House of Habsburg-Lorraine

Origins and dynastic union

The House of Lorraine traces its traditional origins to the Gerardines, descending from Gerard I, Count of Paris, who died in 779.^[1] Tenth-century Matfridings were also regarded as a branch of this family, holding the county of Metz and governing territories across Alsace and Lorraine.^[1] During the Renaissance, the reigning dukes claimed descent from Charlemagne, though early genealogical links remain conjectural.^[1][2] In 1048, Holy Roman Emperor Henry III conferred the Duchy of Upper Lorraine upon Adalbert of Metz, and subsequently upon his brother Gerard, whose descendants were known as the House of Alsace or the House of Châtenois.^[3] The main line maintained control of the duchy until 1431, when Charles II died without male heirs.^[3] The duchy then passed through his daughter Isabella to her husband René of Anjou, and then to their grandson Nicholas I. Following Nicholas's death without male issue in 1473, the succession reverted to René II, the son of Nicholas's aunt Yolande and Frederick II, Count of Vaudémont, thereby uniting Lorraine with the cadet branch of Vaudémont and Bar.^[4]

During the French Wars of Religion, a cadet line of the family, the House of Guise, founded by René II's younger son Claude, Duke of Guise, rose to dominance in French royal politics, nearly attaining the French throne during the reign of Henry III.^[5] In the seventeenth century, the imperialist expansion of Louis XIV led to the French military occupation of Lorraine between 1669 and 1697. This forced Duke Charles V into exile in Austria, where he married Eleonor, daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III. Their son Leopold was restored to the duchy by the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 and subsequently married Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, a niece of Louis XIV. Their son Francis Stephen succeeded as Duke Francis III of Lorraine in 1729.

The House of Habsburg took its name from Habsburg Castle, erected in the 1020s by Count Radbot of Klettgau in the Swiss Aargau. His grandson Otto II was the first to adopt the title Count of Habsburg. In 1273, Radbot's descendant Rudolph of Habsburg was elected King of the Romans, transferring the dynastic power base to the Duchy of Austria. Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI was the last direct male-line monarch of the Austrian Habsburgs. Having lost his only infant son Leopold, and anticipating the extinction of the male line, Charles VI promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction on 19 April 1713, establishing indivisible succession through the female line. By this instrument, his eldest daughter, Archduchess Maria Theresa, was designated heir to the Habsburg hereditary domains, including Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary.

Charles VI arranged the marriage of Maria Theresa to Francis Stephen of Lorraine. To obtain French consent to the union and maintain the European balance of power, diplomatic negotiations culminated in an exchange of territories following the War of the Polish Succession. Francis Stephen surrendered his ancestral Duchy of Lorraine and Bar to Stanisław Leszczyński, the deposed King of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV, with the provision that it would merge into France upon Leszczyński's death. In compensation, Francis Stephen received the reversion of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, where the Medici dynasty was nearing extinction, as well as the Duchy of Teschen. Francis Stephen retained the hereditary titles of Duke of Lorraine and Bar, transmitting them to his progeny. The marriage was celebrated in Vienna on 12 February 1736, establishing the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

War of the Austrian Succession and imperial elevation

Upon the death of Emperor Charles VI in 1740, Maria Theresa assumed sovereignty over the Habsburg hereditary lands in accordance with the Pragmatic Sanction.^[6] Her accession was immediately challenged by a coalition comprising Prussia, France, Spain, Bavaria, and Saxony, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession.^[6][7] King Frederick II of Prussia invaded the Austrian province of Silesia, a prosperous mining and textile center in the Bohemian crownlands. The Austrian state faced administrative disorganization and depleted finances, leaving Maria Theresa compelled to defend her patrimony against combined foreign armies.

In 1742, Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, was unanimously elected Holy Roman Emperor as Charles VII with French backing, interrupting three centuries of uninterrupted Habsburg occupancy of the imperial throne.^[8] However, Austrian armies launched counter-offensives, expelling Bavarian forces from Bohemia and occupying Bavaria itself. When Charles VII died in 1745, Maria Theresa secured the election of her husband Francis Stephen as Holy Roman Emperor Francis I on 13 September 1745. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 concluded the conflict, formally confirming the Pragmatic Sanction and international recognition of the new dynasty's reign, though Austria was forced to cede Silesia to Prussia and Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to the Spanish Bourbons.

Determined to recover Silesia, Maria Theresa initiated the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 through her state chancellor Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, concluding an alliance with France and ending centuries of Habsburg-Bourbon enmity. The ensuing Seven Years' War between 1756 and 1763 failed to regain Silesia, but the French alliance led to multiple political marriages between the children of Francis I and Maria Theresa and the Bourbon courts of France, Spain, Naples, and Parma. Their daughters Marie Antoinette and Maria Carolina became queens consort of France and Naples-Sicily respectively. These repeated intermarriages across close kinship lines resulted in high infant mortality and physical infirmities among several descendants, while simultaneously alienating smaller German principalities that increasingly looked to Prussia for leadership.

Reigns of Joseph II and Leopold II

Following the death of Emperor Francis I in 1765, his eldest son Joseph II was elected Holy Roman Emperor and served as co-regent with Maria Theresa in the Austrian lands until her death in 1780. Joseph II implemented sweeping reforms rooted in enlightened absolutism, modernizing the administration and curtailing the privileges of the Roman Catholic Church. In Hungary, Joseph II refused to undergo coronation with the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen to avoid swearing the mandatory coronation oath upholding the feudal constitution and estates privileges, earning him the moniker the hatted king (kalapos király). In 1784, he ordered the Holy Crown transferred to Vienna as a museum piece.

Joseph II promulgated the Patent of Toleration in 1781, granting religious freedom and civil office access to Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians on equal footing with Roman Catholics. In 1782, his secularization decrees dissolved contemplative monastic orders that were not engaged in teaching or medical care, confiscating their property; an extraordinary visit to Vienna by Pope Pius VI failed to reverse these measures. In 1784, he decreed German as the sole official language of administration to unify bureaucratic efficiency, sparking outrage among the Hungarian nobility. He ordered a census in 1784 and a land survey in 1786, which the estates interpreted as preparations for universal taxation. In 1785, Joseph abolished the historic Hungarian county administrative system, dividing Hungary into ten and Transylvania into three administrative districts headed by royal commissioners, while central administration was directed by the Vice-Regal Council in Buda.

The bloody Horea-Cloșca peasant uprising of 1784 in Transylvania spurred Joseph II to issue the Serf Decree of 1785, granting peasants freedom of movement, rights to personal property, and security of land tenure. In 1788, Joseph entered the Russo-Turkish War in alliance with Catherine II of Russia, placing severe supply and quartering burdens on Hungary. When the estates resisted extra taxation, Hungarian leaders opened secret negotiations with King Frederick William II of Prussia to offer the Hungarian crown to a Prussian prince. The outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 distressed Joseph II, leading him on his deathbed in 1790 to revoke all his decrees concerning Hungary, with the exceptions of the Patent of Toleration and the Serf Decree.

Joseph II died without surviving issue in 1790 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Leopold II, who had previously governed Tuscany as Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo I. In Tuscany, Leopold had reformed finances, opened mental health facilities, and enacted a penal code in 1786 that made Tuscany the first state in Europe to abolish capital punishment. Facing unrest in Hungary and Belgium upon his imperial accession, Leopold concluded the Reichenbach Convention on 27 July 1790 with Prussia, neutralizing Prussian support for Hungarian noble resistance. He terminated the Ottoman war through the Treaty of Sistova on 4 August 1791, relinquishing territorial gains. Leopold had the Holy Crown ceremonially returned to Buda, was crowned King of Hungary in Pressburg, and named his son Archduke Alexander Leopold as Palatine of Hungary.

Leopold confirmed the religious concessions of the 1606 Peace of Vienna and 1645 Peace of Linz, which provoked complaints from Catholic prelates. Together with the King of Prussia, Leopold issued the Declaration of Pillnitz in August 1791, urging European powers to assist the French monarchy without immediate military intervention. Seeing French radicalization escalate toward conflict, he concluded a defensive alliance with Prussia on 7 February 1792. Leopold II died suddenly on 1 March 1792, shortly before France declared war on Austria.

