Franz Ferdinand Research Paper

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Franz Ferdinand was born on November 20, 1863 in Graz, Austria to Archduke Karl Ludwig and Princess Maria Annunciata. He was third in line for the throne as emperor of Austria behind his father and his cousin, Crown Prince Rudolf. He was pushed into a position of power early, however, because of the rather prompt deaths of Rudolf and his father. In 1889, Rudolf and one of his mistresses vacationed near Vienna, where he had a nervous breakdown and proceeded to kill both himself and the mistress. During a religious pilgrimage, Karl Ludwig contracted typhoid from the polluted River Jordan which eventually lead to his death in 1896. Suddenly, young Franz was due to be the next Emperor of Austria. His uncle, the current Emperor Franz Josef I of …show more content…

Ferdinand and Sophie von Chotkova met in 1888 during a ball where she was working as a lady-in-waiting for the Austrian Archduchess Isabella Natalie. Ferdinand used the Archduchess’ daughters as a front to meet privately with Sophie in the castle, since a public relationship would be too scandalous. When the affair was discovered, the Archduchess was furious that Ferdinand was pursuing Sophie rather than one of her daughters, and fired her soon after. Emperor Franz Josef immediately disapproved of Sophie, believing her to be unbefitting as his nephew’s wife given her class status. Despite his uncle’s opinions, Ferdinand continued the relationship. Eventually, Josef gave in and permitted the marriage, but his approval came with specific conditions. In 1899, Ferdinand signed a formal agreement from Josef stating that his future children would have no right to the throne, and Sophie was to be of a significantly lower rank once they married. Out of distaste for the bride, nobody from Ferdinand’s family attended the wedding apart from his stepmother Maria and her daughters. The love between Sophie and Ferdinand only grew from that point on. In letters to his stepmother, Ferdinand referred to Sophie as being “everything to [him]...in a word: [his] entire happiness” and that she made him “feel as though [he] had been born again.” Even though their fourteen-year long …show more content…

Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany was outraged at the murder of his close friend (or as he affectionately referred to him, “Franzi”). The Germans decided to express their full support towards Austria-Hungary, believing that if a larger war was to break out, their Triple Alliance along with Italy would be at an advantage. However, once Germany discovered that Great Britain would fail to take a neutral stance in the matter, they wanted Austria to back out of any plans to go to war with Serbia. Britain retaliated against Germany’s support by declaring war on them in August. The Great War had finally

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