!!!Franzisko-josephinische Ära

Franz Josef, Reign of, the era encompassing the rule of Emperor Franz 
Josef I (1848-1916). Due to the length of Franz Joseph's rule and the 
many changes that took place during that time, the era is divided into 
several periods: 1) Neoabsolutism 1848-1860, 2) Transitional period 
1860-1867, 3) liberal age 1867-1879, 4) "Period of Emerging 
Nationalities" 1879-1893, 5) Age of intense struggles for nationality 
and for democracy 1893-1914, 6) World War I and the end of the 
Monarchy.

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1) The first period was characterised by the subjugation of Hungary 
and Lombardy, the maintaining of leadership in the Deutscher Bund as 
well as the dissolution of the Parliament elected in 1848. As a result 
of the New Year's Eve Patent (Silvesterpatent) of 1851, absolutism was 
restored; however the state had gone through considerable changes due 
to the abolition of the feudal social structures; municipalities, the 
administration of political districts and federal courts had been set 
up. The Industrial Revolution began, in Vienna the building of the 
Ringstrasse avenue was made possible. Diplomatic defeats in the 
Crimean War in 1853-1856 and military losses in Italy in 1859 (loss of 
Lombardy, agreement to the unification of Italy) ended this period.

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2) After 1860 Austria unsuccessfully endeavoured to install a 
constitutional monarchy with Hungary. The lost war against Prussia and 
Italy in 1866 forced Austria to withdraw from the Deutscher Bund and 
to relinquish Venetia and resulted in the Compromise, or "Ausgleich", 
with Hungary in 1867.

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3) The dual Austro-Hungarian Monarchy formed a single-monarch 
confederacy in 1867. Three Imperial Ministries (the ministries of 
Foreign Affairs, War and Finance) were responsible for the areas 
concerning both Austria and Hungary, 60 deputies from each Parliament 
were elected to decide on matters of common interest and assign 
quotas. Each half of the Empire had its own constitution, a bicameral 
Parliament, a government (including its own ministers of finance and 
war) and separate administrative structures until 1879. The western 
half of the empire ("Cisleithania", official name: "the kingdoms and 
lands represented in the Reichsrat (Imperial Diet)") had liberal 
governments which abolished the Concordat of 1855, introduced the 
Imperial Primary School Law of 1869, a new Code of Criminal Procedure 
in 1872 and installed a new administrative court in 1875. The period 
was characterised by rapid economic growth (the building of the 
railway system, founding of numerous industrial firms), which was 
halted by a recession in 1873. The concerns of the German-speaking 
ruling class in regard to the preservation of their lifestyle 
dominated domestic policy, foreign policy was dominated by the 
occupation of Bosnia and Hercegovina in 1878 as well as the alliance 
with the German Empire in 1879. Austria was making the transition to a 
modern state with a industrial bourgeois society against the backdrop 
of liberalism.

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4) This was followed by the Taaffe era, marked by the return of the 
Czechs to the Reichsrat (Imperial Diet), the rise of German 
nationalistic tendencies, the attainment of political power by a 
larger population base (five-guilder-men) and the political 
organisation of the lower classes (workers, farmers, lower 
middle-class).

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5) In 1893 the transition to mass democracy began (the common man 
began to participate in politics) with stark national and social 
contrasts. Steps within this development were voting reforms 
implemented in 1897 and 1907, which helped the Social Democrats to 
become a significant political factor in the state and was to aid the 
effort to transform Austria into a federalist state. This period also 
saw enormous progress in transportation (expansion of the railway 
network), industry (in particular in Lower Austria, Bohemia, Moravia), 
technology (telegraph, telephone, gas, electricity, automobile) and in 
construction in Vienna and almost all the other cities in the 
provinces. The Austrian school system was expanded; music, literature, 
art and journalism reached cultural heights.

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6) The last years of Franz Josef's reign were dominated by  World 
War I.

!Literature
Das Zeitalter Kaiser Franz Josephs, exhibition catalogue, 
Grafenegg 1984 and 1987; Die Habsburgermonarchie 1848-1918, ed. by the 
Academy of Sciences, 1973ff. (until 1989, 8 vols.).


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