Twilight of the Habsburgs: The Life and Times of Emperor Francis Joseph

by Alan Warwick Palmer

No ruler in modern times reigned in full sovereignty for as long as Francis Joseph, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia. Titular master of central Europe from 1848 until 1916, he was center stage in Europe throughout the dramatic era in which Italy and Germany emerged as united nation states. His personal decisions were vital both to the outcome of the Crimean War and to the onset of World War I, sixty years later. Far more than a biography of a great ruler, Twilight of the Habsburgs is a social, cultural, political, and military history of Europe from the end of the Napoleonic era to the assassination at Sarajevo. "Just the right balance between the story of Francis Joseph's life and the history of his times." -- The New York Times Book Review; "Excellent and absorbing . . . A compelling read." -- Evening Standard (London).

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Royalty, European History, World War I

388 pages, Paperback

Published June 21, 2001

About the author

Author also writes under Alan Palmer

Alan Palmer was Head of the History Department at Highgate School from 1953 to 1969, when he gave up his post to concentrate on historical writing and research.

Reviews

[Czarny Pies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Franz Joseph's wife Sisi who was a bigger pain in the ass than Lady Di came to an equally tragic end assassinated by a Italian anarchist. His eldest son the Crown Prince Rudolf died in a suicide pact with a teenage actress. His nephew and heir apparent to the throne was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist in June 1914. His brother who was briefly King of Mexico was over turned and executed by Benito Juarez (for which act a relatively unknown Italian socialist Alessandro Mussolini named his son Benito). Finally Franz Joseph's wife was present on the other side of Lake Starnberg, the night that the body of her first cousin and close friend Ludwig II of Bavaria was dumped in it by his murderers. Despite all this gore and melodrama, Palmer's biography is a model of propriety focussing primarily on Franz Joseph's political, military and diplomatic actions. His restraint and integrity are to be applauded but the BBC will obviously need to use a different source when it finally decides to do a television series on his eventful life.

Palmer's biography is a model of fairness and balance. Franz Joseph frugal, dutiful and very hard working. He was fluent in Czech and Hungarian as well as his native German. While he never took off his uniform except in the bedroom, he understood perfectly well that he was nothing more than a parade ground soldier. Despite his application, he lacked vision and wound up resisting the march of history at every turn. He was opposed to democracy and believed that Europe should be ruled by absolute Catholic monarchs. He fought unsuccessfully to retain Austria's states in Northern Italy. He tried to stop the increase of Russian influence in the Balkans and was opposed the expansion of Prussia. To compensate for the loss of his territories in the Italian peninsula, he annexed Bosnia thus setting off WWI. All his moves appeared sensible at the time. In the end, he brought down the Habsburg monarchy. Franz Joseph was a competent emperor but he had the misfortune to be on the throne when the empire's time ran out. Despite, his limitations it might well have fallen apart sooner if another man had been on the throne.

[Aleksandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting and informative (rather than 'fascinating' or 'brilliantly written') biography of Austria's longest-ruling emperor; it concentrates more on the diplomatic and political issues than on the private and personal ones (which I myself did not mind, but it's a good thing for a potential reader to know). Alan Palmer places Franz Joseph firmly within the political and ideological tradition of the Habsburgs politics, while at the same time trying to ascertain his role in more general European context of the period, from his early years and his role as an almost heir-apparent his grandfather Frazn I to WWI and its results. A good introductory reading (unless, unlike me, you're a fan of the Empress Sisi; if you are, be warned: she comes out as rather unreliable, unsupportive and at times just unreasonable).

[Ratratrat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riletto, nell'edizione Oscar storia, un libro scorrevole che racconta non solo la vita dell'imperatore ma anche la politica e la storia dell'impero asburgico che resse. la sua famiglia, fasti e nefasti.. per chi vuole capire la storia più che per chi vuole immergersi nelle favolette tipo "Sissi"

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

We'll rate this at 3.5 stars: it's another book to file under "superb historical research source but frustrating read for enjoyment". Best to dip in and out of this for what you need, as the minutiae flies well past too-much-information territory into new areas of information bombardment.

