1: 1879 Definitives: Coat of Arms (numerals in upper corners)
2: 1900 Definitives: Coat of Arms (numerals in lower corners)
3: 1900 Definitev: Coat of Arms (larger format)
4: 1901 Definitives: Coat of Arms (black numerals)
5-21: 1906 Definitives: Views and Emperor Franz Josef I (1)
22-37: Emperor Franz Josef I 80th Birth Anniversary (1910)
(1) Franz Josef (1830-1916) of
the Habsburg Dynasty was Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia from 1848 until
1916 and King of Hungary from 1867 until 1916 in an attempt to calm the situation
with the problematic Hungarians. This worked and the Dual Monarchy would last
until his death in 1916.
Franz was born in Vienna, Austria. He was the eldest son of Archduke Franz Karl,
who was brother and heir of Austrian Emperor Ferdinand I. Because his father
renounced his claim to the throne, Franz became emperor as Franz Josef I when
Ferdinand abdicated near the end of the Revolution of 1848. The aging monarch
had seen the Habsburg Empire lose its holdings in both Italy and Germany until
it had become mainly an eastern European power. Franz Josef was sensitive to
these losses and was determined not to allow further decay of the empire by
losing Austro-Hungarian holdings in the Balkans to Serbia. Despite these political
beliefs he was immensely popular among all the various national groups that
comprised his kingdom. This can be attributed to the above average standard
of living that his subjects enjoyed.
In 1854 Franz Josef married Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, who became Elisabeth
of Austria. Their only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, committed suicide. His brother,
Maximilian, was executed in Mexico. Franz had numerous difficulties with his
nephew and heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who would be assassinated by Serbian
nationalists in 1914 in Sarajevo. This assassination triggered WW1.