Lower house
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power; the lower house is the larger of the two chambers, i.e. its members are more numerous. A legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral. In comparison with the upper house, lower houses display certain characteristics. Powers In a parliamentary system, the lower house: In the modern era, has much more power based on restrictions against the upper house. Able to override the upper house in some ways. Can vote a motion of no confidence against the government, as well as vote for or against any proposed candidate for head of government at the beginning of the parliamentary term. Exceptions are Australia, where the Senate has considerable power approximate to that of the House of Representatives, Italy, where the Senate has the same powers as the Chamber of Deputies.
In a presidential system, the lower house: Debatably somewhat less, the lower house has exclusive powers in some areas. Has the sole power to impeach the executive. Initiates appropriation/supply-related legislation. Status of lower house Always elected directly, while the upper house may be elected directly, indirectly, or not elected at all, its members may be elected with a different voting system to the upper house. Most populated administrative divisions are better represented than in the upper house. Elected more frequently. Elected all at once, not by staggered terms. In a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive. More members. Has total or initial control over budget and monetary laws. Lower age of candidacy than the upper house. Many lower houses are named in the following manner: House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies. Chamber of Deputies Chamber of Representatives House of Assembly House of Representatives House of Commons House of Delegates Legislative Assembly National Assembly Representative democracy
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A hereditary imperial title and office proclaimed in 1804 by Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, continually held by him and his heirs until Charles I relinquished power in 1918; the emperors retained the title of Archduke of Austria. The wives of the emperors held the title empress, while other members of the family maintained the title archduke or archduchess. Members of the House of Austria, the Habsburg dynasty, had for centuries been elected to be Holy Roman Emperors and resided in Vienna, thus the term "Austrian emperor" may occur in texts dealing with the time before 1804, when no Austrian Empire existed. In these cases the word Austria means. A special case was Maria Theresa. In the face of aggressions by Napoleon I, proclaimed "Emperor of the French", by the French constitution on 18 May 1804, Francis II feared for the future of the Holy Roman Empire and wished to maintain his and his family's Imperial status in the event that the Holy Roman Empire should be dissolved.
Therefore, on 11 August 1804 he created the new title of "Emperor of Austria" for himself and his successors as heads of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. For two years, Francis carried two imperial titles: being Holy Roman Emperor Francis II and "by the Grace of God" Emperor Francis I of Austria. In 1805, an Austrian-led army suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz and the victorious Napoleon proceeded to dismantle the old Reich by motivating or pressuring several German princes to enter the separate Confederation of the Rhine with their lands in July; this led Francis II/I on 6 August 1806 to declare the Reich dissolved and to lay down the Imperial Crown created in the second half of the 10th century. From 1806 onwards, Francis was Emperor of Austria only, he had three successors—Ferdinand I, Francis Joseph I and Charles I—before the Empire broke apart in 1918. A coronation ceremony was never established; the symbol of the Austrian Emperor was the dynasty's private crown dating back to Rudolf II, which should convey the dignity and myth of the Habsburgs.
The Austrian Emperors had an extensive list of titles and claims that reflected the geographic expanse and diversity of the lands ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs. The grand title of the Emperor of Austria had been changed several times: by a patent of 1 August 1804, by a court office decree from 22 August 1836, by an Imperial court ministry decree of 6 January 1867 and by a letter of 12 December 1867. Shorter versions were recommended for official documents and international treaties: "Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia etc. and Apostolic King of Hungary", "Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary", "His Majesty the Emperor and King" and "His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty". The full list: Emperor of Austria,Apostolic King of Hungary,King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, of Illyria,King of Jerusalem, so forth,Archduke of Austria,Grand Duke of Tuscany and of Cracow,Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, of Styria, of Carinthia, of Carniola and of the Bukovina,Grand Prince of Transylvania,Margrave in Moravia,Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli and Zara,Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg and Gradisca,Prince of Trent and Brixen,Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria,Count of Hohenems, Bregenz, so forth, Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and of the Windic March,Grand Voivode of the Voivodship of Serbia, so forth,Sovereign of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
The function of the emperor was styled like a secular papacy. Therefore, it was the overall goal to demonstrate the all-highest majesty and dignity of the monarch to his subjects and to other monarchs and countries, his and his entourage's life was governed by strict rules all the time. The members of the House of Habsburg were ranked as princes and princesses of the blood imperial, with the honorary title of Erzherzog or Erzherzogin, their permanent address and their travels abroad had to be agreed to by the Emperor. Whoever wanted to marry an archduke or archduchess of the Habsburg dynasty had to originate from a ruling or ruling house, as was stipulated by the Familienstatut des Allerhöchsten Herrscherhauses, the Family Statute of the Highest Monarch's House, issued by Ferdinand I in 1839. Otherwise the marriage would be one "to the left hand", called a morganatic marriage, excluding the offspring of the couple from any right the House of Habsburg possessed. To manage the political implications of the Imperial house after 1867 the Emperor and King appointed the k.u.k.
