Kaiser Franz Joseph came to the throne as ruler of Austria-
Hungary thrice cursed:  his brother would be executed in
Mexico, his only son Rudolph would commit suicide and
his wife would meet a sad fate. His grief would have to be
tempered by his tremendous burden of responsibilities,
After the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father, Franz Joseph
succeeded as Emperor of Austria under a heavy burden. Austria faced further fighting in Italy,
revolts in Hungary and Franz Joseph would face a life of personal sorrow in a world on the brink of
chaos. His future wife Elizabeth Amalia Eugenia was born on the December 24, 1837 in Munich,
the fourth of nine children born to Duke Maximilian of Bavaria and his wife Ludovika.
The world was already becoming unstable. He ruled an empire of 50 million people, and would face
revolts in his realm and emerging new political philosophies, all the while facing his own personal
tragedies. Yet, he would be the longest ruling monarch of the Habsburg Dynasty in history and his
68-year reign is the third-longest in the recorded history of Europe.
In the summer of 1853 at Bad Ischl in the romantic
Salzkammergut, she and Emperor Franz Joseph met. The
family was hoping that he would marry her sister Helene.
However, defying his mother's marriage plans, he was
instead smitten with Helene's 15 year old sister Elizabeth
who had accidently accompanied the party. Only one day
after their first meeting, Franz Joseph and Elizabeth
celebrated their sensational engagement. They married in
Vienna on April 24, 1854.
In 1855, their daughter Sophie was born, followed by daughter Gisela the next year. Finally, in 1858,
baby Crown Prince Rudolph arrived. Difficulties with her mother-in-law arose, and Elizabeth often
hid behind illness and in isolation. "Sissi", as she was called, disliked the strict court etiquette and lost
herself in vigorous exercise and horseback riding. But Elizabeth also educated herself, learning
Hungarian and modern Greek perfectly and developing a passion for classical Greek history.
She later immersed herself completely in the world of ancient Greece, and she built a palace on the
Greek island of Corfu, naming it "Achillion".  She travelled extensively, spending a lot of time in
Madeira and Corfu trying to relax, her children remaining behind at the court. In 1859, after more
personal problems, Elizabeth left her family to live in seclusion on Madeira, Corfu, and in Venice.
The Kaiser was engaged in a "mutually satisfying relationship" with actress Catherine Schratt,
apparently with his wife's knowledge, and he built a villa named Villa Schratt in Bad Ischl for her.
When a fourth child, Marie Valerie, was born ten months after the coronation of Franz Joseph as
King of Hungary, she was brought up and schooled in the Hungarian language and was therefore
nicknamed the "Hungarian child" for her mother's public love for Hungary. The Empress
accompanied the Emperor on an important trip to Hungary in 1857 and ingratiated herself with the
Hungarian people. Sadly, it was on this trip that their little daughter Sophie became ill and died.
Elizabeth was adored in Budapest, and many buildings and institutions were named after her.
After a mysterious illness in 1860, the Empress had become increasingly shy, and she hid her
beautiful face behind fans and travelled incognito in order to avoid publicity. After a time, she refused
to be photographed at all. Rumors spread that she was as insane as her cousin, King Ludwig II of
Bavaria. Whatever the case, she was self absorbed to the extreme, quite taken with her own beauty,
and totally preoccupied with travelling, her poetry and her studies of Hungarian and Greek.
Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the oldest son of mild-mannered
Archduke Franz Karl and his formidable wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria. It was Sophie who
groomed "Franzl" as a future Emperor, and at age 13 he began a career as a colonel in the army.
Following the Revolutions of 1848, he was appointed Governor of Bohemia but never took up the
post and instead was sent to the Italian front. At around the same time, the Imperial Family was
fleeing revolutionary Vienna for the calmer setting of Innsbruck.
On February 18, 1853, Franz Joseph survived an assassination attempt.
He was walking with one of his officer Maximilian Karl Lamoral Graf O’
Donnell von Tyrconnell, a descendant of an Irish noble dynasty, when
Hungarian nationalist János Libényi sprang out and stabbed the Kaiser
in the neck, but Franz was saved by the stiff collar of his uniform which
deflected the knife. O’Donnell then immediately struck Libényi down
with his sabre, an act for which he was rewarded and made a Count of
the Habsburg Empire. Another witness instrumental in saving Franz was
a butcher named Joseph Ettenreich who had overwhelmed Libényi.
Ettenreich was later elevated to nobility by the Emperor and became Joseph von Ettenreich. Libényi
was later executed, but the trouble was just beginning.
The Unlucky Monarch
Under Franz Joseph, Austria was forced out of Italy, expelled from Germany, and in 1867 the
remaining Habsburg were reconstructed as the Dual Monarchy of Austria- Hungary. The
non-Hungarian half of the dual monarchy did not have a separate name and was officially referred to
as the "kingdoms and crownlands represented in the imperial parliament." It became known as
Austria, or Cis- Leithania, meaning the lands on "this side" of the Leitha River which formed part of
the boundary of Austria and Hungary.