Charles 1st of Habsbourg-Lorraine (Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen) (Persenbeug, August 17th, 1887 - Madeira, April 1st, 1922) was the last emperor of Austria, the apostolic last king Charles V (V. Károly) of Hungary and the last king of Bohemia, under the name of Charles , of 1916 with 1918.

He is the son of Otto of Habsbourg-Lorraine (1865-1906) and Marie-Josèphe of Saxony (1867-1944)

Biography

Great nephew of the emperor François-Joseph (Franz Josef), it succeeds on November 21st, 1916 to him, during the First World War. Its crowning as king de Hongrie takes place with Budapest on December 30th, 1916. It forever crowned emperor of Austria, nor king de Bohème.

Having known the horrors of the face as of its advent on November 22nd, 1916, he seeks the ways of peace with the Allies and in particular France. He starts a secret negotiation then, via his brothers-in-law, princes Sixte and Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, with the French government, under the auspices of Jules Cambon, general secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Aristide Briand, president of the Council and the president of the Republic Raymond Poincaré.

January 24th, 1917, the two princes are with Paris where they meet only Jules Cambon, general secretary of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. At the conclusion of this interview, the two brothers write what they estimated to have felt as being the threshold in-on this side which the French government would not start any negotiation.

On the basis of this written note, let us recall it, by princes Sixte and Xavier of Bourbon-Parma, the Emperor Charles makes a proposal, by a handwritten footnote, added to a frankly negative official note of the Austro-Hungarian government. According to this handwritten footnote, the emperor Charles, puts forth the following proposals:

  1. the legitimate rights of France on Alsace-Lorraine must be restored in their totality;

  2. Belgium must be restored in its integral sovereignty, including in its colonies;
  3. Austro-Hungarian Monarchy must be maintained in the respect of the status quo of its borders;
  4. the discussion with Russia on the problem of Constantinople is not topicality, because of the revolution which has just burst in Petrograd.

One cannot say that these proposals answer waitings of the French government because they correspond in fact only to a " vue" of prince Sixte of Bourbon-Parma. These proposals are in particular clearly in withdrawal compared to the formulated note a few days before by the French government (January 10th, 1917) for the President of the United States Wilson.

The negotiations started under the auspices of Aristide Briand, continue with Alexandre Ribot, new president of the Council, following the inversion of the Briand Cabinet.

Ribot, does not believe in the sincerity of the proposals of the Emperor and thinks only of engagements which do not take that the form of handwritten footnotes cannot be taken with the serious one. Moreover, eager to respect the French proposals for a peace such as they had been formulated the particular on January 10th, 1917 engagements of Alliés towards Italy, that the item three of the counter-proposal, it could not satisfy ultimately makes answer that he is hostile with the continuation of the talks out of a prior cooperation with Italy.

The British leaders also solicited by the princes of Bourbon-Parma, answer that they include/understand the French attitude as well as the Italian intransigence.

This negotiation ends in an enormous scandal in spring 1918, following the boastings of the count Czernin, Foreign Minister of the Austria-Hungary, before the municipal council of Vienna: the count Czernin affirms before this assembly that the president of the French council Georges Clémenceau resigned himself to make in Austria-Hungary offers of negotiations following successes of the German offensives.

Vis-a-vis such a bad faith, the blood of Clémenceau makes only one turn: , Clémenceau ton and, in support of this anger, it makes publish copy of the letter autograph of March 24th, 1917 when the Emperor announced that.

This declaration puts Emperor Charles in position intolerable vis-a-vis its ally German which shows it treason, whereas Charles had taken the precaution to inform the emperor Guillaume {{II}} that it had engaged of the peace talks, without however revealing the exact contents of it. The German staff sets up a plan of invasion of Austria and internment of his sovereign. He cannot however put it at execution.

Having to face the problem of nationalities and in response to the proposals of president Wilson, in particular to the fourteenth not on the " Right of the People to have them-mêmes" , Charles propose, in October 1918, the federalisation of the Empire.

The resistance of the Hungarian government, chaired by the count the Tisza, any constitutional modification of the compromise imposed by the federalisation does not make it possible to carry out this program in good time. In the proclamation " With my peuples" in October 1918, Charles imposes it, Hungary proclaims ipso facto the end of Austria-Hungary, by making secession.

November 12th, 1918, the Republic is proclaimed in Austria after Charles agreed to subject to the vote Austrian Parliament the form of the State, under the pressure (and the insurance) of Christian-social which they would vote in favor of Monarchy. They vote against, so that it is well a majority of the representatives of the Austrian people who found the Austrian Republic.

The Emperor Charles refuses to abdicate. He is satisfied to sign a temporary withdrawal of the public affairs.

