fme_1019895 - AUSTRIA - KARL FRANZ JOSEF VON HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN Médaille, Centenaire de la Banque Nationale autrichienne

AUSTRIA - KARL FRANZ JOSEF VON HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN

(1887-1922)

Born August 17, 1887 in Persenbeug, Charles I was the last Habsburg to reign. Grandson of François-Joseph I, he was fifth in the order of succession to the throne at birth and therefore has little chance of one day assuming the crown.. He came to power following the death of his great uncle in 1916.. Emperor Francis Joseph leaves his grandson, only 27 years old, father of a family and without any real experience of power, a very complex political, economic and military context.. Charles I contacted the Entente Powers in order to conclude a separate peace, without having informed his German ally. Clemenceau breaks off the negotiations, but it is very doubtful that Germany would have accepted this “betrayal” without reacting. Charles I, in the fall of 1918, promulgated the reforms which, fifty years earlier, could have resolved the question of nationalities by granting autonomy to each ethno-linguistic group and transforming the monarchy into a Danubian federation. After retiring from power on November 12, 1918, he left Austrian territory in 1919 and died of tuberculosis in exile, in Funchal, on the island of Madeira, on April 1, 1922. .