Austrian empire may refer to:

• The Austrian monarchy, see Habsburg Monarchy (1526–1867)
• Austrian Empire (1804–1867)
• Austria-Hungary (1867–1918)

See also[link]

• Holy Roman Empire (843–1806)
• Countries of the Austrian Empire (1804–1867)
• Austria (after 1918)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Austrian Empire Kaiserthum Oesterreich
↓ 1804–1867 →   →
Flag Imperial Coat of arms
Anthem None Imperial anthem Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser "God Save Emperor Francis"
The Austrian Empire in 1859.[1]
Capital	Vienna
Language(s)	German, Hungarian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, Serbian, Italian, Polish, Ruthenian
Religion	Roman Catholic
Government	Absolute Monarchy
Emperor
- 1804–1835	Francis I
- 1835–1848	Ferdinand I
- 1848–1867	Francis Joseph I
Minister-President
- 1821–1848	Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (first)
- 1865–1867	Richard von Belcredi (last)
Legislature	Imperial Council
- Upper house	Herrenhaus
- Lower house	Abgeordnetenhaus
Historical era	Modern era Napoleonic Era Industrial Era
- Empire proclaimed	11 August 1804
- Independence from Holy Roman Empire	1806
- Establishment of the German Confederation	1815
- German confederation dissolved; excluded from German affairs	1866
- Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867	30 March 1867
Preceded by Succeeded by Archduchy of Austria Kingdom of Hungary (1538–1867) Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867) Kingdom of Bohemia Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic) Austria–Hungary Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)
Today part of	Austria  Croatia  Czech Republic  Hungary  Italy  Poland  Romania  Serbia  Slovakia  Slovenia  Ukraine

History of Austria
This article is part of a series
Early History
Hallstatt culture
Noricum
Marcomanni
Samo's Realm
Carantania
March of Austria
Babenberger
Privilegium Minus
Habsburg era
House of Habsburg
Holy Roman Empire
Archduchy of Austria
Habsburg Monarchy
Austrian Empire
German Confederation
Austria-Hungary
World War I
Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
World War I
Interwar Years
German Austria
First Republic of Austria
Austrofascism/Federal State of Austria
Anschluss
World War II
National Socialism
World War II
Post-war Austria
Allied-occupied Austria
Second Austrian Republic
Austria Portal v t e

The Austrian Empire (German: Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling Kaisertum Österreich) was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire as a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867. The Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918) was itself dissolved by the victors at the end of World War I and broken into separate new states.

The term "Austrian Empire" is also used for the Habsburg possessions before 1804, which had no official collective name, although Austria is more frequent; the term of Austria-Hungary has also been used.^{[citation needed]}

The Austrian Empire was founded by the Habsburg monarch Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (who became Emperor Francis I of Austria), as a state comprising his personal lands within and outside of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

This was a reaction to Napoleon Bonaparte's proclamation of the First French Empire in 1804.

Austria and some parts of the Holy Roman Empire then took the field against France and its German allies during the Third Coalition which led to the crushing defeat at Austerlitz in early December 1805. By the fourth of that same month, a cease fire was in place and peace talks were being conducted nearby.

Subsequently, Francis II agreed to the humiliating Treaty of Pressburg (December 1805), which in practice meant dissolution of the long-lived Holy Roman Empire with a reorganization of the lost German territories under a Napoleonic imprint into a precursor state of what became modern Germany, those possessions nominally having been part of the Holy Roman Empire within the present boundaries of Germany, as well as other measures weakening Austria and the Habsburgs in other ways. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies—the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg and the Elector of Baden. Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception.

One consequence of that was eight months later on 6 August 1806, Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, due to the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine by France, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him. This action was unrecognized by George III of the United Kingdom who was also the Elector of Hanover who had also lost his German territories around Hanover to Napoleon. The English claims were settled by the creation of the Kingdom of Hanover which was held by George's British heirs until Queen Victoria's ascension, after which point it split into the British and Hanoverian royal families.