[Vincent Manapat · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Twilight of the Habsburgs" accomplishes what it sets out to do: it covers the "life and times of Francis Joseph," but that's all it really does. There's nothing special about the writing or of any of the author's conclusions. I actually read this book as a way to get some background before reading Geoffrey Wawro's "A Mad Catrastophe," and it's actually useful to compare these two books. Wawro is far more engaging and interesting and better at organizing a story that involves so many characters over so many years (and countries).

If you're already interested in the history of the Hapsburg empire, then I could still recommend"Twilight of the Habsburgs." There is a lot of good information about the life of Franz Joseph that goes beyond the "last monarch of the old school" picture you get from most World War I books. On the one hand it makes you understand the pressures Francis Joseph was under from a very young age, and his very deep sense of duty toward the empire, but on the other that he was an unimaginative man at a time when Austria needed a leader on the level of Bismarck to survive.

That being said, this is not a book that I would recommend to people who aren't already drawn to the history Austria or history in general.

[TimeyWimeyBooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a very dry book from beginning to end. As someone who likes to read biographies, I didn't think Alan Palmer wrote enough about the Emperor as a person. Important events such as the suicide of his son and the murder of his wife were relegated to a couple of sentences. There are pages upon paged about which diplomat thought what about which general's orders. If this is what you prefer in a biography, this book is for you. Luckily for me I'd read many other biographies about the Habsburg family or I would have been frustrated indeed by "The telegram stated Elizabeth had been murdered by an italian anarchist." That's all? Really? Because the author then acknowledges that this grieved the emperor to no end. Such an important event relegated to one sentence.

The author's voice is also somewhat annoying at times. There is an instance where he calls writes (paraphrasing) "Was 12 year old Crown Prince Rudolf a prig or did he really mean what he wrote to his grandmother?" I don't really know how much of a prig a twelve year old boy can be, but this was offputting.

[Nicki Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twilight of the Habsburgs is an interesting and informative biography. I have read several biographies of Sissi, in which Franz-Joseph is relegated to a semi-background role, so it was fascinating to read of events told more from his point of view. It certainly gave me a new appreciation for him, and for the difficulties he faced. The only thing I disliked, which I find in many English-written biographies about the Habsburgs, was the use of anglicized names. There's really no need for it. What's wrong with/so difficult about Franz-Joseph? I found it jarring to see it written as Francis Joseph all the time. Overall, though, this is a good, readable biography, so I am giving it four stars.

[Monty Milne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nation states drawn on narrow ethnic lines have contributed a huge amount of suffering to modern European history. The genius of the Habsburgs was the insight that a supra-national allegiance had the capacity to bind together a patchwork quilt of ethnicities into a workable whole. Of course the tide of history ran against them, but it is impossible to read this without a sense of nostalgia for their vision, and without a sense of pity for the tragic and dutiful life of Kaiser Franz Joseph. The serious flaws of his Empress, his son Rudolf, and his heir Franz Ferdinand - all of whom of course died in tragic circumstances - only throws the innate decency of "the old man" into sharper relief.

[Christopher Culp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well-written and fascinating biography of Franz-Joseph.

[Edmund Bloxam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a mess and it's unnecessarily difficult to read. A shame, because there is a wealth of information here.

There are relentless walls of text on every page, without any paragraph breaks at all. The basic tops flits around from one thing to the other: one minute you're in some complicated political thing, then your're on the emperess' riding habits, then politics, then some marriage thing. At the very least, this needed sub-chapter headings.

And the thing is, it isn't even all that linear. Not dividing histories into themes is difficult to pull off. Here, topics will fill out beyond particular dates, then go back to previous dates. So, it even fails at being linear.

I made it to the end through sheer willpower, and I was obviously interested enough in the subject, which is why I bothered, and the breadth of information gives it an extra star.

This is primarily the editor's fault, but perhaps the author was standing his ground. I will doubtlessly forget most of this random flurry of information quite quickly, which is a shame.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good and interesting read overall, which I quite enjoyed. The author clearly has a sympathetic view of Franz Joseph, and I feel that some of the writing and analysis is skewed accordingly. He paints a picture of a man with a lot of virtues and a overwhelming sense of duty, struggling to adapt to a changing world -- a favorable but reasonable portrayal, in my opinion. I feel like the author hurries through some of the most interesting and well-known events of Franz Josef's life with an almost hipster-like glee -- with only two paragraphs on the murder of Empress Elisabeth, an event that shook both the imperial family and Europe -- which is a real shame. But there is a lot of good stuff in this book regardless.

[Dion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful history, some insight into FJ's thinking, but he clearly as not someone who left a lot of insignt in his writing.

[Wilson Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author in the last paragraph of the book summed up the effectiveness of Emperor Francis Joseph and his reign in quoting the Emperor in a meeting in 1904:

“The Monarchy is not an artificial creation, but an organic body”, Francis Joseph claimed, “It is a place of refuge, an asylum for all those fragmented nations scattered over central Europe who, if left to their own resources would lead a pitiful existence, becoming the playthings of more powerful neighbours”. Ninety years later, it is the eleven peoples who are fragmented and seek asylum.

The Habsburg Empire at its end ruled eleven different ethnic peoples and I think that quote, mixed with the author’s incite is a fantastic evaluation of his rule, because as we know, right now there is no peace in most of the Baltics and there’s still much oppression.

The book is fantastic. I will come up front and say what I don’t like about the book and that is the author’s misuse, abuse, and lack of use of dates. He jumps around so terrifically that he forgets to keep the reader informed with full dates, not just a month and day, but he misses the year for such a long time that I would forget what year we were referring to.

While a dang good read about an incredible individual who stayed on the throne longer than almost any other European monarch, to that point or now, I think the author was at times too generous and not enough critical towards the Emperor and the Empire. Especially when it came to his relationship with his wife, his “family friend,” his children, and very much especially when it came to the last five years of his life and the start for the Great War.

The author did a splendid job of explaining that while his General Staff and political envoys kept him informed regarding the status of the Ultimatum sent to Serbia, they only allowed him to know what they wanted him to know. The fact that only one point in the Ultimatum was rejected lets me know that a war would have never been authorized by the Emperor if he would have been given all the facts. The start of the Great War doesn’t sit in the lap of an 84 year old man who was medically weak; the start of the Great War lays in the lap of his General Staff and Prime Minister, for they knew the facts and how much information to give their Emperor.

I was impressed with the amount of abdication, starting with Francis I (Francis Joseph’s uncle), going forward with his brother Maximilian so he could “rule” as Maximilian I of Mexico (what the heck was that all about?) and other aristocracy giving up positions here and there - even Charles - while not really abdicating, but giving up. Rudolph, his son, was an amazing mess! I imagine a book could be written on him alone. I was saddened by his suicide and I don’t think enough time was spent on everything leading up to it.

His love for Elizabeth was incredible, but his mother ruled the roost and I guess I can understand why it really needed to be that way. Sophie was a real help to him and the author took plenty of time explaining why this needed to be this way. I do wish the author had spent more time on the murder of Elizabeth.
This was my first exposure to the Habsburgs and I enjoyed it enough to order a couple 800-1200 page books on the full history of the Habsburgs! I look forward to reading in great detail about their full history. I was surprised to find that anything militarily that Francis Joseph was ever involved in as Emperor was a failure, including the Great War. I was absolutely shocked to find that out. Since I had read Orlando Figes “The Crimean War” I was familiar with Russia’s fear of the Emperor getting involved at the very end of the Crimean War. After reading this book, I can see that was completely unfounded and saber rattling on the part of Francis Joseph - and it worked.

[Doria · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and very fair-minded appraisal of the life and career of Emperor Franz Joseph, a man for whom life and career were synonymous. Rigid in his rituals, inflexible in his comprehension of religion and the human condition, he prostrated himself before his duty to rule, a vocation to which he bound himself with dogged devotion. The old curse "May you live in interesting times" held terribly true for this latter scion of the Habsburg, who lived to see his brother assassinated by Mexican revolutionaries, his only son kill himself, his wife stabbed, his nephew shot, and his empire dragged into a war which claimed countless more lives.

Never one to question his fate or his god, one can't blame this sorely-tested royal Job, as he whispered on his deathbed, "Why must it be just now?" A legitimate query, as his demise meant that the Habsburg empire found itself abruptly faced with a regime change after 68 years of plodding yet more or less peaceful predictability. Peaceful, that is until the last two years, when it was plunged into WWI and quickly found itself in over its head.

