Ferdinand I von Österreich

Ferdinand I was born in Vienna on 19 April 1793 and died in Prague on 29 June 1875. He was Emperor of Austria and, as Ferdinand V, King of Hungary, Bohemia, and Lombardy-Venetia from 1835 to 1848. He was the eldest son of Emperor Francis I of Austria and his second wife, Maria Theresa of Naples-Sicily. Because of his poor health and significant physical and mental limitations, his succession to the throne was long considered uncertain. As a child, Ferdinand suffered from epilepsy, rickets, and hydrocephalus. He was physically frail, learned to write late, and did not excel in his education. His childhood unfolded during a period of profound political upheaval. When he was only six months old, his great-aunt Marie Antoinette, the former queen of France, was publicly executed. Austria was simultaneously fighting the armies of the French Republic and later those of Napoleon Bonaparte. Ferdinand and his siblings were therefore raised in an atmosphere strongly hostile to the French Revolution and Napoleon. In 1804, Ferdinand’s father declared himself Emperor of Austria, and Ferdinand received the title of imperial prince. After Austria’s defeat by Napoleon, Francis brought the Holy Roman Empire to an end in 1806. Ferdinand’s mother died in 1807. The following year, his father married Marie Louise of Modena, a cousin roughly the same age as his children. Despite her pronounced hostility toward France, she developed a close and friendly relationship with them. In 1810, Francis appointed Klemens Wenzel von Metternich as state chancellor and married his daughter, Marie Louise, to Napoleon, Austria’s former adversary. At seventeen, Ferdinand appeared scarcely capable of assuming imperial responsibility. His father therefore considered excluding him from the succession and favoring his younger son, Archduke Francis Charles, instead. During the Congress of Vienna in 1814, the future marriage of Francis Charles to Sophie of Bavaria was arranged; the wedding took place in 1824. Sophie proved politically gifted and ambitious. Her influence over her husband and the birth of their son, Francis Joseph, in 1830 led Metternich to view her as a potential rival. Metternich eventually persuaded the aging emperor not only to designate Ferdinand as his successor but also to arrange his marriage. In 1831, at the age of thirty-eight, Ferdinand married Marie Anne of Sardinia. The marriage was celebrated by proxy in Turin on 12 February and in person in Vienna on 27 February. Marie Anne devotedly cared for her husband, although she never learned German. The couple had no children, and it was also speculated that the marriage was never consummated. Marie Anne was respected for her piety and dignity, though she was publicly perceived more as Ferdinand’s caregiver than as his wife. After Francis I died on 2 March 1835, Ferdinand ascended the throne. He left the actual business of government largely to his ministers, especially Metternich and Franz Anton von Kolowrat. Ferdinand was regarded as lacking political insight and took only a limited part in state affairs. As a result, the political order remained strongly shaped by Metternich’s conservative and authoritarian policies. The government suppressed revolutionary and liberal ideas, while strengthening the Catholic Church’s influence over education. In 1840, it reduced general military service from ten years to eight, although numerous exemptions remained in place. Across Europe, the conservative system came under increasing pressure. The Revolution of 1830 spread from France and led to unrest in Italy and the German states. Austria intervened militarily in Romagna and later occupied Bologna, while France responded by occupying Ancona. Liberal and national movements were also suppressed within the German Confederation. Metternich relied on Prussia in this effort, but as a result he was unable to effectively prevent Prussia from developing the Zollverein customs union. During the 1840s, tensions intensified between Austria and Prussia, between Austria and Russia over the Balkans, and between Austria and an increasingly liberal Britain. Metternich consequently sought closer relations with conservative France. The Revolution of 1848 brought this system down. After a harsh winter marked by hunger and growing hardship, uprisings began in Vienna on 13 March. As the population approached the imperial palace, Ferdinand reportedly asked Metternich what was happening. When told that a revolution was underway, he is said to have replied in astonishment: “But are they allowed to do that?” That same evening, the seventy-four-year-old Metternich resigned and fled to England. Ferdinand then made several concessions. He permitted the creation of a national guard, lifted censorship, and promised a constitution. The Constitution of Pillersdorf, published in April, did not go far enough for the revolutionaries. Further protests led to additional changes: the Reichstag was to consist of only one chamber and was to prepare a definitive constitution. As the unrest escalated, Ferdinand left Vienna and sought safety first in Innsbruck. In July, the constituent Reichstag convened and decided, among other measures, to abolish the peasants’ feudal obligations. Bohemia and Hungary were also swept up in the revolutionary movement. In Prague, Czech and other Slavic representatives called for a federal reorganization of the monarchy and equal rights for its various peoples. Ferdinand rejected these demands, and the Prague uprising was crushed by imperial troops in June 1848. In Hungary, Lajos Kossuth secured liberal reforms, an independent parliament, and broad autonomy from Vienna. The conflict escalated into war. After Hungary proclaimed its independence and a republic in April 1849, Russian troops supported the Austrian army. The Hungarian Revolution was defeated in August 1849; numerous leaders were executed, while Kossuth went into exile. Vienna also experienced another uprising in October 1848. Croatian and Bohemian troops under Josip Jelačić and Alfred von Windisch-Grätz besieged the city and recaptured it within a week. About 2,000 insurgents were killed, and other leaders were sentenced to death or long prison terms. Following these events, Ferdinand and the court left Vienna for Olmütz. There, his wife Marie Anne, his brother Francis Charles, and Sophie of Bavaria persuaded him to abdicate in favor of his eighteen-year-old nephew, Francis Joseph. Francis Charles also renounced his rights to the throne. On 2 December 1848, Ferdinand officially transferred power to Francis Joseph I at the archiepiscopal palace in Olmütz. Ferdinand and Marie Anne then withdrew to Prague and Ploschkowitz Castle. Ferdinand retained the style “Imperial Majesty” and the honorary title of “Emperor,” and as the oldest member of the family he remained head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He divided his time between Prague and Reichstadt. When he died in 1875, he left his fortune to his successor, Francis Joseph. Marie Anne outlived him and died in 1884.