Emperor Franz Josef I

Franz Joseph I
Franz Joseph in c. 1905
Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Illyria; King of Jerusalem etc. Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and of Cracow; Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and the Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trent and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg etc.; Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro and on the Windic March; etc., etc.
Reign	2 December 1848 – 21 November 1916
Coronation	8 June 1867, Budapest
Predecessor	Ferdinand I & V
Successor	Charles I & IV
King of Lombardy–Venetia
Reign	2 December 1848 – 12 October 1866
Predecessor	Ferdinand I
Head of the Präsidialmacht Austria
In office	1 May 1850 – 24 August 1866
Predecessor	Ferdinand I
Born	(1830-08-18)18 August 1830 Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austrian Empire (now Austria)
Died	21 November 1916(1916-11-21) (aged 86) Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria)
Burial	Imperial Crypt, Vienna
Spouse	Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria
Issue	Archduchess Sophie Archduchess Gisela Crown Prince Rudolf Archduchess Marie Valerie
House	Habsburg-Lorraine
Father	Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
Mother	Princess Sophie of Bavaria
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Signature

Monarchical styles of Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary
Reference style	His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty
Spoken style	Your Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty
Alternative style	My Lord

Monarchical styles of Franz Joseph I of Austria
Reference style	His Imperial Majesty
Spoken style	Your Imperial Majesty
Alternative style	My Lord

Monarchical styles of Ferenc József I of Hungary
Reference style	His Apostolic Majesty
Spoken style	Your Apostolic Majesty
Alternative style	My Lord

Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (German: Franz Joseph I., Hungarian: I. Ferenc József, Czech: František Josef I, Romanian: Francisc Iosif, Slovene: Franc Jožef I., Italian: Francesco Giuseppe, Croatian: Franjo Josip I.) (18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Bohemian King and many others (see grand title of the Emperor of Austria) from 2 December 1848 until his death on 21 November 1916. From 1 May 1850 to 24 August 1866 he was also President of the German Confederation. He was the longest-reigning Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, as well as the third longest-reigning monarch of any country in European history, after Louis XIV of France and Johann II of Liechtenstein.

In December 1848, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated the throne at Olomouc as part of Ministerpräsident Felix zu Schwarzenberg's plan to end the Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary. This allowed Ferdinand's nephew Franz Joseph to accede to the throne. Largely considered to be a reactionary, Franz Joseph spent his early reign resisting constitutionalism in his domains. The Austrian Empire was forced to cede its influence over Tuscany and most of its claim to Lombardy–Venetia to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, following the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 and the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. Although Franz Joseph ceded no territory to the Kingdom of Prussia after the Austrian defeat in the Austro-Prussian War, the Peace of Prague (23 August 1866) settled the German question in favour of Prussia, which prevented the unification of Germany under the House of Habsburg (Großdeutsche Lösung).