First of all withdrawn, as of on November 12th, 1918, with the castle of Eckartsau, in Low-Austria, the emperor Charles is constrained to leave his country and to ask asylum Switzerland, following the pressures carried out by the new chancellor, Karl Renner, which wants to obtain its abdication in due form. Then begin the long exile of the imperial family.

On the request of the pope who fears the expansion of the Soviet Bolchevism, it tries to go up on the throne of Hungary in March and in October 1921. The Horthy Regent refuses to give the capacity to him, asserting that the return of Habsbourg on a throne would never be accepted by the Allies and the Little Entente. Not wishing to be at the origin of a new civil war, Charles forced to go, constitutes himself captive. Given to England, Charles and Zita, on decision of the Conference of the Ambassadors, take refuge on the Madeira where the Portugal agrees to accommodate them. The emperor and king die on April 1st, 1922 of a Pneumonie, 34 years and 7 months old.

Charles is buried in the church Nossa Senhora C Goes up on the heights of Funchal. Its coffin is deposited in a alcove in lower part of a large crucifix. His/her oldest son, Othon (Otto), ten years old, then becomes the chief of the house of Habsbourg-Lorraine.

Beatification

Charles 1st was béatifié with Rome, on October 3rd, 2004, by the pope Jean-Paul {{II}}. The reasons of this Béatification hold at the same time with the desperate attempts that Charles made to find the ways of peace in 1917, as well by the mediation of his/her brothers-in-law princes Sixte and Xavier of Bourbon-Parma as by his support brought to the mediation of the pope Benoît {{XV}}, and to its Christian virtues. He had indeed placed his life under the sign of the Eucharistie and had committed himself following the lesson of Christ in his private life and public. He could also follow the social teaching of the Church and the first measurements taken by him, as a sovereign, were to remove the way of life of the court of Austria in order to be able to help the poor on these economies, and to adopt the social reforms necessary. It created, under the influence of the Empress Zita, the first ministry for the social affairs in the world. It was in its time called by the Arbeiter Zeitung ( the Newspaper of the Workers ) “the Emperor of the people”, which involved the mockeries of the aristocracy.

This beatification of Charles was not without raising of controversy. Some raise the fact that the exhaustion of its empire at the end of the conflict hardly left him alternative but seek peace.

Austrian commentators consider this beatification as an interference monarchist which would be explained by the influence of the house from Austria to Rome.

The process of the beatification of the Emperor Charles was initiated in 1923 one year close its death and the lawsuit in beatification was officially open in 1949. The parts, documents and testimonys represent several tens of thousands of pages. The miracle which has occurred in South America, at Curitiba, in the Brazilian State of the Paranà, allotted to Charles - sudden cure of a painful variqueux ulcer involving an incapacity to go of a nun missionary, Girls of the Charity of Vincent saint of Paul, originating in Poland - was blamed by the opponents at the beatification. Unanimously, so much on behalf of the doctors than of that of the theologists who examined his case in Rome, this cure was declared scientifically unexplainable.

Marriage and descent

October 21st, 1911, he marries the princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma (Zita di Borbone) (1892 - 1989) girl of Robert 1st, duke of Parma. They have eight children:

  • Otto (1912-…), archduke of Austria, marries in 1951 the Regina princess of Saxony-Meiningen (1925-…), of which posterity
  • Adelaide (1914-1971),
  • Robert (1915-1996), wife the Marguerite princess of Savoy-Aoste (1930-…), of which posterity
  • Felix (1916-…), wife in 1952 the princess Anne-Eugenie d' Aremberg (1925-…), of which posterity
  • Karl-Ludwig (1918-…), wife in 1950 the princess Yolande de Ligne (1923-…), of which posterity
  • Rodolphe (1919-…), wife the countess Xénia Czernichev-Bézobrazoff (1929-1968), of which posterity. In 1971, it remarie with the princess Anne Gabrielle de Wrede (1940-…), of which posterity
  • Charlotte (1921-1989), wife Georges duke of Mecklembourg, without posterity
  • Elisabeth, born posthumous (May 21st, 1922 - 1993), wife prince Heinrich of Liechtenstein, of which posterity

Quotation

He had said to his wife, the day of their marriage: Now we must act one the other to the sky , the cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins in April 2004 during the promulgation of the decree recalled recognizing a miracle due to his intercession.

Internal bonds

Sources

  • With regard to the offer of separate peace:

    • Sixth of Bourbon, to see bibliography
    • David LLoyd George War Memoirs , London 1934
    • Raymond Poincaré Memories
    • Gordon Brook-Shepherd, to see bibliography

  • With regard to the problem of nationalities

    • Charles Werkmann, to see bibliography
    • François Fejtö, to see bibliography
    • Charles Ier of Austria, Memorandum in Werkmann

  • With regard to the signature of the armistice

    • Gordon Brook-Shepherd, to see bibliography
    • Charles Werkmann, to see bibliography
    • Dugast-Rusted Michel, to see bibliography

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