Minister des kaiserlichen und königlichen Hauses und des Äußeren, one of the three ministers common to Austria and Hungary. Under Francis I
Protestantism
Protestantism is the second largest form of Christianity with collectively between 800 million and more than 900 million adherents worldwide or nearly 40% of all Christians. It originated with the 16th century Reformation, a movement against what its followers perceived to be errors in the Roman Catholic Church. Protestants reject the Roman Catholic doctrine of papal supremacy and sacraments, but disagree among themselves regarding the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, they emphasize the priesthood of all believers, justification by faith alone rather than by good works, the highest authority of the Bible alone in faith and morals. The "five solae" summarise basic theological differences in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. Protestantism is popularly considered to have begun in Germany in 1517 when Martin Luther published his Ninety-five Theses as a reaction against abuses in the sale of indulgences by the Roman Catholic Church, which purported to offer remission of sin to their purchasers.
However, the term derives from the letter of protestation from German Lutheran princes in 1529 against an edict of the Diet of Speyer condemning the teachings of Martin Luther as heretical. Although there were earlier breaks and attempts to reform the Roman Catholic Church—notably by Peter Waldo, John Wycliffe, Jan Hus—only Luther succeeded in sparking a wider and modern movement. In the 16th century, Lutheranism spread from Germany into Denmark, Sweden, Latvia and Iceland. Reformed denominations spread in Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland and France by reformers such as John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, John Knox; the political separation of the Church of England from the pope under King Henry VIII began Anglicanism, bringing England and Wales into this broad Reformation movement. Protestants have developed their own culture, with major contributions in education, the humanities and sciences, the political and social order, the economy and the arts, many other fields. Protestantism is diverse, being more divided theologically and ecclesiastically than either the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, or Oriental Orthodoxy.
Without structural unity or central human authority, Protestants developed the concept of an invisible church, in contrast to the Roman Catholic view of the Catholic Church as the visible one true Church founded by Jesus Christ. Some denominations do have a worldwide scope and distribution of membership, while others are confined to a single country. A majority of Protestants are members of a handful of Protestant denominational families: Adventists, Anglicans, Reformed, Lutherans and Pentecostals. Nondenominational, charismatic and other churches are on the rise, constitute a significant part of Protestant Christianity. Proponents of the branch theory consider Protestantism one of the three major divisions of Christendom, together with the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodoxy. Six princes of the Holy Roman Empire and rulers of fourteen Imperial Free Cities, who issued a protest against the edict of the Diet of Speyer, were the first individuals to be called Protestants; the edict reversed concessions made to the Lutherans with the approval of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V three years earlier.
The term protestant, though purely political in nature acquired a broader sense, referring to a member of any Western church which subscribed to the main Protestant principles. However, it is misused to mean any church outside the Roman and Eastern Orthodox communions. Protestantism as a general term is now used in contradistinction to the other major Christian traditions, i.e. Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy. During the Reformation, the term protestant was hardly used outside of German politics. People who were involved in the religious movement used the word evangelical. For further details, see the section below. Protestant became a general term, meaning any adherent of the Reformation in the German-speaking area, it was somewhat taken up by Lutherans though Martin Luther himself insisted on Christian or evangelical as the only acceptable names for individuals who professed Christ. French and Swiss Protestants instead preferred the word reformed, which became a popular and alternative name for Calvinists.
The word evangelical, which refers to the gospel, was used for those involved in the religious movement in the German-speaking area beginning in 1517. Nowadays, evangelical is still preferred among some of the historical Protestant denominations in the Lutheran and United Protestant traditions in Europe, those with strong ties to them. Above all the term is used by Protestant bodies in the German-speaking area, such as the Evangelical Church in Germany. In continental Europe, an Evangelical is either a Calvinist, or a United Protestant; the German word evangelisch means Protestant, is different from the German evangelikal, which refers to churches shaped by Evangelicalism. The English word evangelical refers to evangelical Protestant churches, therefore to a certain part of Protestantism rather than to Protestantism as a whole; the English word traces its roots back to the Puritans in England, where Evangelicalism originated, was brought to the United States. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term evangelical, derived from euangelion, a Greek word meaning "good news", i.e. "gospel".
The followers of
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Dual Monarchy, was a constitutional monarchy in Central and Eastern Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed by giving a new constitution to the Austrian Empire, which devolved powers on Austria and Hungary and placed them on an equal footing, it broke apart into several states at the end of World War I. The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, one autonomous region: the The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown, which negotiated the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement in 1868, it was ruled by the House of Habsburg, constituted the last phase in the constitutional evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal. Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states.
Austria-Hungary was a multinational one of Europe's major powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the third-most populous; the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States and the United Kingdom. Austria-Hungary became the world's third largest manufacturer and exporter of electric home appliances, electric industrial appliances and power generation apparatus for power plants, after the United States and the German Empire. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908, provoking the Bosnian crisis among the other powers; the northern part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Novi Pazar was under de facto joint occupation during that period but the Austro-Hungarian army withdrew as part of their annexation of Bosnia. The annexation of Bosnia led to Islam being recognized as an official state religion due to Bosnia's Muslim population.
Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I which started when it declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia on 28 July 1914. It was effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918; the Kingdom of Hungary and the First Austrian Republic were treated as its successors de jure, whereas the independence of the West Slavs and South Slavs of the Empire as the First Czechoslovak Republic, the Second Polish Republic and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and most of the territorial demands of the Kingdom of Romania were recognized by the victorious powers in 1920. The realm's official name was in German: Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie and in Hungarian: Osztrák–Magyar Monarchia, though in the international relations better Austria-Hungary was used; the Austrians used the names k. u. k. Monarchie and Danubian Monarchy or Dual Monarchy and The Double Eagle, but none of these became widepsread neither in Hungary, nor elsewhere.
The realm's full name used in the internal administration was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of St. Stephen. German: Die im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreiche und Länder und die Länder der Heiligen Ungarischen Stephanskrone Hungarian: A Birodalmi Tanácsban képviselt királyságok és országok és a Magyar Szent Korona országai The Habsburg monarch ruled as Emperor of Austria over the western and northern half of the country, the Austrian Empire and as King of Hungary over the Kingdom of Hungary; each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, each with its own unique governmental structures; the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship: one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, never a common one.
However, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and displayed the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia on them, it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary after the Austrian Empire was created in 1804; the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungary's central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government; the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancell
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy was a state which existed from 1861—when King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy—until 1946—when civil discontent led a constitutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and form the modern Italian Republic. The state was founded as a result of the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which can be considered its legal predecessor state. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with Prussia in 1866 and received the region of Veneto following their victory. Italian troops entered Rome in 1870, thereby ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal power. Italy entered into a Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1882, following strong disagreements with France about the respective colonial expansions; however if relations with Berlin became friendly, the alliance with Vienna remained purely formal as the Italians were keen to acquire Trentino and Trieste, corners of Austria-Hungary populated by Italians.
