Emperor Karl: Reign (1916-18)


Figure 1.--Here is the official coronation of Emperor Karl and Emperess Zita with Crown Prince Otto taken in 1916. They are wearing their coronation robes. The ceremony as it pccurred during the War was less elaborate than would have normally been the case. Otto was 4 years old.

Karl I was the last of the Hapsburg rulers. Although he was the eldest son of the Archduke Otto, he was little known in Europe until he married Princess Zita. Karl replaced Francis Joseph when the Emperor died (1916). Karl became Emperor of Austria during the terrible tragedy of World War I. Karl's efforts at diplomacy to end the War allienated his German allies. He favored the French claim, for example to Alsace-Loraine. He orcestatrated peace-feelers to the Allies. Of course the Allies focus was on the Western front and Emperor Karl could not offer the Allies what they most wanted, occupied France, Alsace-Loraine, and Belgium. Thus peace feelers from Austria without German supportt had little real chance of ending the War.

Assumption to the Throne (1916)

Karl's assession as emperor resulted from a series of trasgic events. First Archduke Rudolph died as Mayerling, most believe by suicide, although some believe by assassination. Rudoplph was Emperor Franz Joseph’s only son. As the crown could only be inherited through the male line. This meant that the sucession went to Franz Josef's brothers' lines. Kar's father Otto died unexpectently (1906). Then Serbian terrorists killed Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo (1914). Finally Karl replaced Francis Joseph when the Emperor died (1916). Karl became Emperor of Austria during the terrible tragedy of World War I. Austria-Hungary was a dual monarchy. He was crowned Apostolic King of Hungary in Budapest (December 30, 1916) .

Peace Feelers (1916)

The new Habsburg monarch was suspicious of his country's German allies. Karl feared that Austria was doomed by its alliance with Kaiser Wilhelm II. Fearing the worst as a result of the Empire's military situation, Karl tried to reach a peace settlement with the Allies. Upon becoming emperor, Karl Used his Bourbon-Parma brothers-in-law as an emissary. Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma was an officer in the Belgian army. Karl sent peace offers to President Poincare of France. Emperor Karl offered to end his hereditary claim to Lorraine, one of the French proivinces annexed by Germany. He also offered to cede the Italian ethnic portion of the Trentino, even though Austrian troops had moved well into the northern sector of the Italian boot. Pope Benedict XV in a Peace Note (August 1, 1917) endorsed Emperor Karl’s initiative. The Pope forsaw what was unraveling in Russia. The Tsar had been deposed and had been replasced by Kerensky's Provisional Government, but the Bolshevick's were growing in power and their athiest ideology a direct threat to the Church. Pope Benedict was also concerned about Austria-Hungary which was the only remasining important Catholic world power. Georges Clemenceau, the French Prime Minister, rejected Karl's peace feelers. Karl's efforts potentially could have brought peace to Europe not only in time to avoid the debacle in Russia, but also would have saved almost a million lives. Unfortunately for Karl, France rejected his secret peace overtures and Kaiser Wilhelm discovered the young Austrian Emperor's plans.

The Allies

The Allies focus was on the Western front and Emperor Karl could not offer the Allies what they most wanted, occupied France, Alsace-Loraine, and Belgium. Thus peace feelers from Austria without German supportt had little real chance of ending the War. In addition the Allies still hoped that victory could be achieved on the battlefield. The British were training a pwerful conscript army and the Royal Navu was stangling the German economy. In addition, they were hopeful that America would enter the War and shift the balance of power on the Westetn Front. Little thought was being given to the consequences of the collapse of the Tsarist regime in Russia.

Relations with the Germans

The two key countries making up the Central Powers were Germany and Austria-Hungary, but Germany was by far the dominant partner. And Kasiser Wilhelm II and his governmernt still believed that Germany could prevail in the War. The embarrassment suffered by Karl when the Germans learned of his peace feelers was enormous. From that day on his country's military was placed under close German surveillance. The Austrian Army performed much more poorly than the German Army and support from the Germans was necssary to ward off attacks from the Russians and Italians. In the end, the two principal countries in the War were Germany and France. Unless those two countries could agree on an armistace the war would continue. Austria-Hungary was doomed as a result to suffer the same fate as Germany.

The Austro-Hungarian State

It was the Austro-Hungarian decission to punish Serbia and Kaiser Wilhelm's decission to back its ally, that provided the impetus for World War I. Austo-Hungaria was a waining power in 1914. It was not a nation state, but rather an empire composed of a dizzying number of national and ethnic groups. This was to prove the Achieles heal of the Hapsburg power. Like the Serbians, the other constituent parts of the Empire wanted independence. Despote the Italian defeat at Caporettio, Italian propoganda proved amazingly successful in undermining the support of non-Auatrian (German) units in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Thus the Allied military successes in 1918 quickly led to to the unraveling of the Ausrtro Hungarian Empire--just the success that Serb nationalists at hoped for in 1914.

War Leadership

The War had a devestating impact on the Austrian economy. Conscription affected both agricultural and industrial production. There was as a result severe deprivation. The working class suffered terribly. There were food shortages as well as inadequate coal supplies to heat homes. Emperor Karl ordered the carriages and coaches of the imperial court be used to deliver coal to the poor in Vienna. He created a new Ministry of Social Welfare and appointed Msgr. Ignaz Seipel He was an advocate of the social reforms outlined in Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum and other papal encyclicals. Karl understood that Austria-Hungary could not survive unless the nationaslities question was resolved. His sollution was to restructure the Empire politically along federalist lines. He forsaw a kind of United States of Greater Austria. Here he made little progress. He instructed the various national group in the Imperial Parliament to prepare a plan for the government of their areas of the Empire (October 16, 1918). By this time, however, the Empire was collapsing and there was little real chance of reform. The national groups wanted independence and the Army was no longer capable of maintaing the old order.






HBC








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Created: 1:54 AM 2/22/2006
Last updated: 1:54 AM 2/22/2006