Although the office of Holy Roman Emperor was elective, the House of Habsburg had held the title since 1440 (with one brief interruption) and Austria was the core of their territories.

After Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and left the German Confederation, the Austrian Empire was transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which granted Hungary and the Hungarian lands equal status to the rest of Austria as a whole.

Creation[link]

Changes shaping the nature of the Austrian Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt (1797–1799) and Regensburg (1801–1803). On 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess (German: Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) was declared, which greatly reduced the number of clerical territories from 81 to only 3 and imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, but the actual consequence of the Imperial Recess was the end of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation. Taking this significant change into consideration, the German Emperor Francis II created the title Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors, abandoning the title of German-Roman Emperor later in 1806.

The fall and dissolution of the Empire was accelerated by French intervention in the Empire in September 1805. On 20 October 1805, an Austrian army led by general Karl Mack von Leiberich was defeated by French armies near the town of Ulm. The French victory resulted in the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers and many cannons. Napoleon’s army won another victory in the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. In light of those events, Francis was forced to negotiate with the French from 4 December to 6 December 1805. These negotiations were concluded by an armistice on 6 December 1805.

The French victories encouraged rulers of certain imperial territories to assert their formal independence from the Empire. On 10 December 1805, the prince-elector Duke of Bavaria proclaimed himself King, followed by the elector Duke of Württemberg on 11 December. Finally, on 12 December, the Margrave of Baden was given the title of Grand Duke. In addition, each of these new countries signed a treaty with France and became French allies. The Treaty of Pressburg between France and Austria, signed in Pressburg (today Bratislava, Slovakia) on 26 December, enlarged the territory of Napoleon's German allies at the expense of defeated Austria.

Etnographic map of the Austrian Monarchy from 1855, made by Karl Freiherrn von Czoernig.

On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established comprising 16 sovereigns and countries. This confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and proclaimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

When, on 11 August 1804, Francis II assumed the title of first Emperor of Austria, the empire spanned from present-day Italy to present-day Poland and to the Balkans. The multi-national makeup of the empire is illustrated by the fact that its population included Germans, Czechs, Poles, Romanians, Hungarians, Italians, Ukrainians, Croats, Slovaks, Serbs, Slovenes and numerous smaller nationalities. The emperor ruled Austria as the namesake, but also held the title of King of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, leading to the Empire's multi-national army being styled the Kaiserlich-königliche Armee (Imperial-Royal Army). The Empire had a centralist structure, although some degree of autonomy was left to Hungary which was ruled by its own Diet, and to Tyrol.

Foreign policy[link]

The Napoleonic Wars dominated Austrian foreign policy from 1804 to 1815. After Prussia signed a peace treaty with France on 5 April 1795, Austria was forced to carry the main burden of war with Napoleon France for almost ten years. This severely overburdened the Austrian economy, making the war greatly unpopular. Emperor Francis II therefore refused to join any further war against Napoleon for a long time. On the other hand, Francis II continued to intrigue for the possibility of revenge against France, entering into a secret military agreement with the Russian Empire in November 1804. This convention was to assure mutual cooperation in the case of a new war against France.

Austrian unwillingness to join the Third Coalition was overcome by British subsidies, but the Austrians withdrew from the war yet again after a decisive defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz. Although the Austrian budget suffered from wartime expenditures and its international position was significantly undermined, the humiliating Treaty of Pressburg provided plenty of time to strengthen the army and economy. Moreover, the ambitious Archduke Charles and Johann Philipp von Stadion never abandoned the goal of further war with France.

Archduke Charles of Austria served as the Head of the Council of War and Commander in Chief of the Austrian army. Endowed with the enlarged powers, he reformed the Austrian Army to preparedness for another war. Johann Philipp von Stadion, the foreign minister, personally hated Napoleon due to an experience of confiscation of his possessions in France by Napoleon. In addition, the third wife of Francis II, Marie Ludovika of Austria-Este, agreed with Stadion's efforts to begin a new war. Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, located in Paris, called for careful advance in the case of the war against France. The defeat of French army at the Battle of Bailén in Spain on 27 July 1808 triggered the war. On 9 April 1809, an Austrian force of 170,000 men attacked Bavaria.

