WI: Franz Josef Assassinated in 1853
- Thread starter Chu-ko-nu
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He doesn't get executed in Mexico
And having a job, Nap III had to find someone else for Mexico
Maxmilian would not leave Mexico because he would not abandon his supporters. He may do far better in a country that is his own and wants his loyalty
Also, How much of a crackdown on subversives after? (Poor Franz Joseph, I recently killed him in 1856 in one of my TLs, no love for the guy)
Mxmilian and Charlotte had no children, if this persists who is the heir?
And having a job, Nap III had to find someone else for Mexico
Maxmilian would not leave Mexico because he would not abandon his supporters. He may do far better in a country that is his own and wants his loyalty
Also, How much of a crackdown on subversives after? (Poor Franz Joseph, I recently killed him in 1856 in one of my TLs, no love for the guy)
Mxmilian and Charlotte had no children, if this persists who is the heir?
Maximilian and Charlotte have met only in 1856 IIRC. If Maximilian is made Emperor in 1853 (he is 21) he will probably be "forced" to marry Helene of Bayern (Sissis sister and OTL expected bride of FJ). Helene had 4 Children OTL, so there is a not to small probability that Maxl (
) is able to have children of his own.
In any case there is his brother Karl Ludwig (father of Franz Ferdinand OTL) THE younger brother Ludwig Viktor will probably NOT have children just like OTL. BUt With a great deal of probability that is no problem.
BTW I think Helene (Nene) was the hotter of the Bavarian sisters
) is able to have children of his own.In any case there is his brother Karl Ludwig (father of Franz Ferdinand OTL) THE younger brother Ludwig Viktor will probably NOT have children just like OTL. BUt With a great deal of probability that is no problem.
BTW I think Helene (Nene) was the hotter of the Bavarian sisters
Maximilian and Charlotte have met only in 1856 IIRC. If Maximilian is made Emperor in 1853 (he is 21) he will probably be "forced" to marry Helene of Bayern (Sissis sister and OTL expected bride of FJ). Helene had 4 Children OTL, so there is a not to small probability that Maxl (
In any case there is his brother Karl Ludwig (father of Franz Ferdinand OTL) THE younger brother Ludwig Viktor will probably NOT have children just like OTL. BUt With a great deal of probability that is no problem.
BTW I think Helene (Nene) was the hotter of the Bavarian sisters
Was Maximilian more or less liberal than Franz Josef? From what I've read, he didn't like that they had bloodily suppressed 1848.
Well, the navy would be pleased at least. He was such a navy man that his personal quarters near Trieste are modeled on the equivalent in a ship of the era. It was rather handsome in its own right.
Yeah he was rather liberal, but unfortunately also rather naive: For instance he believed that the Mexicans wanted him as Emperor and that there he could build a liberal state - when in fact the conservative landowners and clergy had been the ones setting him up as Emperor.
So how is reign would play out would strongly depend on his advisers and family members.
On 18 February 1853, the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria was assassinated by Hungarian nationalist János Libényi, who struck the emperor from behind with a knife between his fourth and fifth rib.
With no children, the emperor, was succeeded by his 21 year old brother, who became Ferdinand II (OTL Maximilian I of Mexico) Ferdinand had hoped for a life in the navy, but had been pushed onto the throne by fate.
Ferdinand would reform not only the navy but also the nation army and although he was interested in the military, he was also aliegned with liberal politics, in OTL, as Emperor of Mexico, he had:
been shocked by the living conditions of the poor in contrast of the upper class, the royal couple began holding parties for the wealthy Mexicans to raise money for poor houses. One of his first acts as Emperor was to restrict working hours and abolish child labour. He cancelled all debts for peasants over a certain amount, restored communal property and forbade all forms of corporal punishment. He also broke the monopoly of stores and decreed that henceforth peasants could no longer be bought and sold for the price of their debt.
To the dismay of his conservative allies, he would bring about several liberal policies such as land reforms, religious freedom, and extending the right to vote beyond the landholding class.
His marriage to Princess Charlotte of Belgium (later Empress Charlotte), the daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and Louise-Marie of France. She was first cousin to both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, which gave Britain and Austria an unlikely close relationship.
IOTL Ferdinand and Charlotte had no children together, due to him being executed, but if he lives nearly as long as his brother did in OTL. I could imagine him living to nearly 1920s with one or two of their children marrying into the British family, most likely a second son married to Princess Beatrice or a daughter marrying Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.
I doubt Ferdinand's liberal ideologies would form revolts in the Balkans, if anything, he should be able to strengthen his claim in this region, but if the "Great" war, should come about, I believe his reformed army should be able to defend its rule in the region.
With no children, the emperor, was succeeded by his 21 year old brother, who became Ferdinand II (OTL Maximilian I of Mexico) Ferdinand had hoped for a life in the navy, but had been pushed onto the throne by fate.
Ferdinand would reform not only the navy but also the nation army and although he was interested in the military, he was also aliegned with liberal politics, in OTL, as Emperor of Mexico, he had:
been shocked by the living conditions of the poor in contrast of the upper class, the royal couple began holding parties for the wealthy Mexicans to raise money for poor houses. One of his first acts as Emperor was to restrict working hours and abolish child labour. He cancelled all debts for peasants over a certain amount, restored communal property and forbade all forms of corporal punishment. He also broke the monopoly of stores and decreed that henceforth peasants could no longer be bought and sold for the price of their debt.
