II.

Early Years and Accession

Francis Joseph was born on August 18, 1830, as the first son of Archduke Francis Charles, the younger brother of Emperor Francis I. Since the emperor’s son, Ferdinand, was unlikely to have children due to his epilepsy, Francis Joseph was groomed for a future role as emperor. His ambitious mother, the pious Archduchess Sophie of Bavaria, devised a gruelling training regimen for him, which anticipated the challenge that awaited him. In addition to physical and military exercises, he received lessons in German, Hungarian, Czech, French, Italian, Polish, religion, diplomacy, law, and several other subjects. Not a natural scholar and occasionally ill from overwork, the future emperor was nevertheless formed by these early years. Throughout his reign, Francis Joseph retained a capacity for endless paperwork, a love for things military, a belief in the political principles expounded by his conservative tutors, and a determination to uphold the dignity of his Catholic court.

Francis Joseph came to the throne on December 2, 1848, in circumstances that shaped his subsequent reign. The Revolutions of 1848 had brought the Austrian Empire to the brink of collapse. Twice the imperial family had to flee Vienna. Italy, Hungary, and Bohemia were in open revolt. In Germany, the Frankfurt Parliament and Prussia challenged Austria’s erstwhile preeminence. The Habsburg dynasty’s empire was saved by the army and by a group of conservative politicians led by the cold-blooded Minister-President Prince Felix Schwarzenberg. Soon after his appointment, Schwarzenberg arranged for Francis Joseph to succeed the feeble-minded Emperor Ferdinand. Having thus started his reign under Schwarzenberg’s tutelage, the 18-year-old emperor committed himself to a lifelong defence of his dynastic realm and its pivotal institution, the military.