Survival of Monarchies

Tags

20th Century, Absolute Monarchy, Austrian Empire, Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, German Empire, King Felipe VI of Spain, King of Hungary, King of Prussia, Kingdom of England, Monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, World War I, World War ii

This is an introduction to a new series.

Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria, King of Hungary.
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, King of Prussia
Emperor Nicholas II of Russia
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Queen Wilhelmina V of the Netherlands.
King Christian IX of Denmark
King Alfonso XIII of Spain
King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves
King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway
King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy
King Otto of Bavaria
King Albrecht of Saxony
King Wilhelm II of Württemberg
King George I of Greece
King Alexander I of Serbia
King Carol I of Romania

King Leopold II of Belgium
Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden
Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mechlenburg-Schwerin
Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Grand Duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine
Grand Duke Adolphus of Luxembourg

Duke Carl-Eduard of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein
Prince Albert I of Monaco
Pope Leo XIII Sovereign of the Vatican City

Prince-Grand Master Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

 

This is a list of the monarchs who were on their throne on January 1, 1901 the day the 20th century began. By the end of the 20th century this list would be much shorter. The majority of thrones were lost after World War I and then again after World War II. This series is going to examine a hypothesis that I have. It seems the more autocratic and Conservative a monarchy was the more difficult it was for them to change and adapt to the changes within their nations. On the other hand, the more Liberal a state was, where the monarch ruled with a constitution, the more adaptable they were and willing to adjust to the changes within their nations and thus survive.

I will be examining the two more liberal monarchies, The United Kingdom and Denmark, to see how these more Liberal states survived, and I will examine the three large Empires of Europe, Germany, Austria and Russia to see how these Conservative regimes collapsed. I will start at a point in their histories where each state was more autocratic and conservative and how they each adapted or resisted the changing social and political movements that happened in European history.

Next Friday I will begin this series with England/The United Kingdom

I will leave you with a list of monarchies that thrive as of July, 2014.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
King Felipe VI of Spain
King Philippe of Belgium
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
King Harald V of Norway
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Albert II of Monaco
Pope Francis, Sovereign of the Vatican City

Prince-Grand Master Matthew Festing of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Aftermath of the Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand

Tags

Austria, Austria-Hungary, Austrian Empire, Franz-Ferdinand, Franz-Josef, Gavrilo Princip, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany

Aftermath of the Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand

One of the sad things for me is that even in death the insults and snubs to the Archduke’s wife Sofie continued. Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo, Emperor Franz Joseph’s Chamberlain, hated Franz Ferdinand and Sophie passionately and decided to turn the funeral into a massive and vicious snub. Foreign royalty had been invited to the funeral and planned to attend. Generally when an heir to the throne had passed away there were would be a large funeral attended by many royal heads of state. However, on this occasion they were pointedly dis-invited and a much smaller funeral planned with just the immediate imperial family, with the dead couple’s three children excluded from the few public ceremonies. The officer corps was forbidden to salute the funeral train, and this led to a minor revolt led by Archduke Karl, the new heir to the throne. The public viewing of the coffins was curtailed severely and even more scandalously, Montenuovo tried unsuccessfully to make the children foot the bill. Also during the viewing the Archduke’s coffin was set higher than Sofie’s to remind all that she was not an equal to her husband. The Archduke and Duchess were interred at Artstetten Castle because his wife could not be buried at the Imperial Crypt.

Of course the largest aftermath was War. However, I wanted to share what happened to the assassin, Gavrilo Princip. Like his fellow assassin Čabrinović who tried to swallow the cyanide pill but vomited instead, Princip had the same experience with his cyanide pill. It seems they had purchased stale cyanide that was out of date. Princeip was arrested and in October of 1914 was convicted of his part in the murder of the Archduke and his wife. Princip was too young to receive the death penalty, being only twenty-seven days short of the 20-year age limit required by Habsburg law for the death sentence. Instead, he received the maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. He was held in harsh conditions and squalor which were worsened by the war as supplies went to the war effort. While in prison he contracted tuberculosis. He died on April 28, 1918 at Terezín 3 years and 10 months after he assassinated the Archduke and Duchess. At the time of his death, Princip, weakened by malnutrition and disease, weighed around 40 kilograms (88 lb; 6 st 4 lb). His body had become racked by skeletal tuberculosis that ate away his bones so badly that his right arm had to be amputated. Now I am not happy that this man assassinated the Archduke and Duchess, but his treatment in prison was inhumane.

As the saying goes “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter”? He’s their freedom fighter. Well in Serbia Princip is still regarded as a national hero and on the 100th anniversary of the assassination of the Archduke and Duchess Bosnian Serbs erected a statue of Gavrilo Princip.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/27/gavrilo-princip-statue_n_5538356.html

War broke out on July 28th, 1914 when Austria fired the first shots in its invasion of Serbia. Russia mobilized against Germany, while Germany invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, causing Britain to declare war on Germany. Closer to July 28th I will focus on what the three emperors, Franz-Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany, did to either prevent or encourage the war.