Austrian Empire: Problems With How to Keep and Use Power

Keeping power in the family
The Habsburg family kept power for almost 500 years. They began as Kings of the Romans, and kept power as they split into the Spanish and Austrian Habsburg families. The Spanish Habsburgs became extinct (died out, had no living members) due to no male heirs (people who inherit power). The Austrian Habsburgs ruled until the last ruler, Charles I, gave up his power in 1918 after World War I to let Austria create a republic for a government.

The Habsburgs often married royal or noble people from other countries. But to keep power for the Habsburgs, they also married other Habsburgs. Cousins married cousins to keep this power in the family. Nine of the eleven marriages in the Habsburg families were between close relatives, including uncles and nieces. Only about half of the children born in the Habsburg family lived to childhood.

The family tree of the Habsburgs, which shows close relatives marrying each other. This is how they kept power and wealth in the Habsburg family.

When people who are closely related marry, it is called inbreeding, Unfortunately, inbreeding causes the parents’ children to have more diseases and health problems. These children are more likely to have birth defects and problems with their DNA. Eventually, this caused the Austrian Habsburgs to become extinct. The last male Habsburg, Charles II, had many health problems. He could not speak until he was four years old, and could not walk until age 8. He suffered from bad health all his life and looked like an old man at the age of 30. He died at age 39 after falling into a coma.

Inbreeding eventually caused the “Habsburg jaw,” which was a birth defect that caused the lower jaw to stick out. Often, the tongue was also too big and caused problems with speech. It was very painful. When they started marrying cousins to keep power in the family, the Habsburgs had no idea of how much their children and their children’s children would suffer.

Using power
Emperor Francis I first used his power to create the new Austrian Empire. After this move, the emperors of the Austrian empire used their power to try to protect the empire from invading armies. The history of the Austrian Empire is full of wars and battles.

The Austrian Empire was made up of more than 15 different smaller countries and kingdoms. Because of this, the people of these smaller countries in the empire were often unhappy with their Austrian rulers. There were many revolutions inside of the empire. All of these smaller areas wanted more power and rights.

Finally, one of the countries in the empire, Hungary, gained enough power to demand a change. In 1867, Austria and Hungary joined forces to create a new empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire. Now Hungary was equal in power to Austria.

A map of all the countries in the Austrian Empire. It’s in German (just like the Austrian Empire!), but you get the idea.