FRANCIS JOSEPH

(1830-1916), Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary; succeeded his uncle Ferdinand in 1848. Soon after his acce ion war broke out with Hungary, which was subdued with the aid of Ru ian troops. Simultaneously he also triumphed over the insurgents in Italy, and thereafter he proceeded on a reactionary programme. Many of the old abuses were re-established, the rights of nationalities were was restored. Harly in 1859 events in Italy approached a crisis, and in April Austria made war inevitable by calling upon Piedmont to disarm. Aided by the French, the Italians wrested Lombardy from Austria, and though Napoleon basely deserted the Italians by the end of 1860, they made the union of Italy a foregone conclusion. In 1866 the uestion of the headship of Germany was ecided on the field of Sadowa, and Austria was forced to cede Venetia to Italy. The Austrian empire was no longer based upon the theory of German ascendency, and it was inevitable that the relations of Austria and Hungary should be rearranged. By a famous Ausgleich, an Austro-Hungarian state was formed, and Francis Joseph became emperor of the dual kingdom. After Germany’s triumph in 1870 Francis Joseph turned his thoughts to the Balkans as a new field for Austrian ambitions. At a private meeting with the Tsar Alexander II., he secured a promise that Austria should receive Bosnia and Herzegovina. Subsequently in 1879 and again in 1882 Austria allied herself with Germany in the Triple Alliance, and _ thereafter Francis Joseph accepted the secondary position in the combination, bel over Humbert I. of Italy as the thir partner. During his reign numerous tragedies afhicted his house; his brother Maximilian was shot in Mexico, 1867; the Crown Prince Rudolph perished in a discreditable tragedy, 1889, and the empre was fatally stabbed at Geneva, 1898. Though a reactionary, he recognized in 1907 that the franchise agitation had popular force, and pre ed upon his ministers a scheme of universal suffrage for Austria. On Dec. 2, 1908, he celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his acce ion. From about this period the Archduke Francis Ferdinand came to the front and Austrian policy became a ertive, notably in the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On June 28, 1914, the a a ination of the archduke at Serajevo precipitated the World War. The emperor’s share of responsibility can hardly yet be determined: some regard him as a prime agent; others as being scarcely conscious of the war. He died at Schénbrunn, Noy. 16, 1916, the oldest sovereign in the world, after a reign of sixty-eight years. No reign has been more disastrous to any nation.