On 21st November 1916 Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary died at the age of 86 years. Having succeeded to the throne way back in 1848, he was the protagonist of a long period of contemporary life and his death represented a real and proper turning point in the history of the Empire. His young pro-nephewCharles I, born in 1887, who was his successor became heir to the throne as a result of the death of several members of the royal house of Austria among whom was his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was killed in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914.
The figure of Franz Josef was really significant both in Austria as well as in Italy: from the Wars of Independence to the First World War the Italians soldiers had always fought against him. If Austria-Hungary was considered as a large multi-national state that apparently would never fade, this was all due mainly to his exceptional charisma.
The death of the old emperor instead revealed to the world a reality that was in fact very much different. This led to the emergence of a State that was a prey to a crisis without any precedent both at a military level and at the level of civilians. Popular protests at the lack of primary goods were now a daily occurrence while the reserve pool of men who could be sent to the front had dwindled considerably.
Charles I was aware that the spectre of catastrophe was staring him in the face: in the event of a victory he would most probably have become a servant of Germany while in the case of defeat the crumbling of the empire would be a process that could not be stopped. Having a liberal background, the young emperor therefore started to think about an eventual disappearance from the scene by starting in the winter of 1917 a process of dialogue with France and England about an eventual separate peace.
