Biography of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este

The dream of the "United States of Austria"

18 December 1863
June 28, 1914
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was born in Graz, on 18 December 1863, by Ludovico, brother of the Emperor Franz Joseph and Annunziata of Bourbon, daughter of King Francis I of the two Sicilies. When he just twelve years he hears a precious heritage to Francesco V d'Este who, being the last male descendant of the House of Este, but also being a Habsburg, Franz Ferdinand on his considerable assets on the condition that he take the name of Este.
Following the death of his cousin Archduke Rudolf, and the renunciation of Imperial succession by his father Louis-dead, moreover, in 1896-in 1889 he finds himself with another fabulous legacy, much more important than the previous: the right of succession to the Crown of the austro-Hungarian Empire. Meanwhile, a few years earlier, knew, transformed it, the Countess Sofia Chotek von Chotkowa.
The result is an intense relationship that, coming forth, unleash the wrath of Emperor Franz Joseph because the Lady is not of Royal blood. The clash between the two becomes so bloody from inconveniencing the Emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II, Tsar of Russia Nicholas II and Pope Leo XIII who intercede for fear that such a situation might affect the succession to the throne going to destabilize the political balance in Europe. Eventually the emperor to surrender, provided that you celebrate a morganatic marriage, given the lower rank of the bride, which excludes the couple's children from hereditary rights to the throne. The two get married in wedding on July 1, 1900, absent Emperor Franz Joseph and the brothers of the bridegroom. Thanks to the training received by Bishop Christian-social movement leader, became Marshal of Austria. In 1913 the Emperor appointed him General Inspector of austro-Hungarian armed forces. Also for reasons of strategic foresight, he became friends with William II of Germany and with other rulers inside and outside Europe.
After the annexation to the Empire of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, and the resulting "Bosnian crisis" that creates the first serious tensions in Europe, Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este begins to actively deal with the Affairs of the Empire. What most strikes me is the presence within it of many different nationalities and from this observation comes to develop what will be his major project: the United States of Austria, Hungary and Austria, an empire that is trial between a new Yugoslav State Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia and Dalmatia around. Your undertone is to confer greater dignity elle Balkan populations and scale, at the same time, the arrogance of the Hungarians of which does not trust at all. But it's a project that will not even start because the June 28, 1914, at the age of fifty-one years, is assassinated, along with his wife, in Sarajevo, Bosnian irredentist student named Gabriele Princip, supported by five other young Serbs.
While in Italy the news not of great mourning as it is known the hostility of the future emperor against the Italians, the attempt exacerbates relations between Serbia and Austria instead, whose claims for the bombing immediately become soon causes whatsoever the outbreak of World War I. But the involuntary sacrifice of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria-Este is also the key to the liberation of all States subject, given the breakup when the austro-Hungarian Empire after World War I.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.