Napoleonic Wars and the Austrian Empire

Francis II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt in 1792 following his father Leopold II's death. When the French revolutionary government executed King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, Francis formed the First Coalition with Britain, Prussia, Spain, and Sardinia. French armies under Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Austrian forces repeatedly in northern Italy.^[9] Under the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, Austria ceded the Southern Netherlands and Lombardy to France while acquiring Venetia, Istria, and Dalmatia. In Hungary, an underground Jacobin movement led by Ignác Martinovics was uncovered in 1794, resulting in the execution of seven conspirators in Buda in 1795. In response, Francis expanded the secret police and strict censorship, while securing Hungarian noble loyalty by confirming traditional tax exemptions.

Wartime expenditures forced the Austrian treasury to issue unbacked paper currency, leading to severe inflation. Although noble landowners initially profited by selling grain at inflated prices and paying off land debts with devalued notes, state currency devaluations in 1811 and 1816 wiped out financial reserves. The Hungarian noble levy (nemesi felkelés) took the field against Napoleon in 1809, suffering defeat at the Battle of Győr (Kismegyer). Disaffected by noble complaints over monetary policies, Francis II did not convene the Hungarian Diet between 1812 and 1825.

On 18 May 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte assumed the title Emperor of the French. Fearing the imminent dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and seeking parity with France, Francis II proclaimed the hereditary Austrian Empire on 11 August 1804, assuming the title Francis I, Emperor of Austria. In 1805, Austria joined Britain, Russia, and Sweden in the Third Coalition. Following the defeat of Austrian and Russian armies at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805, Austria signed the Peace of Pressburg, ceding Venetia to the Kingdom of Italy and Tyrol to Bavaria. In July 1806, sixteen German states established the Confederation of the Rhine under French protection. On 6 August 1806, Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor and dissolved the empire.

Following Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815, the Congress of Vienna reorganized Europe under the leadership of State Chancellor Klemens von Metternich.^[10] Austria recovered Lombardy, Venetia, Dalmatia, Istria, and Salzburg, establishing the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and assuming the presidency of the newly founded German Confederation. In September 1815, Austria, Russia, and Prussia formed the Holy Alliance to uphold the conservative monarchical order and suppress revolutionary unrest across Europe.^[10] Francis I maintained strict domestic surveillance and central administration until his death on 2 March 1835.

The Vormärz and the Revolutions of 1848

Francis I was succeeded in 1835 by his eldest son, Ferdinand I (Ferdinand V as King of Hungary and Bohemia). Due to severe epilepsy and neurological impairment, Ferdinand was incapable of governing independently, leaving state authority in the hands of a Secret State Conference directed by Metternich, Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky, and Archduke Ludwig. In Hungary, county resistance forced the reconvening of the Diet in 1825, marking the onset of the Hungarian Reform Era. Count István Széchenyi offered a full year's income from his estates to found the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Tudós Társaság). The Diet of 1830 established Hungarian as the language of the judiciary, and the 1832–1836 Diet debated the abolition of serfdom in the wake of the 1831 cholera uprising. The Diet of 1843–1844 established Hungarian as the sole official state language of the Kingdom of Hungary.

The European revolutions of 1848 began in Vienna on 13 March 1848, forcing the resignation and flight of Chancellor Metternich. Emperor Ferdinand promised a constitution and freedom of the press. On 15 March, a bloodless revolution erupted in Pest, where the March Youth published the Twelve Points and Sándor Petőfi's Nemzeti dal. On 11 April 1848, Ferdinand sanctioned the April Laws, establishing a responsible Hungarian parliamentary government under Prime Minister Count Lajos Batthyány, universal taxation, the abolition of serfdom with state compensation, and freedom of the press. On 30 May 1848, the Transylvanian Diet voted for union with Hungary, which Ferdinand sanctioned on 10 June, terminating the separate administrative status Transylvania had held under the Diploma Leopoldinum since 1691.

The imperial court camarilla in Vienna, comprising Archduchess Sophie, Prince Felix zu Schwarzenberg, and military commanders, resolved to reverse the Hungarian constitutional concessions. The court supported Count Josip Jelačić, the Ban of Croatia, who broke relations with the Hungarian government.^[11] On 11 September 1848, Jelačić's forces crossed the Drava river into Hungary. The Batthyány ministry resigned, and executive authority was transferred to the National Defense Commission (Országos Honvédelmi Bizottmány) chaired by Lajos Kossuth. Count Franz Philipp von Lamberg, appointed imperial military commander in Hungary without Hungarian countersignature, was lynched by a crowd on the Pest pontoon bridge on 28 September. On 29 September, the Hungarian army defeated Jelačić at the Battle of Pákozd.

Ferdinand dissolved the Hungarian Diet on 3 October 1848, placing Hungary under martial law. On 6 October, a third revolution erupted in Vienna, where an insurgent crowd lynched Imperial War Minister Count Theodor Baillet von Latour. The imperial family fled to Olmütz, while Field Marshal Prince Alfred zu Windisch-Grätz bombarded Vienna into submission, defeating an approaching Hungarian relief force at Schwechat on 30 October. Convinced that Ferdinand's constitutional oaths prevented decisive action, the court faction engineered his abdication at Olmütz on 2 December 1848. Ferdinand's brother, Archduke Franz Karl, renounced his succession rights, allowing Franz Karl's eighteen-year-old son to ascend the throne as Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Hungarian War of Independence and retribution

The Hungarian Diet refused to recognize Franz Joseph's accession, arguing that Ferdinand remained the lawful king until an orderly succession and a coronation oath were sworn. Windisch-Grätz occupied Buda and Pest in January 1849, while the Hungarian government relocated to Debrecen. On 4 March 1849, Franz Joseph promulgated the imposed Olmütz Constitution, subordinating Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, and the Serbian Vojvodina as crown provinces within a unified, centralized Austrian Empire. In response, General Artúr Görgei launched the Spring Campaign in April 1849, liberating Buda and driving Austrian forces westward, while General Józef Bem cleared Transylvania.

Encouraged by military triumphs and responding to the Olmütz charter, Kossuth proposed complete independence. On 14 April 1849, the Hungarian Diet in the Great Church of Debrecen proclaimed the dethronement of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and voted Kossuth Governor-President.^[12] The Declaration of Independence was ratified on 19 April.^[12] However, European powers prioritized maintaining the Austrian Empire as a counterbalance in Central Europe and withheld diplomatic recognition from the Hungarian republic.^[13] On 21 May 1849, Franz Joseph concluded an agreement in Warsaw with Tsar Nicholas I for Russian military intervention under the terms of the Holy Alliance.^[14]

In June 1849, a Russian army of 200,000 troops under Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich invaded northern Hungary, while an Austrian force of 170,000 commanded by General Julius Jacob von Haynau advanced from the west. Outnumbered, the 152,000 Hungarian soldiers suffered defeat. On 9 August 1849, Haynau defeated Bem at the Battle of Temesvár. Kossuth transferred civil and military authority to General Görgei on 11 August and escaped into the Ottoman Empire. On 13 August 1849, Görgei surrendered unconditionally to Russian General Theodor von Rüdiger at Világos.

On 20 August 1849, the imperial ministerial council under Franz Joseph and Felix zu Schwarzenberg decreed that political leaders and former Austrian officers who served the Hungarian cause be court-martialed. Haynau was granted full discretion to carry out death sentences without prior ministerial review.^[15][16] On 6 October 1849, the anniversary of Latour's death, former Prime Minister Count Lajos Batthyány was executed by firing squad in Pest, while thirteen high-ranking Hungarian generals, known as the Martyrs of Arad, were hanged or shot in Arad.^[17] Between 100 and 130 individuals were executed during the post-war retribution. The retribution outraged European public opinion, and on 6 July 1850 the imperial government recalled and pensioned Haynau, stating that he had exceeded his authority.

