Page 50 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide 2016 - Austria

48  INTRODUCING A USTRIA

The Monarchy of Franz I

At the turn of the 19th century, Austria had to face
social and political changes brought about by the French
Revolution. Franz II ascended the Austrian throne as Holy
Roman Emperor in 1792, and Austria entered a 22-year-
period of war with France. Franz II declared his opposition
to all reformist ideas and, in response to Napoleon’s self-
coronation, he established the Austrian Empire in 1804. After the Vienna Congress
As Emperor Franz I, and with his all-powerful chancellor Austria in 1815
Klemens Metternich, his main concern in the field of
domestic policy, was the preservation of the monarch’s
absolute power. The coffin contains the body
of Franz I, which was later laid
in a sarcophagus in the crypt of
the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Franz I crosses the Vosges Mountains
Following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815,
Franz I marched into France at the head of troops
belonging to the coalition’s occupying forces.

An officer in
Austrian uniform

The Imperial crown of Austria –
once the crown of Emperor Rudolf II.
Alongside lie other regalia.

Emblem of
the Empire
In 1836 Austria’s
national emblem
Radetzky Statue combined Lorraine’s
Johann Radetzky was one of the most two-headed eagle,
outstanding commanders in Austrian with imperial crown,
history. After the victory over Italy in the sword, sceptre and
Battle of Custozza (1848), the 82-year a shield with
old became famous as the mainstay the Habsburg
of the Habsburg monarchy. family crest.

048-049_EW_Austria.indd 48 03/09/15 5:40 pm
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Starsight history template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.2)
Date 7th January 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm