Standard of the Austrian emperors since 1815.
The phrase '''Emperor of Austria''' describes an
hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in
1804 by the
Austrian Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Francis II and continually held by him and his immediate successors until the Habsburg
dynasty was overthrown in 1918.
In the face of aggressions by
Napoleon, Francis feared for the future of the
Holy Roman Empire and wished to maintain his and his family's Imperial status in the event that the Holy Roman Empire should be dissolved, as it indeed was in
1806 when Austrian-led army suffered a humiliating defeat at the
Battle of Austerlitz and the victorious Napoleon proceeded to dismantle the old ''Reich'' by severing a good portion from the empire and turning it into a separate
Confederation of the Rhine. With the size of his imperial realm significantly reduced, Francis II, ''Holy Roman Emperor'' become Francis I, ''Emperor of Austria''. The new imperial title may have sounded less prestigious than the old one, but Francis'
dynasty continued to rule from Austria and a Habsburg monarch was still an emperor (''Kaiser''), and not just merely a king (''König''), in name.
The title lasted just a little over one century until
1918, but it was never clear what territory constituted the "
Empire of Austria". When Francis took the title in 1804, the Habsburg lands as a whole were dubbed the ''Kaisertum Österreich.'' ''Kaisertum'' might literally be translated as "emperordom" (on analogy with "kingdom") or "emperor-ship"; the term denotes specifically "the territory ruled by an emperor", and is thus somewhat more general than
Reich, which in 1804 carried connotations of universal rule. Austria proper (as opposed to the complex of Habsburg lands as a whole) had been an Archduchy since the 15th century, and most of the other territories of the Empire had their own institutions and territorial history, although there were some attempts at centralization, especially between
1848 and
1859. When
Hungary was given self-government in
1867, the non-Hungarian portions, although usually collectively called Austria, were officially known only as the "Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council (''Reichsrat'')". The title of ''Emperor of Austria'' and the associated Empire (if there was such) were both abolished at the end of the
First World War in
1918, when
German Austria became a
republic and the other kingdoms and lands represented in the Imperial Council established their independence or adhesion to other states.
Full title
The Austrian Emperors had an extensive list of titles and claims that reflected the geographic expanse and diversity of the lands ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs:
''
Emperor of
Austria,''
''
Apostolic King of
Hungary,''
''King of
Bohemia, of
Dalmatia, of
Croatia, of
Slavonia, of
Galicia, of
Lodomeria, and of
Illyria,''
''King of
Jerusalem, and so forth,''
''
Archduke of Austria,''
''
Grand Duke of
Tuscany and of
Cracow,''
''Duke of
Lorraine, of
Salzburg, of
Styria, of
Carinthia, of
Carniola and of the
Bukovina,''
''
Grand Prince of
Transylvania,''
''
Margrave of
Moravia,''
''
Duke of
Upper Silesia, of
Lower Silesia, of
Modena,
Parma,
Piacenza and
Guastalla, of
Auschwitz and
Zator, of
Teschen,
Friuli,
Ragusa and
Zara,''
''
Princely Count of
Habsburg and
Tyrol, of
Kyburg,
Goritz and
Grandisca,''
''
Prince of
Trient and
Brixen,''
''Margrave of Upper and Lower
Lusatia and in
Istria,''
''
Count of
Hohenems,
Feldkirch,
Bregenz,
Sonnenberg, and so forth,''
''Lord of
Trieste, of
Cattaro and of the
Wendish Mark,''
''Grand
Voyvode of the Voyvodie of
Serbia, and so forth,''
''Sovereign of the
Order of the Golden Fleece.''
Emperors of Austria, 1804–1918
See also
★
Holy Roman Emperor
★
List of Empresses of Austria
★
List of Rulers of Austria
العربية
ä¸å›½
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिनà¥à¤¦à¥€
Italiano
日本語
Português
РуÑÑкий
Español