So in 1915, Italy accepted the British invitation to join the Allied Powers, as the western powers promised territorial compensation for participation, more generous than Vienna's offer in exchange for Italian neutrality. Victory in the war gave Italy a permanent seat in the Council of the League of Nations. "Fascist Italy" is the era of National Fascist Party government from 1922 to 1943 with Benito Mussolini as head of government. The fascists imposed totalitarian rule and crushed the political and intellectual opposition, while promoting economic modernization, traditional social values and a rapprochement with the Roman Catholic Church. According to Payne, " Fascist government passed through several distinct phases"; the first phase was nominally a continuation of the parliamentary system, albeit with a "legally-organized executive dictatorship". Came the second phase, "the construction of the Fascist dictatorship proper, from 1925 to 1929"; the third phase, with less activism, was 1929 to 1934.
The fourth phase, 1935–1940, was characterized by an aggressive foreign policy: war against Ethiopia, launched from Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, which resulted in its annexation. The war itself was the fifth phase with its disasters and defeats, while the rump Salò Government under German control was the final stage. Italy was an important member of the Axis powers in World War II, battling on several fronts with initial success. However, after the German-Italian defeat in Africa and Soviet Union and the subsequent Allied landings in Sicily, King Victor Emmanuel III placed Mussolini under arrest, the Fascist Party in areas controlled by the Allied invaders was shut down; the new government signed an armistice on September 1943. German forces occupied northern Italy with Fascists' help, setting up the Italian Social Republic, a collaborationist puppet state still led by Mussolini and his Fascist loyalists; as conseguence, the country descended into civil war, with the Italian Co-belligerent Army and the resistance movement contended the Social Republic's forces and its German allies.
Shortly after the war and the liberation of the country, civil discontent led to the constitutional referendum of 1946 on whether Italy would remain a monarchy or become a republic. Italians decided to abandon the monarchy and form the Italian Republic, the present-day Italian state; the Kingdom of Italy claimed all of the territory which covers present-day Italy and more. The development of the Kingdom's territory progressed under Italian re-unification until 1870; the state for a long period of time did not include Trieste or Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, which were annexed in 1919 and remain Italian territories today. The Triple Entente promised to grant to Italy – if the state joined the Allies in World War I – several territories including former Austrian Littoral, western parts of former Duchy of Carniola, Northern Dalmazia and notably Zara and most of the Dalmatian islands, according to the secret London Pact of 1915. After the compromise was nullified under pressure of President Woodrow Wilson with the Treaty of Versailles, Italian claims on Northern Dalmazia were voided.
During World War II, the Kingdom gained additional territory: it gained Corsica and Savoia from France after its surrender in 1940, territory in Slovenia and Dalmazia from Yugoslavia after its breakup in 1941 and Monaco in 1942. After World War II, the borders of present-day Italy were founded and the Kingdom abandoned its land claims; the Italian Empire gained territory until the end of World War II through colonies, military occupations and puppet states. These included Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopia, British Somaliland, Tunisia, Kosovo, Montenegro and a 46-hectare concession from China in Tianjin; the Kingdom of Italy was theoretically a constitutional monarchy. Executive power belonged to the monarch; the legislative branch was a bicameral Parliament comprising an appointive Senate and an elective Chamber of Deputies. The kingdom's constitution was the Statuto Albertino, the former governing document of the Kingdom of Sardinia. In theory, ministers were responsible to the king. However, by this time it was impossible for a king to appoint a government of his ow
First Czechoslovak Republic
The First Czechoslovak Republic was the Czechoslovak state that existed from 1918 to 1938. The state was called Czechoslovakia, it was composed of Bohemia, Czech Silesia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia. After 1933, Czechoslovakia remained the only functioning democracy in Central Europe. Under pressure from its Sudeten German minority, supported by neighbouring Nazi Germany, Czechoslovakia was forced to cede its Sudetenland region to Germany on 1 October 1938 as part of the Munich Agreement, it ceded southern parts of Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia to Hungary and the Zaolzie region in Silesia to Poland. This, in effect, ended the First Czechoslovak Republic, it was replaced by the Second Czechoslovak Republic, which lasted less than half a year before Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. The independence of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed on 28 October 1918 by the Czechoslovak National Council in Prague. Several ethnic groups and territories with different historical and economic traditions were obliged be blended into a new state structure.