The Bach era and constitutional crises

Following the suppression of the 1848 revolutions, Austria instituted a centralized bureaucratic regime known as neo-absolutism. On 31 December 1851, Franz Joseph formally revoked the unexecuted Olmütz Constitution through the New Year's Eve Patent (Silvesterpatent), establishing unrestrained autocratic rule. Imperial Minister of the Interior Alexander von Bach organized an administrative apparatus staffed by non-local German and Czech officials, pejoratively termed Bach hussars. In Hungary, large sections of the landed nobility adopted passive resistance under the guidance of Ferenc Deák, refusing state offices and tax payments. Despite political repression, the regime modernized the judicial code, unified weights and measures, established land registries, and confirmed the abolition of peasant servitude through the Urbarial Patent of 1853. In 1851, the internal customs border separating Austria and Hungary, originally introduced by Maria Theresa, was eliminated.^[18]

Austrian foreign policy miscalculations undermined the neo-absolutist framework. During the Crimean War of 1853–1856, Franz Joseph mobilized forces along the Russian frontier and aligned diplomatically with Britain and France, rupturing Austria's long-standing alliance with Russia without securing Western backing.^[19] In 1859, Austria fought the Second Italian War of Independence against the Kingdom of Sardinia and Napoleon III's France. Defeated at Magenta and Solferino, Austria signed the Armistice of Villafranca, losing Lombardy. The military defeat brought the imperial treasury to near bankruptcy and discredited the Bach ministry.

In October 1860, Franz Joseph issued the October Diploma, introducing a federal framework and reviving provincial assemblies. Hungarian political leaders rejected the diploma because it failed to restore the 1848 legal order. In February 1861, State Minister Anton von Schmerling issued the February Patent, establishing a centralized bicameral Imperial Council (Reichsrat). When the Hungarian Diet convened in 1861, members divided between the Resolution Party, led by Count László Teleki, which refused to negotiate with the monarch, and the Address Party, led by Ferenc Deák, which favored submitting a formal remonstrance. Following Teleki's suicide on 8 May 1861, the Diet voted for Deák's address, refusing to recognize Franz Joseph's authority until the constitution was restored. Franz Joseph dissolved the Diet on 22 August 1861 and reimposed provisional absolutism.

The Ausgleich and the Dual Monarchy

On 16 April 1865, Ferenc Deák published his Easter Article in the Pesti Napló, stating Hungary's willingness to harmonize its laws with the security requirements of the imperial realm. The reconciliation process accelerated after Austria suffered defeat against Prussia and Italy in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.^[20] Defeated at the Battle of Königgrätz, Austria signed the Peace of Prague, dissolving the German Confederation, relinquishing Holstein, accepting exclusion from German affairs, and ceding Venetia to Italy.

On 17 February 1867, Franz Joseph appointed Count Gyula Andrássy Prime Minister of Hungary. The Hungarian Diet passed Law XII of 1867, establishing the Austro-Hungarian Compromise (Ausgleich). The empire was reconstructed as a dual monarchy consisting of the Austrian Empire (Cisleithania) and the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania), each governed by its own parliament and responsible cabinet. Common affairs were limited to foreign affairs, defense, and shared finance, overseen by three joint imperial-royal ministers accountable to annual parliamentary Delegations of sixty members from each legislature. Hungary contributed 30 percent of common expenses, later increased to 36.4 percent, while assuming a portion of the Austrian public debt. The economic partnership, including a customs union and shared currency, was renegotiated every ten years.^[21]

On 8 June 1867, Franz Joseph was crowned Apostolic King of Hungary alongside Empress Elisabeth in the Matthias Church in Buda, granting general amnesty to political prisoners.^[22] From his exile in Turin, Lajos Kossuth condemned the settlement in his Cassandra Letter of 22 May 1867, warning that tying Hungary's fate to the Habsburg dynasty would drag Hungary into disaster when the empire collapsed under minority nationalist pressures.^[13][23] Deák countered that Hungary required the protective framework of the empire to survive between Germany and Russia.^[13]

In 1868, the Hungarian parliament enacted the Nationalities Law drafted by Baron József Eötvös, recognizing a single indivisible Hungarian political nation while granting language rights in primary education, local courts, and administration. The same year, the Croatian-Hungarian Settlement recognized the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia as an autonomous political territory within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. In 1870, the port city of Fiume was designated a separate body (corpus separatum) administered directly by a governor appointed by the Hungarian government.

Domestic development and crises of the dual state

The Dual Monarchy underwent rapid industrialization and commercial expansion between 1867 and 1913. Hungary's national income grew from 800 million crowns in the 1850s to 13 billion crowns in 1913.^[21] An extensive railway network connected Budapest, which emerged as a major metropolis following the 1873 unification of Buda, Pest, and Óbuda. In 1896, the kingdom staged massive celebrations to commemorate the Hungarian conquest millennium.^[21] However, social tensions intensified as landless agrarian laborers and industrial workers organized strikes. The Social Democratic Party of Hungary formed in 1890, and the Christian Socialist movement arose in 1907. On 23 May 1912, police and military units suppressed an enormous demonstration for universal suffrage in Budapest, an event known as Blood Red Thursday.

Franchise restrictions maintained political control among traditional elites. In the 1910 Hungarian elections, only 6.4 percent of the total population possessed voting rights, under an electoral system intended to preserve the Hungarian national state and the system of the 1867 Ausgleich.^[24][25] Non-Magyar nationalities, comprising roughly half the population, agitated against assimilationist policies, including the 1907 Lex Apponyi education laws that mandated Hungarian language instruction in state and confessional schools.^[26] Romanian and Serbian minority deputies protested the centralization of administration and the suppression of regional autonomy.^[26]

A severe constitutional crisis erupted in Hungary following the 1905 elections, in which the governing Liberal Party was defeated by an opposition coalition led by the Party of Independence and '48. The coalition demanded a separate Hungarian customs territory and Hungarian words of command in the joint army. Refusing to entrust government to a coalition that questioned the joint army, Franz Joseph appointed General Géza Fejérváry, captain of the royal trabant guards, as prime minister on 18 June 1905.^[27] The Fejérváry cabinet, termed the bodyguard government, ruled without parliamentary support and proposed introducing universal male suffrage to counter noble dominance. On 19 February 1906, military troops entered the parliament building and dissolved the legislature. The coalition capitulated in April 1906, abandoning its military demands in exchange for entering government under Prime Minister Sándor Wekerle, thereby terminating the crisis.^[28]

Foreign policy and the First World War

Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, Franz Joseph appointed Count Gyula Andrássy as Joint Foreign Minister. Seeking to check Russian influence in the Balkans, Andrássy promoted close cooperation with the newly unified German Empire, while participating in the League of the Three Emperors with Russia and Germany in 1873. At the Congress of Berlin in 1878, European powers authorized Austria-Hungary to occupy and administer the Ottoman provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[29] Austro-Hungarian troops encountered armed resistance during the occupation, suffering over 7,000 casualties. On 7 October 1879, Andrássy concluded the secret Dual Alliance with Germany for mutual defense against Russia.^[30] Italy joined in 1882 to form the Triple Alliance, and Romania adhered secretly in 1883. In 1887, Austria-Hungary joined Britain and Italy in the Mediterranean Agreements to maintain the regional status quo against Russian expansion.^[31]

In September 1908, Joint Foreign Minister Alois Lexa von Aehrenthal met Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky at Buchlau Castle in Moravia. Aehrenthal understood that Russia would accept the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in exchange for Austrian diplomatic backing to open the Turkish Straits to Russian warships. On 6 October 1908, Franz Joseph unilaterally proclaimed the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, invoking historic rights of the Hungarian crown.^[32] The action precipitated the Bosnian Crisis, provoking protests from Serbia, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France. Germany gave unconditional backing to Austria-Hungary, while Austria threatened to publish diplomatic correspondence confirming past Russian acquiescence.^[33] Russia backed down, and Serbia formally recognized the annexation on 31 March 1909, though the crisis permanently damaged Austro-Russian relations.

