Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian

 

TIMELINE

 

Short description of the life of Archduke Maximilian

 

  • Archduke Maximilian was born on the 6th July 1832 in the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.
  • Maximilian's had a very strict education in regard to his native language German and additional languages such as Bohemian (Slavonic), English, French Hungarian, Italian and Spanish together with diplomacy, geography, history, law, military education etc.
  • Maximilian was an intelligent child and showed a great deal of interest for the arts, botany and science.
  • The young Maximilian was very charming but also increasingly undisciplined in his ways and played many a prank on his teachers and others in the Imperial court.
  • Maximilian entered military service and was trained in the Austrian Navy where he managed to get promoted to lieutenant at the age of eighteen.
  • In 1854, at the age of twenty-two the Archduke became Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy.
  • Maximilian was responsible for many reforms which led to the modernisation of the Austrian Navy, and had much to do with the establishing of a naval port at Trieste and Pola (Pula) which enabled the Austrian battle fleet to be based there and large-scale expeditions such as the circumnavigating of the globe with the frigate SMS Novara.
  • In February of 1857 Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian was appointed Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia.
  • Emperor Franz Joseph was not really sure that the Archduke’s appointment as Viceroy was the right thing to do because he thought that his brother would be far too liberal for such an important position.
  • Trouble had been growing in Lombardy-Venetia for quite some time. More and more people were against Austrian rule and wanted to unite with the Italian states. Emperor Franz Joseph was not sure that his brother would be able to handle the situation.
  • Archduke Maximilian wanted to grant greater freedom and self-government for the Italian speaking parts of the Austrian Empire.
  • Emperor Franz Joseph in Vienna was convinced that his brother was being too lenient and was in favour of firmer measures being taken to solve the situation.
  • Maximilian disagreed and asked for more autonomy for Lombardy-Venetia.
  • Emperor Franz Joseph refused and told his brother to give the army and police more authority and sent General Count Gyulai to assist Maximilian in the region.
  • Maximilian went to Vienna to demand more rights but could not reach an agreement.
  • In 1859, problems rose between France and Piedmont-Sardinia and Austria and war became more and more a threat to the area.
  • Emperor Franz Joseph dismissed his brother and ordered a general mobilization in the area.
  • Maximilian was left with nothing.
  • In 1864, Maximilian was offered the Imperial Crown of Mexico.
  • Emperor Franz Joseph opposed Maximilian’s idea to become Emperor of Mexico and insisted that his brother should renounce all of his right to the Austrian Imperial throne should such an event arise.
  • Maximilian renounced his right to the throne of Austria and accepted the Imperial Crown of Mexico.
  • Maximilian and Charlotte set sail for their new “homeland” as Emperor and Empress of Mexico.
  • The civil war in Mexico was under control at this time and the French had achieved the upper hand but the republicans under Benito Juárez were still fighting for a Mexican republic.
  • Maximilian saw the welfare of all his subjects as his first concern and hoped that his liberalism would enable reconciliation with the republican opposition.
  • The American Civil War came to an end and the United States put the French Emperor Napoleon III under massive pressure to withdraw his troops from Mexico.
  • The political situation for Maximilian became more and more difficult as time went by.
  • The Austro-Prussian War started in 1866. Austria tried to make an agreement with Italy and offered the province of Venetia to Italy in an attempt to keep Italy out of the war but at the end of the day, Italy decided to join in on the side of Prussia against Austria.
  • Austria managed to win a few major battles against Italy but at the same time lost the decisive Battle of Königgrätz (Battle of Sadová) to Prussia in July 1866.
  • In 1866, Maximilian's wife, Charlotte, returned to Europe in a desperate attempt to ensure that Napoleon III would keep his written promises made to Maximilian.
  • Napoleon rejected all of her pleas and the desperation of failure plunged the young Empress into insanity.
  • Charlotte went to Rome to plead for aid from the Pope.
  • Charlotte went to Vienna but could not achieve anything to help her husband.
  • On the 13th February 1867, the Emperor Maximilian left Mexico City with the National Guard and assembled his army in the town of Querétaro some 100 miles to the north but the advancing republican armies soon surrounded his troops.
  • On the 15th May 1867 Maximilian and his loyal generals fell into the hands of the Republicans and were brought before a military tribunal and condemned to death.
  • A desperate attempt was started to try to prevent that a member of a European ruling dynasty would be executed.
  • Austria’s diplomats tried to solve the differences between Austria and Mexico and contacted the government of the United States asking for their assistance.
  • Emperor Franz Joseph quickly reinstated Maximilian in the line of succession hoping that this would help.
  • Diplomacy was at its end.
  • At dawn on the 19th June 1867, Maximilian was executed by firing squad.
  • Maximilian's body was returned to Austria and brought to the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.