Despite military defeats—especially high magnitude losses like those at the Battles of Marengo, Ulm, Austerlitz and Wagram—and consequently lost territory throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (the Treaties of Campo Formio in 1797, Luneville in 1801, Pressburg in 1806, and Schönbrunn in 1809), Austria played a decisive part in the overthrow of Napoleon in the campaigns of 1813–14.

The latter period of Napoleonic Wars featured Metternich exerting a large degree of influence over foreign policy in the Austrian Empire, a matter nominally decided by the Emperor. Metternich initially supported an alliance with France, arranging the marriage between Napoleon and the Francis II's daughter, Marie-Louise; however, by the 1812 campaign, he had realised the inevitability of Napoleon's downfall and took Austria to war against France. Metternich's influence at the Congress of Vienna was remarkable, and he became not only the premier statesman in Europe but virtual ruler of the Empire until 1848—the Year of Revolutions—and the rise of liberalism equated to his political downfall.

Constituent lands[link]

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

• Former countries in Europe after 1815

Notes[link]

Further reading[link]

• Evans, R. J. W. Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Essays on Central Europe, c. 1683-1867 (2006) online
• Kann, Robert A. A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918 (2nd ed. 1980)
• Kissinger, Henry. The World Restored: Metternich, Castlereagh, and the Problems of Peace, 1812-22 (1955)
• Okey, Robin. The Habsburg Monarchy, C.1765-1918: From Enlightenment to Eclipse (2002) excerpt and text search
• Sked, Alan. Metternich and Austria: An Evaluation (2008)
• Sked, Alan. The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire, 1815-1918 (2nd ed. 2001)
• Taylor, A.J.P. The Habsburg Monarchy, 1809-1918: A History of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary (1941) excerpt and text search

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Austrian Empire

• Austrian Army during the Napoleonic Wars
• The empire of Austria ; its rise and present power (Third millennium library)

v t e States of the German Confederation (1815–66) Empires Austria1 Kingdoms Prussia1 Bavaria Saxony Hanover Württemberg Electorates Hesse Grand Duchies Baden Hesse Luxembourg Mecklenburg-Schwerin Mecklenburg-Strelitz Oldenburg Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Duchies Anhalt Bernburg2 Dessau2 Köthen3 Brunswick Holstein Limburg4 Nassau Saxe-Lauenburg Saxony Altenburg5 Coburg-Saalfeld6 Coburg-Gotha5 Gotha-Altenburg6 Hildburghausen6 Meiningen Principalities Hesse-Homburg Hohenzollern Hechingen7 Sigmaringen7 Liechtenstein Lippe Reuss Elder Junior Schaumburg-Lippe Schwarzburg Rudolstadt Sondershausen Waldeck and Pyrmont City-states Bremen Frankfurt Hamburg Lübeck Other territories outside of the confederacy Colonial possessions Personal unions of Habsburg Bukovina Croatia Galicia and Lodomeria Hungary Lombardy–Venetia Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar8 Slavonia9 Transylvania Personal union of Hanover Great Britain and Ireland10 Personal unions of Hohenzollern East Prussia11 Neuchâtel12 Grand Duchy of Posen13 Province of Posen14 Province of Prussia15 West Prussia11 Occupied: Schleswig16 1 w/o areas listed under other territories 2 Merged with Anhalt from 1863 3 until 1847 4 from 1839 5 from 1826 6 until 1826 7 until 1850 8 1849–60 9 as of 1849 10 until 1837 11 until 1829 12 until 1848/57 13 until 1848 14 as of 1848 15 as of 1829 16 as of 1864

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009)

Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed at Cambridge Film Festival 2007
Born	(1936-10-09) 9 October 1936 (age 75)[1][2] Mexborough, England
Occupation	Actor, author, director, TV presenter
Years active	1962–present
Spouse	Hildegarde Neil (1978–present)

