BLESSED CHARLES – THE LAST EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA, KING OF HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA
On June 28, 2022, the post office of the Portuguese
island of Madeira issued a series of stamps commemorating the centenary of the
death of Charles I of Habsburg.
Charles of Habsburg, Emperor of Austria and King of
Hungary and Bohemia, was born in Persenbeug, on 17 August 1887. He began his
military career at a very young age and, stationed with provincial garrisons,
lived at a distance from the throne. As Crown Archduke, he succeeded Franz
Joseph at the height of the First World War, and was the only Head of State of
a belligerent power to welcome Pope
Benedict XV’s peace initiatives.
Between October and November 1918, the fall of his
empire began. Abandoned by all, he was forced to withdraw from government
executives indefinitely. He refused to renounce the throne, believing this to
be a dereliction of duty. He lived with his family in Eckartsau Castle, near
Vienna, under close surveillance, and left for Switzerland on 24 March 1919. On
3 April that year, he was stripped of all his assets.
The last Austro-Hungarian Emperor, Charles I and his
wife, Empress Zita of Bourbon arrived in Funchal, in exile, on 19 November
1921, aboard the British warship Cardiff. They were initially lodged at Vila
Vitória, on Estrada Monumental, and later at Quinta do Monte. From the outset,
the Emperor won over the people of Madeira, who called him the ‘Holy King’. He
was often accompanied by his children, in whom he instilled a love for the
Catholic faith, for peace and for the people. He got close to locals, always
exuding friendliness and kindness, sharing the little he had with the poor who knocked
at his door.
He died with a reputation for holiness, on 1 April
1922, and his body was buried at the church of Nossa Senhora do Monte, in
Funchal. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 3 October 2004.
Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, Prefect of the Vatican
Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said of him: “He served the people with
justice and charity; he strove for peace, helped the poor and committed himself
to a spiritual life”.
A hundred years after his death, we remember this man
of peace who became the first saint to live and die in Madeira, with pilgrims
from all around the world flocking to his tomb. A good man. A saint.
The Last Emperor Karl I and the Collapse of the Austrian Empire
Karl I, also known as Charles I, ascended to the
throne of Austria-Hungary in November 1916 during a critical period of World
War I. He succeeded his great-uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph I, who had reigned
for nearly 68 years. Karl, born on August 17, 1887, was a relatively young and
inexperienced leader when he became emperor, but he quickly sought to bring
about significant changes in the hopes of preserving the empire.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire, a multi-ethnic
conglomerate, was already in decline by the time Karl I took power. The empire
consisted of numerous ethnic groups, including Germans, Hungarians, Czechs,
Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians, Croats, Serbs, Italians, and others,
each with its own nationalistic aspirations. The empire's dual monarchy system,
established in 1867, created a complex and often inefficient governance
structure, with Austria and Hungary as separate entities under a single
monarch.
World War I further exacerbated the empire's internal
tensions. The war drained resources, caused widespread suffering, and
intensified nationalist movements within the empire. Karl I inherited a
situation where the empire was crumbling from within, with various ethnic
groups pushing for greater autonomy or complete independence.
Karl I recognized the need for reform and sought to
address the empire's internal divisions. He attempted to negotiate peace with
the Allies, recognizing that continuing the war would only further destabilize
the empire. In 1917, he made secret peace overtures to France through his
brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, but these efforts were
unsuccessful. The Allies demanded Austria-Hungary's total defeat, and Germany,
Austria-Hungary's primary ally, rejected any separate peace.
Domestically, Karl I attempted to decentralize the
empire by offering greater autonomy to the various nationalities within the
empire. He proposed transforming the empire into a federal state with more
power given to its constituent nations. However, these efforts came too late.
The nationalist movements had gained too much momentum, and the empire's ethnic
groups were no longer satisfied with mere autonomy; they sought full
independence.
The final collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire came
in the wake of military defeat in World War I. By late 1918, the empire was
disintegrating rapidly. Czechoslovakia declared independence on October 28,
1918, followed by the establishment of the State of Slovenes, Croats, and Serbs
on October 29. Hungary declared its independence on November 1, and Austria
itself proclaimed itself a republic on November 12, 1918.
Karl I, realizing that his empire was beyond saving,
did not formally abdicate but instead issued a proclamation on November 11,
1918, in which he renounced participation in state affairs. He hoped that by
stepping aside, the empire might be preserved in some form, but this was not to
be. The empire dissolved, and its various territories either became independent
nations or were absorbed by neighboring countries.
The German-speaking regions of the former empire
sought to establish their own state, Deutschösterreich. On October 21, 1918,
representatives of these regions met in Vienna and proclaimed the creation of
the Republic of German-Austria (“Republik Deutschösterreich”), which aimed to
unite all German-speaking Austrians within the new state. However, the victorious
Allied powers, particularly France and Italy, opposed the unification of
Austria and Germany. This opposition was formalized in the Treaty of
Saint-Germain, signed on September 10, 1919, which officially ended the war for
Austria. The treaty recognized the Republic of Austria (no longer called
Deutschösterreich) as a separate state and explicitly forbade any future union
with Germany without the consent of the League of Nations.
After the collapse of the empire, Karl I went into
exile in Switzerland. He made two unsuccessful attempts to regain the Hungarian
throne in 1921, but these efforts failed, and he was forced into permanent
exile. Karl I spent his final years on the island of Madeira, where he died on
April 1, 1922, at the age of 34. His death marked the end of the Habsburg
dynasty's rule over Austria-Hungary, a dynasty that had lasted for nearly 400
years.
