For forty-three years, Francis I of Austria ruled a vast
heterogenous Empire that came to dominate the continent of Europe.
Ascending Charlemagne's thousand-year throne of the Holy Roman
Empire at the age of twenty-four on the unexpected death of his
father, this scion of the ancient Habsburg dynasty became the first
Emperor of Austria and for two years, the only Double Emperor in
history. Both the father in law of Napoleon Bonaparte and his chief
rival for dominance of the continent of Europe, Francis eventually
led a coalition of nations to Paris in 1814 and sent Napoleon into
exile. The exiled Napoleon's only son and heir lived with his
grandfather thereafter in Vienna until his tragic early death.
Kings, ministers, generals and the glitterati of Europe gathered
under his watchful eye at the Congress of Vienna to decide the fate
of a continent in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars in which he
played a pivotal role. The Congress saw the emergence of his new
Austrian Empire as the most dominant power in continental Europe
until long after his death twenty years later. A devoted husband,
father and grandfather, his modest lifestyle and simple tastes that
set the tone of the Biedermeier era concealed a complex and
calculating ruler whose initial, cautious liberalism gradually
evolved into a stoic conservatism. No other life-biography in
English has been written about this mysterious but powerful figure
of early 19th century Europe whom Metternich and Radetzky called
their master.
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