The origin of the First Republic lies in Point 10 of Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points: "The peoples of Austria-Hungary, whose place among the nations we wish to see safeguarded and assured, should be accorded the freest opportunity to autonomous development." The full boundaries of the country and the organization of its government was established in the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920. Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk had been recognized by World War I Allies as the leader of the Provisional Czechoslovak Government, in 1920 he was elected the country's first president, he was re-elected in 1925 and 1929, serving as President until 14 December 1935 when he resigned due to poor health. He was succeeded by Edvard Beneš. Following the Anschluss of Nazi Germany and Austria in March 1938, the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's next target for annexation was Czechoslovakia, his pretext was the privations suffered by ethnic German populations living in Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland.
Their incorporation into Nazi Germany would leave the rest of Czechoslovakia powerless to resist subsequent occupation. To a large extent, Czechoslovak democracy was held together by the country's first president, Tomáš Masaryk; as the principal founding father of the republic, Masaryk was regarded similar to the way George Washington is regarded in the United States. Such universal respect enabled Masaryk to overcome irresolvable political problems. Masaryk is still regarded as the symbol of Czechoslovak democracy; the Constitution of 1920 approved the provisional constitution of 1918 in its basic features. The Czechoslovak state was conceived as a parliamentary democracy, guided by the National Assembly, consisting of the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, whose members were to be elected on the basis of universal suffrage; the National Assembly was responsible for legislative initiative and was given supervisory control over the executive and judiciary as well. Every seven years it elected the president and confirmed the cabinet appointed by him.
Executive power was to be shared by the cabinet. The reality differed somewhat from this ideal, during the strong presidencies of Masaryk and his successor, Beneš; the constitution of 1920 provided for the central government to have a high degree of control over local government. From 1928 and 1940, Czechoslovakia was divided into the four "lands". Although in 1927 assemblies were provided for Bohemia and Ruthenia, their jurisdiction was limited to adjusting laws and regulations of the central government to local needs; the central government appointed one third of the members of these assemblies. The constitution identified the "Czechoslovak nation" as the creator and principal constituent of the Czechoslovak state and established Czech and Slovak as official languages; the concept of the Czechoslovak nation was necessary in order to justify the establishment of Czechoslovakia towards the world, because otherwise the statistical majority of the Czechs as compared to Germans would have been rather weak, there would have been more Germans in the state than Slovaks.
National minorities were assured special protection. The operation of the new Czechoslovak government was distinguished by stability. Responsible for this were the well-organized political parties that emerged as the real centers of power. Excluding the period from March 1926 to November 1929, when the coalition did not hold, a coalition of five Czechoslovak parties constituted the backbone of the government: Republican Party of Agricultural and Smallholder People, Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party, Czechoslovak National Social Party, Czechoslovak People's Party, Czechoslovak National Democratic Party; the leaders of these parties became known as the "Pětka". The Pětka was headed by Antonín Švehla, who held the office of prime minister for most of the 1920s and designed a pattern of coalition politics that survived until 1938; the coalition's policy was expressed in the slogan "We have agreed that we will agree." German parties participated in the government in the beginning of 1926. Hungarian p
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, monarch of many other states of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, from 2 December 1848 to his death. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866 he was President of the German Confederation, he was the longest-reigning Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as well as the third-longest-reigning monarch of any country in European history, after Louis XIV of France and Johann II of Liechtenstein. In December 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated the throne at Olomouc, as part of Minister President Felix zu Schwarzenberg's plan to end the Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary; this allowed Ferdinand's nephew Franz Joseph to accede to the throne. Considered to be a reactionary, Franz Joseph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains; the Austrian Empire was forced to cede its influence over Tuscany and most of its claim to Lombardy–Venetia to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, following the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866.