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Franz Joseph and heir presumptive to the throne, was assassinated alongside his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Young Bosnia organization, which prepared the assassination together with the Serbian secret society Union or Death (the Black Hand).^[34] On 5 June, Serbian envoy Jovan Jovanović had conveyed a vague warning to Joint Finance Minister Leon Biliński, but the archduke proceeded with the visit.^[34][35] Austrian Chief of the General Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf and Foreign Minister Leopold von Berchtold urged military retaliation against Serbia. Hungarian Prime Minister István Tisza was the only member of the joint ministerial council to oppose military action, but he changed his position once he knew of Germany's support.^[36]

On 23 July 1914, Austria-Hungary delivered a harsh ultimatum to Serbia. When the Serbian government accepted most terms but rejected Austro-Hungarian officials participating in judicial investigations on Serbian soil, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on 28 July 1914, initiating the First World War.^[37][38] Russian mobilization escalated the conflict across Europe. Austria-Hungary faced multi-front warfare against Serbia, Russia, and, after May 1915, Italy. On 21 November 1916, Emperor Franz Joseph died at Schönbrunn Palace at the age of 86, ending a reign of nearly sixty-eight years.^[39]

Fall of the monarchy and Charles I

Franz Joseph was succeeded by his grandnephew, Emperor Charles I (King Charles IV of Hungary). Charles attempted to initiate secret peace negotiations through his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, but his efforts to secure peace remained unsuccessful. As domestic shortages, strikes, and military exhaustion mounted, representatives of subject nationalities met in Rome in April 1918 to demand full independence. On 16 October 1918, Charles issued an imperial manifesto transforming Cisleithanian Austria into a federal state of autonomous nationalities, but the concession came too late to halt imperial disintegration.^[40]

National councils formed rapidly across the empire. On 18 October 1918, United States President Woodrow Wilson rejected Austro-Hungarian peace overtures, stating that self-determination had superseded his original Fourteen Points. In Budapest, the Aster Revolution installed a government under Count Mihály Károlyi on 31 October 1918, formally terminating the dualist union with Austria. Following the military armistice of Villafranca on 3 November, Charles issued a declaration at Schönbrunn Palace on 11 November 1918 renouncing all participation in Austrian state affairs, without formally abdicating his crown.^[40] On 13 November, he signed an equivalent renunciation for Hungary at Schloss Eckartsau.^[40] Charles and his family relocated to Switzerland on 23 March 1919.

Hungary restored its monarchical status in 1920 under Admiral Miklós Horthy as regent, though the royal throne remained vacant.^[41] King Charles IV launched two restoration attempts in 1921. In the spring of 1921, he travelled secretly to Budapest, where Horthy assured him that he would soon prepare the country for his official return but did not keep the promise. The chances of a restoration were also reduced because Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and Romania mobilized troops on Hungary's borders and threatened to invade the country again if the dynasty were restored. In October 1921, Charles flew to Sopron and advanced by train toward Budapest at the head of loyal troops commanded by Colonel Anton Lehár. The campaign failed because of several misunderstandings and the betrayal of one of Charles's commanding officers, General Hegedüs. Arrested by the Hungarian government, Charles and Queen Zita were handed over to the British military, transported down the Danube, and exiled to Madeira. Under pressure from the victorious Entente powers, the Hungarian parliament enacted the Dethronement Act on 6 November 1921, formally stripping the House of Habsburg-Lorraine of rights to the Hungarian throne.^[41] Charles died of pneumonia on Madeira on 1 April 1922 at the age of 34 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2004.^[42]

Cadet branches and associated territories

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany constituted the primary secondogeniture of the imperial house. When Francis Stephen surrendered Lorraine in 1737, he obtained Tuscany following the death of Gian Gastone de' Medici. Upon Francis's death in 1765, the grand duchy passed to his second son Peter Leopold. When Leopold succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor in 1790, Tuscany was conferred upon his second son Ferdinand III. Displaced during the Napoleonic wars, Ferdinand was restored in 1814. His successor Leopold II granted a constitution in 1848 but abdicated in 1859 during the Italian unification movement. His son Ferdinand IV was deposed in 1860 when Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia following a plebiscite. The Tuscan branch continued as part of the Austrian nobility, with members in the twentieth century claiming the Carlist succession to the Spanish throne.

The Duchy of Modena and Reggio was governed by the House of Austria-Este, founded by Archduke Ferdinand Karl, the fourth son of Maria Theresa, through his marriage to Maria Beatrice d'Este, heiress of Duke Ercole III d'Este.^[43][44] Their son Francesco IV was restored as sovereign duke in 1814. His successor Francesco V was deposed during the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859, and Modena was incorporated into Sardinia. Upon Francesco V's death without issue in 1875, the Este representation passed to Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and following his 1914 assassination, to the future Emperor Charles I, who transferred the designation to his second son, Archduke Robert, in 1917. Today, the branch is headed by Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, who married Princess Astrid of Belgium and holds the title Prince of Belgium.

The Duchy of Parma and Piacenza was governed by Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria, the eldest daughter of Emperor Francis I and former Empress of the French. Under the 1814 Treaty of Fontainebleau and the Congress of Vienna, Marie Louise received Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla as a sovereign duchy for life. She ruled until her death in 1847, after which the duchy reverted to the House of Bourbon-Parma. Her morganatic marriage to Count Adam Albert von Neipperg produced the princely House of Montenuovo.

The Teschen branch of the dynasty (Habsburg-Teschen) descended from Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, the third son of Emperor Leopold II. Charles was adopted by his childless aunt, Archduchess Maria Christina, and her husband Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen. Charles earned military renown commanding Austrian armies against Napoleon. His descendants held estates in Silesia and western Galicia centered on Żywiec. Archduke Friedrich served as supreme commander of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces from 1914 to 1916. The cadet line also included Archduke Charles Stephen, an admiral who was considered a candidate for the Polish throne during the First World War. Following the empire's collapse, the Duchy of Teschen was partitioned between Poland and Czechoslovakia.^[45]

The Hungarian Palatinal branch was established by Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary, the seventh son of Leopold II, who was elected palatine in 1796 following the accidental death of his brother Alexander Leopold. Archduke Joseph promoted the development of Pest and resided in Hungary until his death in 1847. His son Archduke Stephen served as the last constitutional palatine during the 1848 revolution. Later descendants included Field Marshal Archduke Joseph August, who served briefly as Head of State of Hungary in August 1919 following the fall of the Hungarian Soviet Republic. His grandson Archduke Joseph Árpád and great-grandson Archduke Joseph Karl maintained active ties with Hungarian public life.

In 1864, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, accepted the imperial crown of the Second Mexican Empire with the military backing of Napoleon III and Mexican conservative monarchists. Arriving in Mexico with his wife Charlotte of Belgium, Maximilian enacted moderate reforms, but lost conservative backing and faced armed resistance from republican forces under Benito Juárez. Following the withdrawal of French expeditionary troops in 1866, Maximilian took command of the remaining imperial troops, was captured at Querétaro, and was executed by firing squad alongside his generals on 19 June 1867. Prior to his execution, Maximilian adopted the grandsons of Mexico's first emperor Agustín de Iturbide, establishing the titular House of Habsburg-Iturbide.

Dynastic statute and morganatic lines

Between 1780 and 1918, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine functioned as a strictly regulated dynastic corporation governed by the Allerhöchste Familienstatut (Supreme Family Statute), formalized in 1839.^[46][47][48] All legitimate members bore the title of Archduke or Archduchess of Austria and Royal Prince or Princess of Hungary and Bohemia from birth.^[46] The ruling emperor exercised absolute patriarchal authority as head of the dynasty, determining marriage permissions, financial allowances, professions, places of residence, and foreign travel for all members.^[47][49] Legal actions against family members were tried before a dedicated court presided over by the Supreme Court Marshal (Obersthofmarschall).^[50] Marriages were required to be dynastically equal (ebenbürtig), contracted exclusively with members of sovereign or formerly sovereign Roman Catholic houses.^[47] Entering an unequal marriage without imperial consent resulted in expulsion from the family, deprivation of titles and appanages, and forfeiture of succession rights for all descendants.^[51]

Several notable morganatic lines separated from the imperial house during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Archduke Johann, son of Leopold II, married Anna Plochl, the daughter of a Styrian postmaster, in 1829; their descendants received the title Counts of Meran and were excluded from imperial succession.^[52] Archduke Heinrich married opera singer Leopoldine Hofmann in 1868 against Franz Joseph's consent; though later rehabilitated, their daughter received the title Countess of Waideck. In 1889, Archduke Johann Salvator of the Tuscan branch renounced his imperial rank and privileges, assumed the name Johann Orth, and married dancer Milli Stubel; he disappeared at sea off South America in 1890.^[53] In 1902, Archduke Leopold Ferdinand renounced his dynastic status, living under the name Ferdinand Wölfling.^[53] Archduke Ferdinand Karl secretly married Berta Czuber, daughter of a mathematics professor, in 1909; he was forced to leave the house in 1911, adopting the name Ferdinand Burg.^[53]

The most significant morganatic union occurred in 1900, when heir presumptive Archduke Franz Ferdinand married Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkowa und Wognin.^[54] Because the Chotek family was of noble rather than sovereign status, Franz Joseph consented to the marriage only after Franz Ferdinand signed a formal declaration renouncing all succession rights for his future children.^[54] Sophie was created Duchess of Hohenberg in 1909, and their descendants formed the non-dynastic ducal House of Hohenberg.^[54] Other morganatic lines included the Princes of Altenburg, descending from Archduke Charles Albert of the Teschen branch and Swedish noblewoman Alice Ankarcrona.

Legal status in successor states

On 3 April 1919, the Constituent National Assembly of the Republic of German-Austria enacted the Habsburg Law (Habsburgergesetz). The statute banished Emperor Charles permanently from Austria and expelled all other members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine unless they formally renounced their dynastic sovereign claims and declared themselves loyal citizens of the republic. The law nationalized all state-administered court property (Hofärar) and confiscated the collective family patrimonial foundation (Privat- und Familienfonds). However, family members who signed the required renunciations retained their individual private estates; the line of Archduke Franz Salvator and Archduchess Marie Valerie (daughter of Franz Joseph) retained ownership of Persenbeug Castle, Wallsee Castle, and the Kaiservilla in Bad Ischl. On the same day, Austria enacted the Law on the Abolition of Nobility, stripping all aristocratic titles and noble particles such as von.

In Czechoslovakia, the provisional constitution of 1918 and subsequent constitutional laws abolished noble titles, deprived members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine of Czechoslovak citizenship, and confiscated their landed estates without compensation.^[55] Under Law 50/1923, unauthorized entry or residence by members of the former ruling family was made a criminal offense. Following the collapse of the communist regime in 1989, members of the family visited the Czech Republic without legal obstruction, attending cultural commemorations such as the annual Audience with Emperor Charles I at Brandýs nad Labem, where Otto von Habsburg received honorary citizenships.^[56][57] In Hungary, the national assembly passed an act dethroning the House of Habsburg-Lorraine on 6 November 1921, and Hungary remained a monarchy until 1946, though it stayed a kingdom without a king.^[41] An inter-Allied resolution in 1919 had stipulated that Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia each contribute an annual pension of 5,000 pounds sterling to support the exiled imperial family, but none of the successor states ever disbursed these payments.^[55]

In Austria, Federal Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg partially dismantled anti-Habsburg legislation in 1935 and 1936, restoring confiscated private assets. Adolf Hitler opposed any monarchist restoration in Austria, planning immediate military invasion if the dynasty returned.^[58] In February 1938, Otto von Habsburg wrote an open letter to Schuschnigg offering to take over the federal chancellorship to organize armed defense against Nazi Germany, but Schuschnigg declined.^[58] Following the Anschluss in March 1938, the National Socialist regime restored the 1919 Habsburg Law in full. In 1945, the reconstituted Republic of Austria reinstated the 1920 federal constitution, once again expelling family members.^[59] In 1961, Otto signed a formal renunciation of sovereign claims, allowing him to return to Austria in 1966. Article 60, Paragraph 3 of the Austrian Federal Constitution prohibited members of formerly reigning dynasties from standing for the federal presidency; challenged by Green Party politician Ulrich Habsburg-Lothringen, this restriction was repealed by the Austrian parliament in June 2011.^[60][61][62] When Otto died in 2011, an elaborate funeral was held at St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna, attended by European heads of state and approximately 100,000 spectators.^[63][64]

The contemporary dynasty

In 2007, Otto von Habsburg stepped down as head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, transferring the leadership to his eldest son, Karl von Habsburg.^[65][66][67] Karl's heir apparent is his eldest son, Ferdinand Zvonimir Habsburg-Lothringen. He is a motor racing driver.^[68] Descending from the 1736 union of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresa, the House of Habsburg-Lorraine has grown to encompass over 500 living members across multiple continents, with approximately half residing in Austria and the remainder living in Germany, Hungary, other European nations, the Americas, and Africa.^[69][70][71] Succession to headship follows semi-Salic agnatic primogeniture. The family maintains communication through an active WhatsApp group comprising 280 members, as described by Georg von Habsburg.^[70] In 2014, marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, the family formulated a shared historical consensus regarding the conflict.^[71] In November 2016, approximately 300 family members attended a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican.^[72][73]

The strict house statutes governing equal marriage were relaxed in the late twentieth century. Marriage partners are no longer required to belong to reigning or titled noble families; dynastic validity generally requires prior notification of the head of the house and observance of Catholic marital traditions. Several unions previously deemed morganatic, such as that of Archduke Carl Salvator to Baroness Edith Wenzl von Sternbach and Archduke Rudolf to Baroness Hélène de Villenfagne de Vogelsanck, were retroactively recognized as dynastic, preserving succession rights for their descendants.^[74] In Belgium, two cadet branches were incorporated into the Belgian nobility in 1978 and 1983 with the title of Prince or Princess and the style Serene Highness.^[75] Through the marriage of Archduke Lorenz to Princess Astrid of Belgium, their children were created princes and princesses of Belgium.

The family maintains historical ties with Nancy, the ancestral capital of the Duchy of Lorraine. Otto celebrated his marriage to Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen at the Church of the Cordeliers in Nancy on 10 May 1951, declaring his identity as a Lorrainer. The couple returned to the same church to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in 2001. In December 2012, Otto's great-grandson Archduke Christoph married Adélaïde Drapé-Frisch in the Basilica of Saint-Epvre in Nancy, commemorating the lineage of Duke Francis III.

Relations between the dynasty and Hungary remain cordial.^[76] In 2017, the Hungarian government established the Otto Habsburg Foundation to preserve the former crown prince's archives and legacy.^[77] Members of the family serve in diplomatic roles for Hungary; Georg von Habsburg has served as an ambassador-at-large and diplomat, while Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen serves as Hungary's ambassador to the Holy See.^[76] The hereditary dynastic orders maintained by the house include the Austrian branch of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Imperial and Royal Order of Saint George, and the Order of the Starry Cross.^[65]

Heraldry

The house coat of arms, formalized following the creation of the Austrian Empire in 1804 and established in its definitive arrangement in 1806, reflects the genealogical components of the dynasty.^[78] The shield is tierced in pale: the dexter field displays the arms of Habsburg, featuring a red lion rampant with blue crown, tongue, and claws on a golden field; the central pale displays the Austrian Bindenschild, comprising a silver fess on a red field; and the sinister field displays the arms of Lorraine, featuring a red bend charged with three silver alerions (alerions d'argent) on a golden field.^[78] This escutcheon was borne upon the breast of the black, gold-haloed double-headed eagle and functioned as both the dynastic house arms and the small coat of arms of the Austrian Empire.^[78] The Tuscan cadet branch utilized a distinct variation incorporating regional quarterings.^[79]

