ONLINE: This lecture-based course explores the long, tempestuous reign of the Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef and the fractious Austro-Hungarian empire. Josef tried to govern this empire from the time of his ascent during the Revolutions of 1848 to his isolated end during the height of World War I. Committed to holding together one of the most multicultural, multireligious and multiethnic empires in modern history, the last of the Habsburgs tried to build a unified, modern, Western state. He faced widely diverse communities that were fueled by nationalist drives and bent on cutting loose from what was seen as a crumbling, hopelessly backward state. This sociopolitical “tinder box” would ultimately explode in Sarajevo in 1914. Students will gain insight into the depth of the crises that the Habsburgs faced in their rule of the Austrian empire as Europe was modernizing at a very fast pace. | Lecture + Q&A.
Max enrollment: 200.
