WI Crown Prince/Archduke Rudolf of Austria LIVED?

There's also the 1905 assassination attempt on the Emperor-King. In Bosnia, ironically enough - Mostar specifically (during a stop-over at the train station). It was about as well organized as the more famous 1914 assassination in Sarajevo, so it shouldn't be surprising that it failed. Organized by Serbian nationalists, too.

OTL, there was a warning issued, but it was ignored and ultimately nothing happened. One of the assassins noted that he was close enough to the Emperor to practically touch the man, but couldn't muster the courage to go through with the assassination.

The effects of that assassination succeeding would've been ... interesting, to say the least.
Never knew that. Sounds like a good PoD :) Could you supply the source for your information? I'm not doubting your credibility, I curious to learn more;)
 
Never knew that. Sounds like a good PoD :) Could you supply the source for your information? I'm not doubting your credibility, I curious to learn more;)

John van der Kiste: Emperor Francis Joseph - Life, death and the fall of the Habsburg Empire; Sutton Publishing 2005. It has an extensive list of sources, but they're not connected to specific chapters, so it's a bit of a mess.

And it was my mistake. It's actually in 1910, I misremembered (apologies for that) - between May 30 and June 5. Specifically, it is connected to the attempt on Governor Varesanin in June (the Emperor had been present on May 30 - the would-be assassin, one Bogdan Zerajic, claimed to have been present for the Emperor's visit - in fact, he had been followed by the local police, but managed to get close to the Emperor, later admitting he lacked the courage to go through with the act at the time).

So, less interesting of a moment than 1905, but still a good PoD.
 
I initially meant to focus on an alternate WW1, so I put it in the After 1900 section. Now it seems major changes will occur pre-1900
BTW Is there a way to move this thread to Before 1900?
I think your best bet would be to PM a moderator or report your OP and request a move.

John van der Kiste: Emperor Francis Joseph - Life, death and the fall of the Habsburg Empire; Sutton Publishing 2005. It has an extensive list of sources, but they're not connected to specific chapters, so it's a bit of a mess.

And it was my mistake. It's actually in 1910, I misremembered (apologies for that) - between May 30 and June 5. Specifically, it is connected to the attempt on Governor Varesanin in June (the Emperor had been present on May 30 - the would-be assassin, one Bogdan Zerajic, claimed to have been present for the Emperor's visit - in fact, he had been followed by the local police, but managed to get close to the Emperor, later admitting he lacked the courage to go through with the act at the time).

So, less interesting of a moment than 1905, but still a good PoD.
Ah, that's the attempt by Žerajić that I was familiar with. Quite influential on others.
 
John van der Kiste: Emperor Francis Joseph - Life, death and the fall of the Habsburg Empire; Sutton Publishing 2005. It has an extensive list of sources, but they're not connected to specific chapters, so it's a bit of a mess.
THANKS

And it was my mistake. It's actually in 1910, I misremembered (apologies for that) - between May 30 and June 5. Specifically, it is connected to the attempt on Governor Varesanin in June (the Emperor had been present on May 30 - the would-be assassin, one Bogdan Zerajic, claimed to have been present for the Emperor's visit - in fact, he had been followed by the local police, but managed to get close to the Emperor, later admitting he lacked the courage to go through with the act at the time).

So, less interesting of a moment than 1905, but still a good PoD.
Like I said before, I think Franz Josef lived too long for his and the Empire's good.
He was not the emperor fit for Austria after the 1848 Revolution.
If Rudolf lives and becomes emperor upon his father's assassination in 1910, what does that mean for the empire? Assuming he maintains his liberal ideology, he could have prevented the OTL Great War. Unlike Franz Ferdinand, I don't see him being friends with Wilhelm II, which might prompt the Kaiser to seek an alliance with Russia before France could (IIRC, Wilhelm and the OTL archduke's cordial relationship was a factor in tying the two empires together). Consequently, I believe, AH/France/Britain form the Entente.
By 1910, tensions are high in the Balkans. Rudolf would have to put his liberalism into action, democratizing the Empire soon after his ascension. He might come into conflict with Russian Pan-Slavism, but neither empire would risk war. Conflict will certainly arise wthin, between the Rudolfian liberals and the conservative imperialists. We could see an earlier end to the Austrian Empire, but sans a World War.
 
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His dear lady friend (who by most accounts, as I understand it, was a mistress in every way but sexual), Katarina Schratt.

I know some people might mention Elisabeth ("Sisi"), but Franz Josef had a very complicated relationship with his wife, notwithstanding that he did love her and was devastated by her murder in 1898. Elisabeth was a quite eccentric person in many ways; she loathed court life and took every excuse she could to get as far away from it as she could, for example, and she was fanatical about her figure to the extent that she spent hours every day in an exercise regimen that would have made an Olympian athlete go a little pale and often had nothing except some weird kind of drink made from the squeezings from beef as her main meal. In fact, Elisabeth didn't have the best, or even a close, relationship with Rudolf at all either while he was alive.
 
I know some people might mention Elisabeth ("Sisi"), but Franz Josef had a very complicated relationship with his wife, notwithstanding that he did love her and was devastated by her murder in 1898.
(I think someone already mentioned this briefly)I don't know to what degree Franz Josef was affected by his wife's death, but since there are plenty of death-upon-tragic-familial-death cases in history, another interesting PoD would be his death within a year of Elisabeth's murder.
 
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