FRANCIS FERDINAND (1863-1914), archduke of Aus tria, was born at Graz on Dec. 18, 1863. The eldest son of the Archduke Charles Louis and a nephew of the Emperor Francis Joseph, he became, after the death of the Crown Prince Rudolph, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. In 1875 he took the title of archduke of Austria-Este, as heir to his uncle the duke of Modena, with whose death the male line of this branch of the house became extinct, and to his possessions in Austria-Hungary and Italy.
Until the death on Jan. 30, 1889, of the Crown Prince Rudolph, Francis Ferdinand was only known in limited circles and even then he was not invited by the Emperor Francis Joseph to take part in State affairs. On July I, 1900, he married Countess Sophie Chotek (1868-1914), of ter having overcome, by tenacious persist ence, the obstacle due to the fact that the lady was not of royal family, and renounced a few days before the ceremony the suc cession rights of any children of the union. This renunciation was not only inscribed in the records of the imperial family, but ratified in the Austrian and Hungarian parliaments and sanctioned by a law of Dec. 4, 1900.
After that time the emperor gradually allotted to him respon sibilities of his own, not only in military matters but occasionally in questions of domestic politics. The difference of outlook of the two men, however, became more and more marked ; for with ad vancing age Francis Joseph was less and less willing to consider far-reaching reforms and was anxious to avoid any conflict with the nationalities. Francis Ferdinand was convinced that the Magyar preponderance in the affairs of the dual monarchy must be broken in the interests of the monarchy and the dynasty. For some time he held that Federalism was the best solution. At an other period he inclined to "Trialism." Later, influenced by the Hungarian minister Kristoffy, he inclined to strengthen unity by changing the Delegations into a central parliament and attaching the annexed provinces Bosnia and Hercegovina, with a State or ganization of their own, to the empire. The opposition which he met on all sides from the ruling party in Hungary strengthened his conviction that here lay the essential obstacle to the healthy recovery of the monarchy. In the severe conflicts between the Magyars and the Crown from the beginning of the loth century onwards he, therefore, maintained the opinion that no conces sion must be made, and that there should be no shrinking even from the use of armed force for the defence of the rights of the monarchy and the dynasty.
The zeal with which he sought the solution of domestic politi cal problems by strengthening the central power is explained by his firm conviction that this was the indispensable condition of the monarchy as a Great Power, which he desired to maintain and to increase. He considered that friendly relations with Great Britain were desirable, but towards France, and still more towards Italy, his attitude was cool and negative. He was convinced that there must inevitably be a day of reckoning between the monarchy and Italy. He never adopted an anti-Slav policy. He wished to avoid conflicts with the principal representatives of the Slav nationalities, and recognized in the tsar of Russia the strongest support against revolutionary movements in monarchical States. At the same time he expressed the docided opinion that the en croachments of the Greater Serbia movement on Austro-Hun garian soil should be resisted with all the forces of the monarchy. He stood by Germany, yet was determined that the monarchy should not fall into dependence on her powerful ally.
Francis Ferdinand was a man of more than average ability. He would immediately recognize the essential point in any business in which he was engaged. What he lacked was knowledge of men and calmness and constancy in his relations with the men who had been placed in high offices of State by his influence. He asked from the citizens of the monarchy not affection, but sub mission to the will of the ruler. To him the State was identified with the divinely appointed person of the monarch. He was shot on June 28, 1914, with his wife, by Bosnians of Serbian nationality at Serajevo. (See .EUROPE.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Some account of Francis Ferdinand's life is conBibliography.--Some account of Francis Ferdinand's life is con- tained in his Tagebuch meiner Reise um die Erde (Vienna, 1895) ; T. von Sosnosky, "Franz Ferdinand," in Deutsches Biographisches Jahr buch (1916) ; F. C. von Hoetzendorf, Aus Meiner Dienstzeit (Vienna, 1921) ; M. Auffenberg-Komarow, Aus Osterreichs Hoke and Nieder gang (Munich, 1921) ; S. Stanojevie, Die Ermordung des Erzherzogs Franz Ferdinand (1923) ; E. Glaise von Horstenau, Neue Oester reichische Biographie, vol. 3 (1926) ; P. Nikisch-Boulles, Vor dem Sturm. Erinnerungen an Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand (1925) .