Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria: Encyclopedia II - Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - Politics

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria - Politics

Franz Ferdinand alienated many sections of Austro-Hungarian political opinion: Hungarian nationalists opposed his advocacy of universal male suffrage which would undermine Magyar domination in the Hungarian kingdom; both supporters and opponents of the Empire's existing dualist structure were suspicious of his idea for a third Croat-dominated Slav kingdom including Bosnia and Herzegovina as a bulwark against what was perceived in Vienna's Ballhausplatz (Foreign Ministry) as Serbian irredentism; and non-Catholics and anticlericalists were angered by his patronage (April 22, 1900) of the Catholic Schools Association.

Although Franz Ferdinand was seen outside Germany as a leader of the "war party" within Austria-Hungary, this was entirely untrue. In fact, the Archduke was one of the leading advocates of maintaining the peace within the Austro-Hungarian government during both the Bosnian Crisis of 1908-1909 and the Balkan Wars Crises of 1912-1913.

No evidence has been found to support suggestions that his low-security visit to Sarajevo was arranged by elements within Austro-Hungarian official circles with the intention of exposing him to the risk of assassination so as to remove a potentially troublesome royal personage from the scene.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Politics", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki