AUSTRIAN EMPEROR DEAD.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1916, Page 4

AUSTRIAN EMPEROR DEAD.

A LONG AND TROUBLED REIGNTj , AJstralian-N.Z, Cable Association, Received Nov. 22, 7.55 p.m. London, Nov. 22. Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria, I* dead. ' "' Franz .Tosef 1., who was bom on August ."■:), 1830, was the son of Arch* duke Franz Karl. He succeeded hi* uncle, Ferdinand L, as Emperor of' Austria when tho- igtter abdicated io 18+8, and was crowned King of Hun«' gary in June, 1807. It is remarkable that he should liav# commenced his reign during a revolution that threatened to put an end to the Empire, and rliat it was by Russia's help the rebellion was quelled, while his reign has ended in. the midst of the greatest war the world' haa ever known, and Franz Josef, was fighting against Russia. During Franz Josef's tenure of the; sovereignty of Austria there have been many exciting events in the history of his eountrty, including a, war with Sardinia and France in Italy, wherein' Austria was defeated, and forced to give iip Lombard?. Then Austria joined Prussia in wrest-' iyr Sehleswig-Holstoin and Luxemburg from Denmark, followed by a six weeks' war between Austria and Prussia in which the question of the supremacy of tho latter was once and for all settled. Subsequently (after the FrancoPrussian war of 1870-1) tho Emperors of Anstr(a, Germany, and Russia estalilislied air alliance, which was terminated by the liosso-Turkisli war, The annexation of Bosnia and Hrtze-. govina by Austriß, under the treaty of Berlin, precipitated another Balkan crisis in 1!10S, and Bulgaria declared her independence of Turkey, while Serbia fpsucd a call to arms, and appealed to the Powers for protection. It .has been said that the magic link which held the population of AustriaHungary—composed of (Jermans, Czecks, Poles, Ruthenians, Slovenes, Serbs, Magyars, Italians, Roumanians, and Jews and others—together was ths personal influence of Franm Josef, hut it is more than likely that this' cohesion was due to secret rather than open measures. The late Emperor's family troubles were exceptionally tragic. His wife was murdered in Geneva by an Italian anarchist in ISiIS. The * death of tho Crown Prince Rudolph made the Archduke Franz Ferdinand (a nephew of tho Emperor) heir to the throne, but he was assassinated on June 28, 1014, and the Archduke Karl Franz Josef (who was born in August, ISS7) became I'eir to the throne, to which he will doubtless succeed in due course.