Although Franz Joseph ceded no territory to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the Peace of Prague settled the German Question in favour of Prussia, which prevented the Unification of Germany from occurring under the House of Habsburg. Franz Joseph was troubled by nationalism during his entire reign, he concluded the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which granted greater autonomy to Hungary and transformed the Austrian Empire into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. He ruled peacefully for the next 45 years, but suffered the tragedies of the execution of his brother, the Emperor Maximilian of Mexico in 1867, the suicide of his only son and heir, Crown Prince Rudolf, in 1889, the assassination of his wife, Empress Elisabeth, in 1898. After the Austro-Prussian War, Austria-Hungary turned its attention to the Balkans, a hotspot of international tension because of conflicting interests with the Russian Empire; the Bosnian Crisis was a result of Franz Joseph's annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, occupied by his troops since the Congress of Berlin.
On 28 June 1914, the assassination of his nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo resulted in Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against the Kingdom of Serbia, Russia's ally. That activated a system of alliances which resulted in World War I. Franz Joseph died on 21 November 1916, after ruling his domains for 68 years as one of the longest-reigning monarchs in modern history, he was succeeded by his grandnephew Charles. Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the eldest son of Archduke Franz Karl, his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria; because his uncle, from 1835 the Emperor Ferdinand, was weak-minded, his father unambitious and retiring, the young Archduke "Franzl" was brought up by his mother as a future Emperor with emphasis on devotion and diligence. Franzl came to idolise his grandfather, der Gute Kaiser Franz, who had died shortly before the former's fifth birthday, as the ideal monarch. At the age of thirteen, Franzl started a career as a colonel in the Austrian army.
From that point onward, his fashion was dictated by army style and for the rest of his life he wore the uniform of a military officer. Franz Joseph was soon joined by three younger brothers: Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian. Following the resignation of the Chancellor Prince Metternich during the Revolutions of 1848, the young Archduke, who it was expected would soon succeed his uncle on the throne, was appointed Governor of Bohemia on 6 April, but never took up the post. Instead, Franz was sent to the front in Italy, joining Field Marshal Radetzky on campaign on 29 April, receiving his baptism of fire on 5 May at Santa Lucia. By all accounts he handled his first military experience calmly and with dignity. Around the same time, the Imperial Family was fleeing revolutionary Vienna for the calmer setting of Innsbruck, in Tyrol. Soon, the Archduke was called back from Italy, joining the rest of his family at Innsbruck by mid-June, it was at Innsbruck at this time that Franz Joseph first met his cousin Elisabeth, his future bride a girl of ten, but the meeting made little impression.
Following victory over the Italians at Custoza in late July, the court felt it safe to return to Vienna, Franz Joseph travelled with them. But within a few months Vienna again appeared unsafe, in September the court left once more, this time for Olomouc in Moravia. By now, Prince Alfred I of Windisch-Grätz, an influential military commander in Bohemia, was determined to see the young Archduke soon put on the throne, it was thought that a new ruler would not be bound by the oaths to respect constitutional government to which Ferdinand had been forced to agree, that it was necessary to find a young, energetic emperor to replace the kindly, but mentally unfit Ferdinand. By the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father, the mild-mannered Franz Karl, Franz Joseph succeeded as Emperor of Austria at Olomouc on 2 December. At this time he first became known by his second as well as his first Christian name; the name "Franz Joseph" was chosen to bring back memories of the new Emperor's great-granduncle, Emperor Joseph II, remembered as a modernising reformer.
Under the guidance of the new prime mini
Kingdom of Bohemia (Land of the Bohemian Crown)
Kingdom of Dalmatia
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Grand Duchy of Cracow (Subdivision of Galicia and Lodomeria)
Duchy of Bukovina
Duchy of Carinthia
Duchy of Carniola
Duchy of Salzburg
Duchy of Silesia (Land of the Bohemian Crown)
Duchy of Styria
Margraviate of Istria (Part of the Austrian Littoral)
Margraviate of Moravia (Land of the Bohemian Crown)
Princely County of Gorizia and Gradisca (Part of the Austrian Littoral)
Princely County of Tyrol
Princely County of Vorarlberg
Free City of Trieste (Part of the Austrian Littoral)
Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Governed Jointly by Cisleithania and Transleithania)
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Subdivisions of Austria-Hungary