government diluted the Slavic efforts at national representation, which thus crystallized into largely a Czech-German standoff, which polarized even political parties within Bohemia.

20th Century

The twentieth century brought with it the culmination in the Balkan discontent, with Bosnia and Serbia stepping up national demands. In 1913, Austria was mulling military action against Serbia but could not follow through for lack of support from Italy and Germany. Instead, the Austro-Hungarian Empire saw its territory shrink in the Balkan peninsula, with the consequence of pushing the Turks out of Europe. It was increasingly difficult to maneuver among demands of individual nations of the Empire, and when the Habsburgs took the side of Bulgaria against Serbia, they have undercut their standing in Romania, which harbored antagonism toward the Empire due to the treatment of non-Magyar nationalities in Hungary. Consequently, Romania teamed up with Italy and Serbia in support of anti-Habsburg actions inside the monarchy. By 1914, Vienna felt it was crucial to stem these developments in order to preserve the empire.

World War I

The declaration of the war became imminent when Archduke Francis Ferdinand, the heir of Francis Joseph, was assassinated by a Bosnian nationalist at Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, an event that served as a pretext for curbing the Serbian threat. Supported by Germany, the Austro-Hungarian foreign office officially assigned responsibility for the assassination to the Serbian government. This was to the dislike of the Hungarian prime minister, István, Count Tisza, who feared that a military action against Serbia and the country's subjugation would increase the number of Serbian population in the monarchy, but once he was assured of the opposite, he joined the war club. The Serbian government agreed to all but two Austro-Hungarian demands but the monarchy was already decided to go to war with Serbia, notwithstanding that such action could spur war between the Great Powers. The European governments offered compromise solutions, but on July 28, 1914, Francis Joseph signed the declaration of war.

The German government took advantage of the Habsburg woes and declared war against France and Russia in an effort to address its own predicament with those countries. Germany and Austria-Hungary entered into a military agreement that bound the latter to giving up the military action against Serbia and protecting the German invasion of France against Russian intervention instead. Austria-Hungary thus reluctantly became a military satellite of Germany.

German public was in favor of the war and so were some Polish leaders, albeit as a result of the mounting anti-Russian feeling, but the Czechs had had enough of the monarchy at this point. One of the most prominent proponents of the Czech cause, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, emigrated to western Europe, and the Pan-Slavism advocate Karel Kramár was imprisoned for treason. Ethnic Germans living in Austria had seen most of their influence dissipated; in military matters they could only follow German orders. Hungarians had the upper hand in economic affairs; they controlled the food supply. In January 1915 the foreign office went again to a Magyar, István, Count Burián, whose skills were not sufficient to keep Italy and Romania, which had territorial claims, out of the war.

In the Wake of the Sixtus Debacle

Two months after the public exposure of the Sixtus negotiations, the French government recognized the Czechoslovak National Council as an official agency of the Czechs, followed by the U.S.A. and Great Britain. At the same time, national revolutions within the monarchy were gaining momentum. Foreign Minister Burián sent a note to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson on October 14, 1918, asking for an armistice on the basis of the Fourteen Points, which Wilson rejected on grounds that “in view of the political development of the preceding months and, especially, in view of the fact that Czechoslovakia had been recognized as being at war with the Central Powers, the U.S. government was unable to deal on the basis of the Fourteen Points anymore.” REF

The monarchy was on its knees, which was evidenced by the fact that serious negotiations were held with the representatives of the Austro-Hungarian nationalities rather than the monarchy’s Joint Ministry of Foreign Affairs. National councils were established in all the provinces of the empire and acted as national governments. On October 27, Foreign Minister Gyula, Count Andrássy, sent a new armistice note to Wilson, accepting all the statements set forth in the U.S. note of October 18, thus recognizing the existence of an independent Czechoslovak state. The Poles declared their independence as a unified state on October 7, while the South Slavs advocated union with Serbia. The dissolution of the Habsburg monarchy was thus consummated by the end of October 1918—that is, before the war actually ended.


End of the War

Territories ruled by Germany-directed governments represented an authoritarian system of government, and national agitation in the Habsburg monarchy assumed the character of a democratic liberation movement, winning the sympathies of western European and American public opinion. From early 1918, the Allied governments began officially to promote the activities of the émigrés from Austria, foremost among them Masaryk, and in April 1918 a Congress of Oppressed Nationalities was organized in Rome. But the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy cannot be ascribed to the Allied policy of supporting the independence claims of the Habsburg nationalities, which was only a belated adjustment to the changed conditions within Austria-Hungary. From the summer of 1917, the activities of the nationalist movements within the empire made the situation increasingly untenable.

During the period in which the national-independence movement reached its final stage, another dangerous development manifested itself. From 1915 on, the supply situation had worsened increasingly, and by January 1918 there were dangerous shortages, especially of food. Prompted by the difficult food situation and inspired by the Bolshevik victory in Russia, a strike movement developed. Demands for more bread and a demand for peace were combined with nationalist claims into open opposition to the government.