The Austro-Hungarian empire limped forward just long enough to end in ignominy, leaving many of its denizens to reflect nostalgically back to the days of ponderous imperial glory. Unlucky in life, Franz Joseph was fortunate that his own demise mercifully allowed him to avoid living through the demise of the monarchy to which he had devoted his life, body and soul.

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great biography of Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph, as well as an excellent history of the time period in which he ruled: 1848 until 1916. Emperor Francis (Franz) Joseph was the longest ruling Habsburg king, as well as one of the most important rulers of the dynasty. His reign began during the revolutions of 1848, saw the rise of Prussia, Italian independence and unification, the creation of the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1867, German unification under Prussian dominance, and the beginning of World War One. Quite a bit of consequential European history occurred during the reign of Emperor Francis Joseph. But he also saw personal tragedy during this time, including the assassination of his wife, Empress Sisi, and the suicide of his son, Crown Prince Rudolph. At the end of his life, the Emperor's long-term work to retain Habsburg power and influence proved futile, as his empire crumbled in the aftermath of World War One and the Austrian republic began. His dynastic successors had to leave Austria, and renounce their claim to any power over the Austrian people. But the Habsburgs had ruled for centuries, and had made their mark on Europe in countless ways. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the Habsburgs, Austrian history, or 19th Century European history.

[Jim Firestone · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an impossible challenge. Trying to hold together a group of ethnically diverse regions with no real natural reasons for alignment other than geographic adjacency. Pulling at these regions were the Ottomans, the Russians, the Prussians, the French and the newly unified Italians.

However, as the era of the Monarchies slowly but steadily came to an end Emperor And King Francis Joseph managed to do just that for almost 70 years.

Francis Joseph was a modest man of modest talents but a strong enduring love of his many varied people. Clearly outmaneuvered by Napoleon III, Bismarck and William II, and Tsars Nicholas and Alexander, he managed to keep his Empire at peace and economically strong for much of the second half of the 19th century.

Of course, it all unraveled in the early years of the 20th century.

[Dean MacKinnon-Thomson · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

An enjoyable read. At no point did I feel the details were too much, or the pace of the narrative too slow. Indeed this author has succeeded in creating an enjoyable biographical account of one of history's greats without the pedantry that many biographical writers fall into.

Highly recommended read, indeed essential, if like me, you want to gain a depth & breadth overview of this man's life and times.

[Daniel Rosenthal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this before I head to Austria in a few months. Certainly not the most interesting historical figure (although the longest reigning emperor in modern times 1848-1916). Most of the book is pretty dull, but does give an interesting angle to Balkans peoples, the Crimean war, the Franco-Prussian War, and the lead-up to WW1.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a 3.7 but I chose to give it a 3 to differentiate it from some good 4s in the same genre. The first half was a 3, as were the early war sections (Italy, Germany), and most of the latter half was more of a 4. I think the smaller size makes it seem more readable but also left out some details and context that might have actually made it an easier read.

[Fran Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book about the long life of Emperor Francis Joseph. He was born in 1830, became Emperor on December, 1848. He ruled Austria-Hungary and much of central Europe until his death in November, 1916. It is not only a biography, but also a social, cultural, political, and military history of the time.

[Michael Martin]

Fascinating tale of a long-reigning monarch whose life and reign marked revolutions and upheavals. From his birth in 1830 to his death during the First World War, on the eve of the Russian revolution and the reordering of Europe. Brilliantly told, hard to put down.

[Raleighhunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK writing but does a great job of showing just how intermarried the leaders of Europe were before WWI

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read large parts of this book for a central European class. It gives a good analysis of the gradual decline of the Hapsburg empire and the reasons behind it.

[Katherine Baber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting more because of the history and personalities involved than because of the mediocre writing.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascination with Omar Sharif led me to (the movie) Mayerling (Sharif with a young Catherine Deneuve) which led me to a fascination with the Hapsburgs which led me to this book.

[William DuFour · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enthralling and comprehensive life on a misunderstood monarch who managed to keep things together with 11 ethnic groups and personal tragedy.

[Ben Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Occasionally very hard to follow but overall a very good biography that illustrates the complexity of the Dual Monarchy very well