To the dismay of his conservative allies, he would bring about several liberal policies such as land reforms, religious freedom, and extending the right to vote beyond the landholding class.
His marriage to Princess Charlotte of Belgium (later Empress Charlotte), the daughter of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and Louise-Marie of France. She was first cousin to both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, which gave Britain and Austria an unlikely close relationship.
IOTL Ferdinand and Charlotte had no children together, due to him being executed, but if he lives nearly as long as his brother did in OTL. I could imagine him living to nearly 1920s with one or two of their children marrying into the British family, most likely a second son married to Princess Beatrice or a daughter marrying Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.
I doubt Ferdinand's liberal ideologies would form revolts in the Balkans, if anything, he should be able to strengthen his claim in this region, but if the "Great" war, should come about, I believe his reformed army should be able to defend its rule in the region.
Miramare Castle is a lovely view, but the similarity to a naval vessel is not obvious, IMO.
I like this, but I strongly doubt that he would take the regnal name of Ferdinand. Ferdinand I. of Austria, the poor hydrocephalic, epileptic man, was the butt of many jokes and a weak ruler in a absolutistic system. Only five years earlier he had been forced to hand over the government to his nephew in the wave of revolution all over the monarchy.
So Maximilian Ferdinand will very probably rule as Maximilian I. If he had had a strong personal predelection for the name Ferdinand, he could have decided to become Fernando I. of Mexico, where the negative of example of Ferdinand of Austria wouldn't matter.
More general: Little can be as confusing as calling a person "liberal" in the 19th century.
In these times, political liberalism in the Habsburg was almost inevitably connected with the urban bourgeois of Italy, Austria (especially the German-language subjects) and Hungary (ie the Magyar-language subjects). Liberals tended to be strongly against political and secular power of the (RC) church and many were in favor of full emancipation of the Jewish minority.
The tendentially conservative, pro-clerical, rural and aristocratic leadership of the Slavic subjects were the natural opponents of political liberalism.
Some events of the reign of Max1:
Whatever his inclinations are, he will not be able to do beneficial things for Hungary for quite some time. The public backlash against a Magyar killing a Kaiser will be too strong.
In February 1853, FJ has not even met his (and Max's) cousins Helene and Elisabeth yet; the first meeting was in August. Don't know if Max would be bound by a official time of mourning, but chances are good that he will never marry Sephanie of Belgium, but either Néné or Sisi instead. Another candidate would have been Princess Sidonie of Saxony, who was presented to FJ even earlier, but whom he disliked. Can't find for which reasons.
His succession will not change the start of the Crimean war. He might be much more tempted by joining the war on the "liberal", Western European side than his brother was. If Austria actually enters the war against Russia, European history quickly become very different.
No idea how it would turn out militarily.
Regardless of your belief in "butterflies" I am convinced that these changes in Vienna in 1853 will have enough small consequences in Italy (especially in the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom) that the assassination attempt on Emperor Napoleon III. by Felice Orsini in 1858 will not take place at all or be changed drastically. Nap3 might not become interested in an Italian War at all, or he might even die when his carriage eplodes. The French Civil War between Republicans and Monarchists might be the defining event of 1858+.
Note that if nothing happens in or concerning France and Italy, then the German Confederation will nothave to mobilize the Federal Army to guard the Rhine against French attacks. The deplorable state of the Prussian milkitary will not become so glaringly obvious and thus the army reform plans will be pursued less urgently. The conflict between the King and the Landtag might not start or be far less severe, and the Prussian ambassador in St.Petersburg, Count Otto von Bismarck, will be never offered premiership as a desperate Hail Mary attempt by the Berlin court.
OTOH, the asassination attempt on Wilhelm I. by Oskar Becker in July 1861 in Baden-Baden is based on his general conviction that the Prussian king is a big hurdle for German unity. Political changes in Austria will not do much to change this. Who knows, perhaps his bullet finds his target (OTL it grazed the king's neck) and we have the ultimate liberalism-wank, with Kaiser Maximilian in Vienna and a young and healthy König Friedrich III. in Berlin.
(Of course, if the two most powerful monarchs in germany are assassinated both within eight years, the reaction might be fierce and decidedly illiberal.)
Did Maximillian have pan-Germanist sentiments? I can see at least Friedrich III and Maximilian growing closer for the loss of a (conservative) relative.
As long as Maximilian lived, Austria was the presiding head of the German Confederation of states. Before 1866, no Habsburg emperor will have seriously thought about giving that up and volutarily removing the monarchy from Germany. By all counts of the day, he was German after all.
That does not mean that he has necessarily ambitions for changijng the staus quo, for humbling or breaking up Prussia. Many Prussians saw the practical alliance with Austria as the best way to get things done without the foot-dragging of Bavaria, Saxony and the others.
Bismarck's stance that Austria had to be pushed out of (Small) Germany was far from universal or even popular before he could show obvious triumphs - and in this TL, most likely Bismarck will never become that powerful.
Under Kaiser Maximilian I., there might remain a practical Austro-Prussian dyarchy in the GC, with Austria slightly bigger, richer and more prestigious.
Miramare Castle is a lovely view, but the similarity to a naval vessel is not obvious, IMO.
It does, in part of the interior. I went several years back. The building itself is a bit run down and a mishmash of different styles by later owners, but generally it works well due to the situation