Franz Josef Lives A Little Longer

I swear I've seen this discussed somewhere on the board, but I couldn't find it through searching, so I'll ask anyways.

Franz Josef was the Austro-Hungarian Empire was is pretty well known for his rather long rule, from 1848 to 1916. He died in the middle of World War I and the Habsburg Empire was dissolved at the conclusion of the war, Karl I trying to compromise far too late. Now, Franz Josef was getting on in his years, but let's say he manages to survive until 1918, or even 1919.

Now, the Habsburg Empire is still probably going to collapse. It was an explosion waiting to happen, but could something be salvaged? Franz Josef most definately doesn't attempt to negotiate with the allies in 1917. Assuming the war mostly runs as OTL, and Germany and it's allies are defeated, what happens to the Habsburg Empire in 1918 which is still ruled by Franz Josef?
 
One question is whether Germany will still take over strategic direction of Austrian industries from 1916, since they used the fear that the Austrians were on the point of abandoning them as a spur to this action

Is the question, more or less, would Franz Josef living to the end of the war mean that Karl would have a chance to salvage something for the Habsburgs since he would not have been associated with ruling during the war ?

I suppose it MIGHT be enough to get him onto the Hungarian throne...

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
Yeah, or just the Habsburgs in general. If Franz Josef is still ruling at the wars conclusion, is the Habsburg empire still going to end up in pieces, would Austria still be declared a republic? I'm mostly going off the fact how much Franz Josef was respected. Plus, the partition of the Habsburg Empire wasn't necessarily part of the 14 points--Wilson merely demanded of Karl a Confederation of sorts with autonomy for the various nationalities, and many saw the survival of the Habsburgs as a useful buffer against a possibly resurgent Germany.
 
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