- Emperor of Austro-Hungarian Empire (1848-1916). The murder of his nephew and heir-apparent Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian assassin in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1914 was the spark that ignited WW I.
- Refused to give the minorities in his Austro-Hungarian empire more rights, which caused many ethnic conflicts.
- Son of Archduke Franz Karl and Princess Sophie of Bavaria.
- His mother decided that he should marry his cousin Princess Helene of Bavaria. He instead chose Helene`s younger sister Princess Elizabeth (1854).
- Is portrayed by Erik Frey in Ludwig II: Glanz und Ende eines Königs (1955), Paul Hörbiger in Die Deutschmeister (1955) and probably best known by Karlheinz Böhm in Sissi (1955), Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956) and Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957) and Forever My Love (1962).
- Had four children with his wife Elisabeth, who was stabbed by an anarchist in 1898: Archduchess Sophie of Austria (1855-1857), Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856-1932), Crown Prince Rudolf (1858-1889, suicide) and Archduchess Marie-Valerie of Austria (1868-1924).
- Godfather of Otto von Habsburg, whose father, Emperor Karl, succeeded Franz Josef as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.
- Being aged 84-86 during WWI, he was the oldest head/leader of any fighting country during a World War.
- His wife was assassinated on September 10, 1898 by anarchist Luigi Lucheni after Lucheni learned that his initial target, Duc de Montpensier, had left Geneva, Switzerland hours before Lucheni could strike. Undaunted, Lucheni vowed to kill the first royal he met; the unfortunate royal was Empress Elisabeth.
- Father-in-law of Prince Leopold of Bavaria.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content