Persian Empire 1845

Chapter 183 Franz Joseph I

The ship sailed swiftly, arriving in Venice in less than ten days. Besides the Austrian Chairman of the Council of Ministers, important figures present included the Foreign Minister, the Army Minister, and the Mayor of Venice.

The band began to perform, and the crowds around them waved Austrian and Iranian flags to welcome the Shah's diplomatic visit.

"Welcome, Shah, to the Austrian Empire. I am Count Schönstein, and I will take you to Vienna to meet His Majesty the Emperor."

"Thank you for your welcome, Your Excellency. I believe this marks a new chapter in the diplomatic relations between our two countries."

At that moment, reporters who had been waiting nearby rushed forward and started snapping photos. It's believed that news about the friendly cooperation between the two countries will appear on the front page of the newspapers tomorrow.

At the welcoming banquet that evening, all the nobles of the city attended, eager to see what the Iranian monarch looked like.

Pezeszczian and Schönstein discussed economic and trade cooperation between Austria and Iran, noting that the two countries' industries could complement each other, and that Iranian students studying in Austria could receive certain financial aid.

Accompanied by the Count, Naserdin toured various sights in Venice. He visited St. Mark's Basilica and watched a wonderful play at the theater. The atmosphere here made him feel relaxed; Venice at this time was not yet the indescribable city it would become in later years, and he could enjoy the scenery of this water city.

But in any case, he had to go to Vienna, otherwise the emperor would get impatient.

A line of horse-drawn carriages was heading towards Vienna. Yes, horse-drawn carriages. Austria's railway network was only 400 kilometers long, and the Venice region had not yet been connected. Compared to its younger brother Prussia, they did not place much importance on railways.

However, Franz also had family matters to attend to. His wife, Empress Elisabeth, had given birth to a daughter, but her mother-in-law and aunt, Sophie, had disenfranchised her, leading to a deterioration in their relationship. Franz was helpless, but there was nothing he could do. The situation within the Austrian Empire was overwhelming, despite his 12-hour workdays, cold showers, slept on a cot, fluency in eight languages ​​spoken by his subjects, piety, and some governing talent. His misfortune, coupled with a lack of strategic vision, meant his rule was often a series of setbacks.

Personally, Franz Joseph was essentially a conservative who abhorred the radical changes brought about by liberalism. Therefore, he was not a visionary or far-sighted planner. His strengths lay in image building, adaptability, contingency compromise, and orchestrating new deals and distributions of benefits. Consequently, he constantly sought effective contingency strategies to maintain centralized power.

In his first declaration, he stated: "We are determined to uphold the perfect glory of the crown, and we hope that, with God's help and the cooperation of our people, we can share power with them at all times, uniting all the states and nations under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty to form a unified nation." This declaration seemed to demonstrate Franz Joseph I's firm determination to transform Austria-Hungary into a centralized state.

Since the establishment of constitutional monarchy, or more accurately, since the establishment of this multilingual, pluralistic government, three systems have attracted the attention of politicians: first, the centralized system, which places all provinces, all nationalities, and all people speaking different languages ​​under a single government, either a parliamentary or an absolutist government; second, the dual system, which left Hungary with a long-standing constitution and barely unified the other states; and third, the federal system, which satisfied national aspirations while preserving the historical traditions that made up the different groups that constituted the Austrian Empire.

Franz decided to build the empire into a centralized state. The Austrian provinces were divided, with each province's governor appointed by the central government, and the functions of parliament were greatly weakened. Furthermore, the centralized bureaucracy became a tool of the ruthless Germanization policy. This Germanization policy had a similarly profound impact on both the Hungarians, who hoped to divide the Austrian Empire, and the Slavs, who were striving to preserve it.

The Kingdom of Hungary was divided into five parts, with public office primarily assigned to Germans. German became the common language in administrative offices, courts, and schools. A ruthless police force monitored the citizens. Some previously annexed kingdoms—Transylvania, Croatia, and Serbia—gained independence from the Austrian Empire. However, the Slavs, freed from Hungarian control, fell under German rule.
The Austrian government, committed to authoritarianism, promptly recognized that the Austrian Empire could enhance its status through alliances with the Church, with the Roman Curia and bishops being its natural allies. The Emperor declared Catholicism a privileged religion, entrusting private and public education to the clergy and authorizing the publication of all papal documents, provided they did not infringe upon civil rights, while prohibiting the dissemination of books condemned by the clergy.

Economically, the series of events that occurred between 1848 and 1849 had depleted Austria's already impoverished treasury, and the country received no relief in the following years. Therefore, despite increasing tax revenues, the annual deficit continued to grow. To cope with the financial crisis, the Austrian government was forced to issue discounted banknotes, effectively even putting banknotes with a face value reduced to five cents into circulation.

From his ascension to the throne until now, the Austrian Empire has outwardly fared well. It still holds a dominant position within the German Confederation, and after the Crimean War, it gained freedom of navigation on the Danube. However, the Principality of Wallachia and the Principality of Moldavia united to form the Principality of Romania, creating a center within the Austrian Empire that attracted Romanians. Friendship with the Russian Empire has cooled, with St. Petersburg even accusing Vienna of disloyalty. More importantly, Piedmont has joined the European Concordance, confident of securing the support of Emperor Napoleon III of France, and is prepared for war.

The Austrian Empire was not disappointed by the weakening of the Russian Empire, as the Russian Empire did not intervene militarily and was quite satisfied with the occupation of the Danube Duchy with the consent of the Ottoman court.

(End of this chapter)