After his death

Historians have been mixed in their evaluations of Karl and his reign. One of the most critical has been Helmut Rumpler, head of the Habsburg commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, who has described Karl as "a dilettante, far too weak for the challenges facing him, out of his depth, and not really a politician." However, others have seen Karl as a brave and honorable figure who tried as emperor-king to halt World War I. The English writer, Herbert Vivian, wrote: "Karl was a great leader, a prince of peace, who wanted to save the world from a year of war; a statesman with ideas to save his people from the complicated problems of his empire; a king who loved his people, a fearless man, a noble soul, distinguished, a saint from whose grave blessings come." Furthermore, Anatole France, the French novelist, stated: "Emperor Karl is the only decent man to come out of the war in a leadership position, yet he was a saint and no one listened to him. He sincerely wanted peace, and therefore was despised by the whole world. It was a wonderful chance that was lost."

All of these various viewpoints give weight to the words of Pope Saint Pius X during an audience with a young Karl: "I bless Archduke Karl, who will be the future Emperor of Austria and will help lead his countries and peoples to great honor and many blessings—but this will not become obvious until after his death."

Beatification

Karl has been solemnly declared blessed in the ceremony of beatification by the Roman Catholic Church. The Church has praised Karl for putting his Christian faith first in making political decisions, and for his perceived role as a peacemaker during the war, especially after 1917. The cause or campaign began in 1949 when testimony of his holiness was collected in the Archdiocese of Vienna. In 1954, he was declared venerable, the first step on the process beatification. The League of Prayers established for the promotion of his cause has created this website. Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna has been the Church's sponsor for his beatification.

During the Mass of Beatification on October 3, 2004, Pope John Paul II stated:

The decisive task of Christians consists in seeking, recognizing and following God's will in all things. The Christian statesman, Karl of Austria, confronted this challenge every day. To his eyes, war appeared as "something appalling". Amid the tumult of the First World War, he strove to promote the peace initiative of my Predecessor, Benedict XV.

From the beginning, the Emperor Karl conceived of his office as a holy service to his people. His chief concern was to follow the Christian vocation to holiness also in his political actions. For this reason, his thoughts turned to social assistance. May he be an example for all of us, especially for those who have political responsibilities in Europe today!

Recent milestones include:

  • On April 14, 2003, the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints in the presence of Pope John Paul II promulgated Karl of Austria's "heroic virtues."
  • On December 21, 2003, the Congregation certified, on the basis of three expert medical opinions, that a miracle in 1960 occurred through the intercession of Karl. The miracle attributed to Karl was the scientifically inexplicable healing of a Brazilian nun with debilitating varicose veins; she was able to get out of bed after she prayed for his beatification.
  • On October 3, 2004, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. The beatification has caused controversy because of the mistaken belief that Karl authorized his army's use of poison gas during World War I [2], when he was the first, and only, world leader during the war who banned its use.
  • Currently, several possible miracles attributed to his intercession are being investigated and documented. Another miracle is required for his canonization as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

Ancestors

Karl's ancestors in three generations
Karl I, Emperor of Austria Father:
Archduke Otto Franz of Austria
Father's father:
Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria
Father's father's father:
Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Father's father's mother:
Sophie of Bavaria
Father's mother:
Maria Annunciata of the Two Sicilies
Father's mother's father:
Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies
Father's mother's mother:
Maria Theresa of Austria
Mother:
Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony
Mother's father:
George of Saxony
Mother's father's father:
John I of Saxony
Mother's father's mother:
Amelia of Bavaria (1801-1877)
Mother's mother:
Maria Anna of Portugal
Mother's mother's father:
Ferdinand II of Portugal
Mother's mother's mother:
Maria II of Portugal

Official Title of Karl I

Monarchical Styles of
Charles of Austria
Krone Kaiser Rudolf II Kaisertum Österreich.jpg
Reference style His Imperial Majesty
Spoken style Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style Sire
Styles of
Charles IV of Hungary
Hungarian National Crown by toddjames.jpg
Reference style His Apostolic Majesty
Spoken style Your Apostolic Majesty
Alternative style Sire

His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty,

Charles the First,

By the Grace of God, Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, of this name the Fourth, King of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, and Galicia, Lodomeria, and Illyria; King of Jerusalem etc., Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow, Duke of Lorraine and of Salzburg, of Styria, of Carinthia, of Carniola and of the Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Duchy of Modena, Duchy of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Dubrovnik and Zadar; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trento and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc.; Lord of Trieste, of Kotor, and in the Wendish Mark; Grosswojwod of the Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat etc. etc.

See also

  • Otto von Habsburg, Karl's oldest son and as of 2006 head of the Habsburg family
  • Austria-Hungary

Footnotes

  1. May 22, 2004, "Emperor Karl I's Abdication Proclamation, 11 November 1918" First World War Website [1]
  2. October 3, 2004 "Emperor and mystic nun beatified" [2] British Broadcasting Corporation Online

External links

Commons-logo.svg
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:


House of Habsburg-Lothringen
Born: 17 August 1887; Died: 1 April 1922
Preceded by:
Franz Joseph I
Emperor of Austria
1916-1918
Succeeded by: Directory of the Council of State
King of Hungary
1916-1918
Succeeded by: Mihály Károlyi
Provisional President of Hungary
King of Bohemia
1916-1918
Succeeded by: Tomáš Masaryk
President of Czechoslovakia
Head of the house of Habsburg
1916-1922
Succeeded by: Otto von Habsburg
Preceded by:
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
Archduke of Austria-Este
1914-1917
Succeeded by: Archduke Robert of Austria-Este

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.