Franz Joseph

views updated May 17 2018

Franz Joseph (1830–1916) ( Francis Joseph) Emperor of Austria (1848–1916) and King of Hungary (1867–1916). He succeeded his uncle Ferdinand, who abdicated during the Revolutions of 1848, and quickly brought the revolutions under control, defeating the Hungarians under Lajos Kossuth in 1849. With the formation (1867) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph was forced to grant Hungary co-equal status. He died in the midst of World War I, two years before the final collapse of the Habsburg Empire.