Brian Blessed ( /ˈblɛsɪd/; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, known for his sonorous voice and "hearty, king-sized portrayals".^[3]

Early life[link]

The son of William Blessed, a socialist miner, and Hilda Wall, Blessed was born at the Montague Hospital^[4] in the town of Mexborough, England.^[5] He attended Bolton on Dearne Secondary Modern School, but after his father suffered an industrial accident, he was forced to leave school early at 14 and spent several years working at a variety of jobs, ranging from undertaker to plasterer's assistant. At the age of eighteen, he suffered a nervous breakdown, from which he gradually recovered with the help of friends and family. He completed his National Service as a parachutist in the Royal Air Force. He began his acting training at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, alongside Patrick Stewart. He has written about his early life in his autobiography, Dynamite Kid (1992).

Career[link]

An early role was that of PC 'Fancy' Smith in the BBC police drama Z-Cars from 1962 to 1965. In 1966, Blessed appeared in "Incident at Vichy" at the Phoenix Theatre in London. Blessed had small roles in such cult shows as The Avengers (1967, 1969) and the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) (1969). He portrayed Caesar Augustus in the BBC series I, Claudius. He portrayed the father of Robin Hood, Lord Locksley, in the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He has appeared in a number of Shakespearean roles on both stage and screen, including four of the five Shakespeare films directed by Kenneth Branagh: as The Duke of Exeter in Henry V (1989), Antonio in Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Ghost of Hamlet's Father in Hamlet (1996) and the dual role of Duke Frederick and Duke Senior in As You Like It (2006). He also provided the voices of Bob in the animated series Kika & Bob (2008)^[6] and Grampy Rabbit in Peppa Pig.

Other roles have emphasised his comedic abilities: notably Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon (1980) – for which he is frequently remembered for the famous line "Gordon's alive!"; the mad, comic figure of Richard IV in the first series of The Black Adder (1983); and Spiro in the BBC adaptation of My Family and Other Animals (1987).^[7] He also played the role of General Yevlenko in the 1988 miniseries War and Remembrance. Blessed jokes he almost starred in Blackadder II (1986) as Queen Elizabeth but he wasn't available at the time of filming.^[8]

He provided the vocal links on the Sony-Award-winning Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio and introduced adverts for Orange mobile phones. At Christmas 2006, he presented a panto Cinderella for Virgin Radio starring actors such as David Tennant and Thandie Newton. In November 2006, Blessed made a surprise appearance on the midday talk show Loose Women. Also, he is featured reading the story "The White City Part 1" which is the final piece on the album Late Night Tales: Nightmares on Wax. Blessed was also the voice of Jean Valjean in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's audio dramatic adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

Blessed has also starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats as both Old Deuteronomy and Bustopher Jones during the original West End theatre production. In 2002, under the direction of Royal Shakespeare Company director, Adrian Noble, Blessed originated the role of Baron Bomburst for the stage musical version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

During December 2005 to January 2006, Blessed headlined the pantomime production of Peter Pan, alongside CBBC Television presenter Kirsten O'Brien at the Regent Theatre in Ipswich. In late 2007 and early 2008, Blessed starred in the panto version of Peter Pan as Captain Hook at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable. He played the same role again in "Peter Pan" in late 2007, early 2008 and again at Christmas 2008 at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon.

Since October 2008, Blessed presents the UK showings of the Japanese gameshow Unbeatable Banzuke on the Challenge channel under the name Banzuke Brian. He also guest hosted an episode of Have I Got News for You in May 2008.

In 2009 Blessed played the world's worst explorer, Sir Basil Champion – a character based upon Blessed's fictional inspiration, The Lost World's Professor Challenger – in the fourth story in The Scarifyers series, The Curse of the Black Comet. The story was broadcast on BBC7 in 2010.

In November 2009, Blessed starred in a series of online videos on the BBC Comedy website in which he played Henry VIII. The concept of the video series is that the Tudor king is alive & well, and living in a suburban semi with his long-suffering sixth wife Catherine Parr. Henry has embraced modern technology and lives his life online – insulting the King of France on Facebook, surfing for desirable women friends, and blocking the Pope on Twitter.^[9]

In late 2009, Blessed starred as the Narrator in the In the Wings production of Peter and the Wolf at the New Victory Theatre, New York. ^[10]

After a successful campaign on social networking site Facebook, satnav manufacturer TomTom recorded Brian Blessed's voice as an option for those using its satnav devices; Blessed's voice has been available in devices since October 2010.^[11][12]

In September 2010 Blessed recorded the voiceover to Sheherazade, or The Princess, the Pirate and the Baboon!, an album of children's stories set to the classical music composition Scheherazade by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and also featuring the voices of Rory Bremner, Jess Murphy, Sam Morris and Nigel Garton. Brian voiced the role of the Great Sultan Shahryār; the album was released as the first in a series entitled Grandma Dingley's Ingeniously Musical Tales in March 2011.^[13]

Other achievements[link]

Blessed climbed Mont Blanc at the age of seventeen, and he has remained an active mountaineer throughout his life.^[14] He attempted to climb Mount Everest on three separate occasions, but never reached the summit. During his attempt in 1991,^{[citation needed]} the then 55-year-old climbed higher without oxygen than any other man of his age^[15] before having to turn back to save another climber's life at 29,000 ft;^{[citation needed]} the height record was broken by Sir Ranulph Fiennes in 2009. Blessed has successfully climbed Aconcagua in Argentina as well as Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He also holds the record for being the oldest man to trek on foot to the magnetic North Pole,^[15] and has undertaken an expedition deep into the jungles of Venezuela.

He has an honorary position as official Shoutsperson of the University of York's Douglas Adams Society,^[16] and in 2011 the University's student body voted to name a new study space as the 'Brian Blessed Centre for Quiet Study'.^[17]

In 2004, Blessed sang on Celebrity Stars in Their Eyes, impersonating Luciano Pavarotti. He is known for his football knowledge and appeared as an expert on the British satellite station UKTV G2 during the 2006 World Cup. He also appeared on A Question of Sport in 2006 and again in 2011 and was a guest host of Have I Got News for You in May 2008, alongside guests Alan Duncan and Marcus Brigstocke (also making a surprise appearance in the Christmas special later in the year). His madcap manner quickly made the show deviate from its usual format, with Paul Merton remarking "Does anyone remember how this show used to be like?" In the same month he appeared as a guest on The Paul O'Grady Show.

Blessed was President of the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) in 2007–2008 and presented the 2008 TRIC Awards at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane. TRIC is an organisation which honours achievers in the film and radio industries. He has honorary degrees from the University of Bradford, awarded in July 2003, and Sheffield Hallam University, awarded in 2004.

He also stars in the Living Legend show in Jersey, Channel Islands. It features many celebrity faces, such as Roger Lloyd Pack, Samantha Janus, Kevin Whately and Tony Robinson. The story is of the history of the island.

In 2009, he featured on the song "Army of the Damned", part of the debut album Beneath the Veiled Embrace by UK power-metal band Pythia, reading the poem "Suicide in the Trenches" by Siegfried Sassoon.^[18]

In June 2011, a campaign by Cambridge graduates resulted in Blessed's being nominated for the post of Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

In March 2012 he appeared alongside his daughter Rosalind in a celebrity edition of the BBC One quiz show Pointless reaching the final but failing to win the jackpot.

Personal life[link]

Blessed lives in Windlesham, Surrey. He married actress Hildegarde Neil Zimmermann in 1978 and they have one daughter, Rosalind.^[19] He also has a number of dogs and is a patron of Hopefield Animal Sanctuary.^[20]

Selected work[link]

Bibliography[link]

• The Turquoise Mountain: Brian Blessed on Everest (1991)
• Dynamite Kid (1992)
• Nothing's Impossible (1994)
• To the Top of the World (1995)
• Quest for the Lost World (1999)

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Brian Blessed

External links[link]

• Brian Blessed at the Internet Movie Database
• Brian Blessed at AllRovi