References

1. Cawley، Charles، Lorraine، Medieval Lands database، Foundation for Medieval Genealogy , [بحاجة لمصدر أفضل], in Medieval Lands Project
2. See Chapter XXI. نسخة محفوظة 11 نوفمبر 2011 على موقع واي باك مشين
3. William W. Kibler, Grover A. Zinn. Medieval France: an Encyclopedia. Routledge, 1995. ISBN:0-8240-4444-4. Page 561.
4. Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (ed. by André Vauchez). Routledge, 2000. ISBN:1-57958-282-6. Page 1227.
5. Robert Knecht. The Valois: Kings of France 1328–1589. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007. ISBN:1-85285-522-3. Page 214.
6. Chiến tranh Kế vị Áo
7. Егер О. Всемирная история (том 3. Новая история). Книга шестая. Век Фридриха Великого. Глава первая.
8. См., например: Шмидт А. Карл VII. // Кайзеры. — Ростов н/Д., 1997.
9. Fraser 2002, tr. 492Lỗi harv: không có mục tiêu: CITEREFFraser2002 (trợ giúp)
10. Holy Alliance, Catholic Encyclopedia
11. E szócikk nem tér ki az 1848/49-es, román, szerb és szlovák nemzeti követelésekre, valamint a román-magyar és a szerb-magyar fegyveres összecsapásokra.
12. Kossuth Lajos kormányzóelnökké választására tekintettel, megalakult az új kormány: 1849. május 2-án, Szemere Bertalan miniszterelnökkel az élen, hivatalba lépett a Szemere-kormány.
13. A napóleoni háborúkat lezáró békerendszer (1815, bécsi kongresszus), nem változtatott Magyarország nemzetközi jogi helyzetén, a Magyar Királyság a Habsburg-birodalom része maradt. Továbbá: A korszak vezető nagyhatalmának, a Brit Birodalomnak (hivatalos nevén: az Egyesült Királyságnak), az Európát érintő külpolitikája, öt nagyhatalom (Anglia, Franciaország, a Habsburg-birodalom, az Orosz Birodalom és Poroszország) egyensúlyának a fenntartásán alapult, és a britek, az Orosz Birodalom feltartóztatásában, Ausztriával számoltak. Franciaország, a német egység megteremtésétől tartott, ebben erős Ausztriára számított, Poroszországgal szemben. Az Orosz Birodalomnak szintén nem állt érdekében Magyarország függetlensége, hiszen ez a birodalom lengyel alattvalói számára, követendő példa lett volna. A Szent Szövetség keretében, az Ausztria mellett történt orosz beavatkozás, nem is volt a brit politika ellenére: Ha a Habsburg-birodalom egységes, erős marad, akkor akadálya lesz a balkáni orosz előre-nyomulásnak; és ha Ausztriát az oroszok segítsége menti meg, annál jobb. Balkáni érdekösszeütközéskor ugyanis, az Orosz Birodalom és Ausztria szembefordulását, orosz részről, erősíti a neheztelés majd amiatt, hogy Ausztria annak ellenére nem tudja a balkáni befolyásukat elfogadni, hogy a segítségüket kérte (és kapta), a nagyhatalmi státuszának a fennmaradásához. Lord Palmerston, brit külügyminiszter ezért tájékoztatta Szalay Lászlót, Kossuth angliai képviselőjét arról, hogy "a brit kormánynak Magyarországról csak mint az osztrák birodalom részéről van tudomása." (1848. december 13.). Kossuth 1849. évi londoni megbízottja, Pulszky Ferenc, arról informálta Kossuthot, hogy az angolok "... erős Ausztriát akarnak mind az orosz, mind a német ellen, annyiban jó, hogy rendkívül ellenséges az orosz ellen." Továbbá, Lord Palmerston megjegyezte, "... Ausztria oly hatalom, melyet fel kellene találni, ha nem léteznék már, mint európai szükségességet, s Angolországnak szövetségesét keleten"; és tőle nem lehet többet várni, mint "legfeljebb rokonszenvét Ausztria politikájának mérséklésére". Az orosz beavatkozás kapcsán, a várható brit álláspontról érdeklődő cári követnek, Lord Palmerston által adott, a magyarokra utaló válasza közismert: "Talán igazuk van, de végezzenek velük gyorsan.". A szabadságharc bukását követő megtorlás miatt, Lord Palmerston rendkívül éles szavakkal elítélte az osztrákokat, amelyre válaszul – nem éppen diplomatikusan – Felix zu Schwarzenberg herceg, az osztrák miniszterelnök, a kanadai és az írországi szabadságmozgalmaknak a britek általi vérbe fojtására utalt. – Dr. Csermőy-Schneidt Ottó: Nagy magyar államférfiak, Budapest, 1996.; HAZA ÉS HALADÁS. A REFORMKORTÓL A KIEGYEZÉSIG (1790-1867). Encyclopaedia Humana Hungarica 07. - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.; Pulszky Ferenc Londonba érkezik - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.
14. Az ifjú Ferenc József, a középkorú Miklós cárt, ahogyan azt az orosz hagyomány követelte, kézcsókkal köszöntötte.
15. Ferenc József utasítása Haynau részére: "Akaratom, hogy a halálbüntetést csak a legbűnösebb és legveszedelmesebb egyéneken hajtsák végre, és hogy ön a többiek esetében akként éljen az önre ruházott kegyelmezési joggal, hogy megfelelő szabadságvesztésbüntetéssel sújtsa őket. Azokról a személyekről, akiken a halálbüntetést végrehajtották, esetről esetre tegyen jelentést nekem. Ez a rendelkezésem egyébként csak a múltban elkövetett cselekményekre vonatkozik, és nem érinti a Magyarország területére kiterjesztett hadiállapot értelmében haditörvényszék vagy rögtönítélő bíróság elé tartozó, jövőben elkövetendő bűncselekményeket." AZ ARADI VÉRTANÚK. Válogatta, szerkesztette, az előszót és a jegyzeteket írta Katona Tamás. Budapest: Neumann Kht., 2001; - hozzáférés: 2023. június 29.
16. Magyar Történelmi Emlékek. Értekezések. A véreskezű kamasztól Ferenc Jóskáig. I. Ferenc József és a magyarok. Szerkesztette: Fónagy Zoltán. MTA Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont Történettudományi Intézet, Budapest, 2018.; Franz Herre: Ferenc József élete és kora, Magyar Könyvklub, Budapest, 2000.
17. Az 1849. október 6-án kivégzett tizenhárom aradi vértanú: Kiss Ernő altábornagy, Aulich Lajos, Damjanich János, Dessewffy Arisztid, Knezić Károly, Lahner György, Leiningen-Westerburg Károly, Nagysándor József, Poeltenberg Ernő, Schweidel József, Török Ignác, Vécsey Károly vezérőrnagyok, és Lázár Vilmos ezredes. – Aradi vértanúk továbbá a szintén Aradon kivégzett Ormai Norbert ezredes (1849. augusztus 22.), Kazinczy Lajos ezredes (1849. október 25.), Ludwig Hauk alezredes (1850. február 19.), és az elborult elmével az aradi várbörtönben elhunyt Lenkey János vezérőrnagy (1850. február 8.). – A megtorlás első honvédtiszt áldozata a Temesváron, 1849. augusztus 20-án kivégzett Hruby Gyula őrnagy volt.
18. - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.
19. 1855. március 2-án, teljesen váratlanul meghalt I. Miklós cár, a szentpétervári udvar Ferenc Józsefet hibáztatta az uralkodó haláláért, mondván, a cár szíve azért „szakadt meg”, mert I. Miklós nem tudta feldolgozni a "hálátlanságot", azt, hogy az általa kedvelt és segített Ferenc József ellene fordult. A Habsburgokkal korábban jó kapcsolatokat ápoló Romanovok, a kapcsolatok fenntartása ellenére, lassan eltávolodtak a Habsburgoktól, ami a XX. század elejére nyilvánvaló lett. Franz Herre: Ferenc József élete és kora, Magyar Könyvklub, Budapest, 2000.
20. A porosz haderő kötelékébe tartózott Klapka György egykori honvédtábornok egysége, a Klapka-légió. Mielőtt az egység a magyar határhoz ért volna, a poroszok visszarendelték őket, mert már az osztrákokkal békét kötöttek. A légió, ennek ellenére, behatolt Trencsén vármegyébe, de pár nap elteltével elhagyták az országot, látták, hogy a vállalkozásuk eredménytelen, a lakosság támogatására nem számíthattak. – A porosz-osztrák konfliktus azt volt hivatott eldönteni, hogy porosz vezetéssel, a kisnémet egység, avagy osztrák vezetéssel, a nagynémet egység valósuljon-e meg.
21. Mitták Ferenc: 1000 év – 100 híres történelmi személy, Szent Istvántól Antall Józsefig, Tóth Könyvkereskedés és Kiadó Kft., Debrecen, év nélkül. (2000)
22. Ferenc József formálisan sohasem kért bocsánatot a megtorlásáért, de – ahogyan arra Ligeti Dávid, a VERITAS Történetkutató Intézet és Levéltár történésze is rámutatott –, idővel több jelét adta annak, hogy megbánhatta ( - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.). Ilyen jelek lehettek a következők: Erzsébet királyné Horváth Mihály püspök-történészhez: "Higgye el, hogyha hatalmunkban állana, férjem és én volnánk az elsők, akik Batthyány Lajost és az aradi vértanúkat ismét életre keltenők." (Halász Imre: Egy letűnt nemzedék. Gróf Batthyány Lajos. Nyugat, 1910. 18. szám, - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.) A koronázási ajándékot, százezer forintot, teljes egészében a szabadságharc honvédjeinek az árvái és özvegyei között osztották szét. Az 1894-ben elhunyt Kossuth Lajos, bár állami temetésben nem részesülhetett, holttestét a család, Ferenc József döntése alapján, vámmentesen hozhatta haza. Az uralkodó 1904-ben arra utasította gróf Tisza István miniszterelnököt, hogy várja a javaslatait II. Rákóczi Ferenc hamvainak hazahozatalát illetően; Rákóczinak és bujdosótársainak hamvait 1906-ban ünnepélyesen haza is hozták.
23. KOSSUTH LAJOS ÜZENETEI. Szabad György összeállítása. Budapest: Neumann Kht., 2004; - hozzáférés: 2023. június 25.
24. - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.
25. Archiválva 2023. június 20-i dátummal a Wayback Machine-ben - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.; - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.
26. - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.
27. Az ellenzéki koalíció vezérlő bizottsága 1904. november 19-én alakult meg, összetétele az idők folyamán változott. Tagjai voltak, többek között: Kossuth Ferenc, Justh Gyula, Thaly Kálmán, Polónyi Géza, Barabás Béla, Ugron Gábor, Apponyi Albert, Batthyány Tivadar, Zichy Aladár, Vázsonyi Vilmos, Bánffy Dezső, Hock János, Rakovszky István, Eötvös Károly, Károlyi István, Szederkényi Nándor, ifjabb Andrássy Gyula és Darányi Ignác. Eötvös Károly: HARCZ AZ ALKOTMÁNYÉRT, Budapest, MXMIX, Révai Testvérek., - hozzáférés: 2023. június 24.
28. A megállapodás előkészítésében vezető szerephez jutott Barabás Béla és Polónyi Géza, ő később igazságügy-miniszter lett. – Apponyi Albert grófnak a visszaemlékezései szerint (gróf Apponyi Albert: Emlékirataim, Helikon Kiadó, Budapest, 2016), 1906 április elején, Ferenc József őt is fogadta; sőt, másokat is fogadott, nemcsak ifjabb Andrássyt és Kossuthot. (Apponyi és "mások" fogadása, úgy tűnik, azonban már a második Wekerle-kormány tagjainak az eskütételéhez kapcsolódott.)
29. A Monarchia és az Orosz Birodalom 1877-ben megkötött budapesti szerződésében, Oroszország megígérte a Monarchiának azt, hozzájárul, hogy a Monarchia megszállhassa Boszniát, a Monarchia pedig ahhoz járult hozzá, hogy Besszarábia visszakerüljön Oroszországhoz, és semleges marad egy orosz-török háborúban, ami 1877-ben ki is robbant. – A Monarchia egyes vezetői, közöttük Andrássy is, a következők miatt tartották szükségesnek Bosznia és Hercegovina birtoklását: Egyrészt, a régió megfelelő hátországként, megerősíti – a Monarchián belül, az Osztrák Császárságnak a részét képező – Dalmáciának a biztonságát. Másrészt, ha Szerbia és Montenegró válik Bosznia-Hercegovina birtokosává, és ezáltal új, délszláv államalakulat jön létre, az a Monarchiát veszélyezteti; továbbá, ha a Monarchia, egy ilyen államnak a megalakulását, nem akarja, vagy nem tudja megakadályozni, az a Monarchia önfeladásával lesz egyenértékű. – Szerbia, Montenegróval együtt, az 1875-ben, Boszniában kirobbant, törökellenes felkelőknek a megsegítésére hivatkozással, 1876-ban hadat üzent az Oszmán Birodalomnak, bízva Bosznia megszerzésében, a törököktől azonban vereséget szenvedtek. Oroszország, a győztes törökök megállítása céljából (akik a bolgár felkelőket is leverték), 1877-ben, hadat üzent az Oszmán Birodalomnak, így robbant ki a már említett, 1877-78-as orosz–török háború.
30. A kettős szövetség lett az alapja az első világháború egyik szövetségesi tömbjének, a központi hatalmaknak; a szövetség a németek részéről a franciák ellen is irányult, nemcsak az oroszok ellen.
31. 1886. szeptemberben, az orosz politika kilátásba helyezte Bulgária megszállását. Tisza Kálmán magyar miniszterelnök, élesen tiltakozott a megszállás terve ellen, ezt a fellépést – a Monarchia dualista szerkezetéből adódóan – a közös külügyminiszter, Kálnoky Gusztáv gróf, nem hagyhatta figyelmen kívül, és fel is adta azt a külpolitikai álláspontot, hogy Bulgária orosz érdekszférának minősül. Olyan erős lett Oroszország és a Monarchia közötti feszültség, hogy 1887 nyarától, az oroszok csapatokat vontak össze a közös határon, de végül harcok nem robbantak ki, a háborús feszültség 1888 elejére feloldódott. – Bulgáriát végül az oroszok nem szállták meg.
32. A magyar királyi címbe beletartózott a "Ráma királya" cím is; "Ráma" a középkorban Boszniát jelentette. Lásd: - hozzáférés: 2023. június 18.
33. Az Orosz Birodalom nem kapta meg azt, hogy hadihajói a török tengerszorosokon áthaladhassanak. Nagy-Britannia ezt annak ellenére ellenezte, hogy az Antant már létrejött; az 1904-es angol-francia szerződés megkötését, az 1907-es angol-orosz szerződés megkötése követte; a francia-orosz szerződést már 1892-ben megkötötték. A francia-orosz megállapodás előzménye az volt, hogy 1890-ben, amikor már Bismarck nem volt hatalmon, a németek nem hosszabbították meg az oroszokkal az 1887-ben, három évre megkötött, viszontbiztosítási szerződést, és ez a magára maradt oroszokat, a franciák felé orientálta.
34. Franz Herre: Ferenc József élete és kora, Magyar Könyvklub, Budapest, 2000.
35. Ferenc Ferdinánd feltehetően nem ismerte azt a felhívást, ami 1913. december 3-án, a Chicagóban megjelenő szerb újságban („Srbobran” /„Szerbvédő”/) volt olvasható: „Az osztrák trónörökös tavaszra bejelentette látogatását Szarajevóba… Szerbek, ragadjátok meg, ami a kezetek ügyébe esik… Halál a Habsburg-dinasztiára, dicsőség ama hősöknek, akik kezet emelnek rá.”. Franz Herre: Ferenc József élete és kora, Magyar Könyvklub, Budapest, 2000. – Az időpont választása nem volt szerencsés: Az ortodox naptárban június 28-a csak június 15-e volt, amely a „Vidovdan”, azaz, Szent Vitus (Vid) napja, amely gyásznap a szerb történelemben, ezért a merénylet szervezői provokációnak tartották a trónörökösnek a hadgyakorlattal egybekötött látogatását. 1389-ben ugyanis ezen a napon, az első rigómezei csatában, a szerbek döntő vereséget szenvedtek az oszmán-törököktől.
36. Tisza István az 1914. november 5-én kelt levelében, amelyet a német kormányhoz intézett, maga írja azt, hogy a háborút a Monarchia a német kormány „közvetlen buzdítására” kezdte meg. Fejtő Ferenc: Rekviem egy hajdanvolt birodalomért. Ausztria-Magyarország szétrombolása. Atlantisz-Minerva, Budapest, 1997.
37. A két állam viszonyában azonban nem volt példa nélküli: Obrenović Mihály fejedelem, Belgrádban, 1868. június 10-én történt meggyilkolása után, mivel a szerb kormány állítása szerint, a merénylők a Monarchia területén voltak fellelhetőek, oda menekültek; a Monarchia lehetővé tette a szerb hatóságoknak a Magyar Királyság területén történő eljárásukat. – Szerbia maga mögött tudhatta az Orosz Birodalom támogatását. Spalajkovićnak, Szerbia szentpétervári nagykövetének a Belgrádba, 1914. július 26-án küldött táviratában ez állt: „A jelen pillanat óriási horderejű, mivel Oroszország el van szánva arra, hogy elmenjen a legvégsőkig és történelmi tettet hajtson végre. Nézetem szerint, ragyogó alkalom kínálkozik számunkra, hogy az eseményt okosan használjuk ki és megvalósítsuk a szerbek teljes egyesülését. Ezért kívánatos, hogy az Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia megtámadjon bennünket.” Elisabeth Heresch: II. Miklós. Gyávaság, hazugság, árulás. Az utolsó orosz cár élete és halála. Magyar Könyvklub, Budapest, 1995. – E távirat küldése előtt, Raymond Poincaré francia köztársasági elnök szentpétervári látogatása során (1914. július 20-23.) hangzott el, a francia elnök és Szergej Dmitrijevics Szazonov orosz külügyminiszter találkozóján, hogy „Nem az a fontos, hogy elkerüljük a háborút, hanem az, hogy úgy tűnjék, mintha mindent elkövettünk volna, hogy elkerüljük.” Fejtő Ferenc: Rekviem egy hajdanvolt birodalomért. Ausztria-Magyarország szétrombolása. Atlantisz-Minerva, Budapest, 1997. – Nikola Pašić elképzeléseitől nem állt távol a Monarchia elleni fellépés. A Szerbia jelentős megerősödését hozó Balkán-háborúk befejezését követően kijelentette: "Az első menetet megnyertük, s most a másodikra kell készülnünk, Ausztria ellen.". Romsics Ignác: Nemzet, nemzetiség és állam Kelet–Közép– és Délkelet–Európában a 19. és 20. században. Helikon Kiadó, Budapest, 2020.
38. 1914. augusztus 1-e és 12-e között német-orosz, német-francia, angol-német, osztrák-magyar–orosz, illetve angol-francia–osztrák-magyar hadüzenetekre került sor.
39. E szócikk nem tér ki a háború eseményeire, illetve a háború alatti más történésekre.
40. Magyar kormányok IV. Károly trónra lépésétől a lemondásáig: második Tisza István-kormány, Esterházy-kormány, harmadik Wekerle-kormány, Hadik-kormány, Károlyi Mihály-kormány.
41. PERNES, Jiří. Poslední Habsburkové. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2010. ISBN 978-80-87029-50-3. Kapitola Pokusy o návrat, s. 211–229.
42. “Felavatták IV. Károly szobrát Budapesten”. Origo.hu. 2016年11月28日. 2019年10月5日閲覧.
43. Fernando Carlos de Habsburgo-Lorena (1754-1806), archiduque de Austria, hijo de María Teresa de Austria y de Francisco III de Lorena, se casó en Milán en 1771 con la princesa María Beatriz de Este (1750-1829), hija única de Hércules III de Este, último duque de Módena y Reggio de la dinastía Este, y María Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, última duquesa de Massa y princesa de Carrara de la dinastía Cybo-Malaspina. El hijo de Fernando y María Beatriz, Francisco IV de Habsburgo-Este (1779-1846), y su nieto Francisco V de Habsburgo-Este (1819-1875), hijo de Francisco IV, fueron los dos últimos soberanos que reinaron sobre el Ducado de Módena y Reggio y el Ducado de Massa y Principado de Carrara, antes de su anexión en 1859 al Reino de Italia.
44. El descendiente real y último de esta rama menor fue el duque Francisco V, fallecido en 1875. Sin embargo, cedió su nombre, títulos y gran parte de sus bienes a su primo Francisco Fernando de Austria, con la condición de que añadiera el apellido "Este". Francisco Fernando, sin embargo, no era descendiente real de la familia Este, y sus hijos nacieron de un matrimonio morganático. No obstante, el emperador Carlos I de Austria otorgó las armas, títulos y nombre de la familia Austria-Este a su hijo Roberto y a sus descendientes. El hijo de Roberto, Lorenzo, es el actual jefe de la Casa.
45. Généalogie de Albrecht II herzog Techen Archduke of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Duke of Teschen 1897-1955 . Geneanet. Дата обращения: 14 октября 2016. Архивировано 18 октября 2016 года.
46. Vocelka, Karl - Heller, Lynn: Die Lebenswelt der Habsburger. Kultur- und Mentalitätgeschichte einer Familie, Styria: Graz-Wien-Köln 1997, s.145.
47. Urban, s. 70-72.
48. Urban, Otto, c.d., s. 70.
49. Urban, Otto: František Josef I. Mladá Fronta: Praha 1991, s. 70-71.
50. Princ, M. Soudnictví v českých zemích v letech 1848–1938 (soudy, soudní osoby, dobové problémy). Praha: Wolters Kluwer, 2015. s. 102.
51. Urban, s. 70-71
52. Urban, s. 67.
53. Urban s. 254-256.
54. Galandauer, Jan: František Ferdinand D’Este, Svoboda: Praha 1993, s. 66-67.
55. PERNES, Jiří. Poslední Habsburkové. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2010. ISBN 978-80-87029-50-3. Kapitola Smrt na Madeiře, s. 11.
56. Josef Pejřimovský: Audience u císaře Karla 2008 Archivováno 18. 1. 2012 na Wayback Machine.
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58. PERNES, Jiří. Poslední Habsburkové. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2010. ISBN 978-80-87029-50-3. Kapitola Po císařově smrti, s. 245–249.
59. PERNES, Jiří. Poslední Habsburkové. Brno: Barrister & Principal, 2010. ISBN 978-80-87029-50-3. Kapitola Po císařově smrti, s. 256–257.
60. Habsburk si stěžuje u Evropského soudu: Mám právo kandidovat na prezidenta, iHNed.cz, 5. 10. 2010 ČTK, gaa
61. Rakousko zrušilo 92 let starý protihabsburský paragraf, iDnes.cz, 17. 6. 2011, ČTK, stf (Petr Štefan)
62. Stane se Habsburg rakouským prezidentem? Šance ožívá téměř po 100 letech, iHNed.cz, 16. 6. 2011, ČTK
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64. Otto von Habsburg měl být českým králem. Vídeň mu připravila pompézní pohřeb... tn.cz, 15. 7. 2011
65. "Kaiser zu sein, ist kein Job, den man anstrebt" (German: "To be emperor is not a job to strive for")
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67. Extended Family Tree Herta Margarete & Sandor Habsburg-Lothringen. Viitattu 10.2.2026.
68. Potomci Habsburků mají k Česku blízko, někteří tu žijí a česky mluví. iDNES.cz [online]. 2019-06-01 [cit. 2022-08-30]. Dostupné online.
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72. ““The 21st-century Habsburg mission”. The Catholic Herald. 2016年11月16日. 2018年11月6日閲覧.
73. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGP8M7qH0vk&feature=youtu.be
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