A Young Eagle Takes Flight...

Hello all, I am not sure if the subject has come up before on AH.com, or how often. In 1889 Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria - Hungary was killed at Mayerling along with his mistress Maria Vetsera (and the back - and - forth as to what REALLY happened will most likely never be settled). As he was Franz Josef's only son, the death of Rudolf destroyed any hope the Emperor had for the future; indeed, after Mayerling a fatalistic subculture grew up in Imperial Vienna.

Anyway, one of the greatest what - if scenarios for the Dual Monarchy is, I believe, what if Rudolf had lived? What might be the consequences if he becomes Emperor around 1881? (I chose that date because historically, that was the year he was forced to marry Princess Stephanie of Belgium - a union that he never wanted and a marriage in which both were absolutely miserable). Perhaps our unfortunate young man will be too busy to be pressured into marriage until he finds someone he might actually like.

In any case, I am not very familiar with his domestic/foreign policies, other than that according to some biographers he was a "liberal" and may have penned newspaper articles critical of the government under a pseudonym.
According to one author, Rudolf believed the solution to the Polish Question was for Austria and Germany to divide and annex Congress Poland in the event of a war with Russia.

So, I would be interested to know what you fine gentlemen (and ladies) could suggest as to a potential reign by the young Rudolf; I am interested in doing a timeline where he is in a position to take the reigns of power but don't really know what that would be like.

Any takers? I could really use the help...

Rudolf was known to have had some vague sympathies towards Slavs, or at least Czechs. He rather disliked Prime Minister Eduard Taaffe and his policies, believing him to be a dumb reactionary in sheep's clothing. He distrusted the Catholic Church, again because the same perceived reactionarism.

His proposals to disband nationality-based parties and force the creation of unified Liberal and Conservative parties across all Cisleithania sound...naive and ignorant of the realities on the ground, to be honest.


As for foreign policy, IIRC he wanted to be able to direct it himself, rather than leaving it to the government.

He distrusted Bismarck and personally disliked Kaiser Wilhelm II, writing that he's likely to unwittingly "cut Hohenzollern Germany down to the size it deserves". On the other hand he was friends with Prince Alexander of Bulgaria and King Milan of Serbia.

He was also somewhat more of a war hawk than his father, arguing for a "preventative" war during the Bulgarian Unification crisis (that was after Prince Alexander's death). During the occupation and establishment of Habsburg rule in Bosnia, he argued it should be given over to Serbia - on the condition that Serbia join the Habsburg Empire as some kind of an autonomous (but not too autonomous) province.

Off hand it could have started the much needed reform of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a generation sooner and put it on a very different footing by the time WW1 had started. I think the nationalistic tendencies of the different races would still be there and whether they would a sort of proto European Community that some have suggested would be the result of such developments at this stage would have been a stronger or weaker thing could be up for debate. However I believe both his uncles were tending towards such a confederation.


Sorry I'm on the bus going to work and I haven't had my first cup of wake the !@#$ up so still a bit delightfully vague on the details. Still I'll check it out and will follow the course of discussion when I can.

I thought that they confirmed that he murdered his mistress and then killed himself in a fit of psychotic manic depression?

The only way for him to avoid similar self destruction is if his mental problems weren't as severe.

Well as far as alternate brides go:

A Tuscan princess was originally considered but the Pope wouldn't grant the necessary dispensation AFAIK. A pity since Rudolf was rather in love with this idea. I can't remember who said princess was, but...
One of Miguel I of Portugal's daughters we're considered as well, but it petered out to nothing.
And because of this, Rudolf was left with very few Catholic princesses of an age to marry. So he got matched with Stephanie - apparently they hadn't learned from how the last Coburg to marry a Hapsburg (Empress Charlotte) turned out.

@Jonas: do you happen to know who this Tuscan princess was?

@Halagaz: Rudolf was a friend to King Milan of Serbia because the Obrenobvic dynasty was quite sympathetic to Austria. After they were, hmm..HACKED TO PIECES AND THROWN OUT OF THE WINDOWS OF THE PALACE INTO THE STREET BELOW, Vienna had a decidedly negative opinion of the new regime(!)

@Shiva: Rudolf's mental problems were largely caused by his relationship to his parents: his mother was a self centered, egotistical narcissist who was oblivious to the needs of her children, and his father was a workaholic who always had difficulty expressing any form of affection.

On top of that, FJ totally shut Rudolf out of any involvement with government or responsibility. This was a major source of irritation and depression for him. I did also once read a rather fantastical supposition that at Mayerling, agents of the French government had attempted to solicit Rudolf to agree secretly to have Austria break the alliance with Germany and join France. Supposedly when this failed they killed Rudolf and Maria to prevent it from becoming a public affair.

Franz Josef II said:

@Halagaz: Rudolf was a friend to King Milan of Serbia because the Obrenobvic dynasty was quite sympathetic to Austria. After they were, hmm..HACKED TO PIECES AND THROWN OUT OF THE WINDOWS OF THE PALACE INTO THE STREET BELOW, Vienna had a decidedly negative opinion of the new regime(!)

Click to expand...

*Shot, thrown out of the window, then mutilated in some way (contemporary chronicles can't agree exactly how).

In either case, that was in 1903. In our timeline, Rudolf was long dead by then. In a timeline where, like you suggested, Rudolf becomes Kaiser in 1881 and makes significant changes to the internal and external policy of Austria-Hungary as we know it, the events that led to the 1903 coup might never happen.

The best thing for everyone involved would have been if Rudolf had died at birth or alternatively his older sister Gisela had been born a boy. She seemed sane.

ummmm....not sure if I would agree with that assessment. As I noted before, Rudolf had two strikes against him because of his parents, vis a vis that his father was an intense workaholic who was uncomfortable displaying any signs of affection, and his mother was a self centered narcissist who has been played up as some poor, unfortunate, and much put upon figure of the Imperial Court. Further, he was never introduced to his future destiny as Emperor with any kind of official duties. He was very depressed about this especially.

Had he been treated somewhat better by his parents - or at least that he had a chance to go his own way by an early accession to power - he might have turned out alright.

Rudolf has big WI potential, that is true. But I'd have to reread his biography to get a better idea of how his life could have gone if he had lived longer and started influencing domestic politics.