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Austria under Ferdinand I – Emperor of Austria: 1835-1848
1840 A Bronze Medal 58mm (84.81 grams)
ZWEITES IAHRZEHEND GEFEYERT AM XVII SEPTEMB: MDCCCXL, Agricultural horse-drawn digging tool.
UNTER DER REGIERUNG FERDINAND I. KAISER VON OESTERREICH ERZHERZOG IOHANN PRAESIDENT DES LANDWIRTH. VEREINES IN STEYERMARK., Wreath: left half traditional, berries on right half.
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 Ferdinand I (19 April 1793 – 29 June 1875) was Emperor of Austria, President of the German Confederation , King of Hungary and Bohemia (as Ferdinand V), as well as associated dominions from the death of his father (Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor) on 2 March 1835, until his abdication after the Revolutions of 1848 .
He married Maria Anna of Savoy , the sixth child of Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia . They had no issue. Ferdinand was incapable of ruling his empire because of his mental deficiency, so his father, before he died, drafted a will promulgating that he consult Archduke Louis on every aspect of internal policy, and urged him to be influenced by Prince Metternich , Austria’s foreign minister .
He abdicated on December 2, 1848. He was succeeded by his nephew , Francis Joseph . Following his abdication, he lived in Hradčany Palace , Prague.
Ferdinand was the eldest son of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily . As a result of his parents’ genetic closeness (they were double first cousins ), Ferdinand suffered from epilepsy, hydrocephalus , neurological problems, and a speech impediment . Upon his marriage to Joseph Kalasanz, baron Erberg Maria Anna of Savoy
Ferdinand has been depicted as feeble-minded and incapable of ruling, but although he had epilepsy , he kept a coherent and legible diary and has even been said to have had a sharp wit. Having as many as twenty seizures per day, however, severely restricted his ability to rule with any effectiveness.
Though he was not declared incapacitated, a regent’s council (Archduke Kolowrat Louis and Prince Metternich ) steered the government. His marriage to Princess Maria Anna of Sardinia (1803-1884) was probably never consummated , nor is he believed to have had any other liaisons. When he tried consummating the marriage, he had 5 seizures. He is famous for his one coherent command: when his cook told him he could not have apricot dumplings (Marillenknödel) because apricots were out of season, he said “I’m the Emperor, and I want dumplings!” (German: Ich bin der Kaiser und ich will Knödel
As the revolutionaries of 1848 were marching on the palace, he is supposed to have asked Metternich for an explanation. When Metternich answered that they were making a revolution, Ferdinand is supposed to have said “But are they allowed to do that?” (Viennese German: Ja, dürfen’s denn des?) He was convinced by Felix zu Schwarzenberg to abdicate in favour of his nephew, Franz Joseph (the next in line was Ferdinand’s younger brother Franz Karl , but he was persuaded to waive his succession rights in favour of his son) who would occupy the Austrian throne for the next sixty-eight years.
Ferdinand recorded the events in his diary: “The affair ended with the new Emperor kneeling before his old Emperor and Lord, that is to say, me, and asking for a blessing, which I gave him, laying both hands on his head and making the sign of the Holy Cross … then I embraced him and kissed our new master, and then we went to our room. Afterwards I and my dear wife heard Holy Mass … After that I and my dear wife packed our bags.”
Ferdinand was the last King of Bohemia to be crowned as such. Due to his sympathy with Bohemia (where he spent the rest of his life in Prague Castle ) he was given the Czech Ferdinand Dobrotivý). In Austria, Ferdinand was similarly nicknamed “Ferdinand der Gütige” (Ferdinand the Benign), but also ridiculed as “Gütinand der Fertige” (Goodinand the Finished).
He is interred in tomb number 62 in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna.
  Austria, officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.5 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The territory of Austria covers 83,879 square kilometres (32,386 sq mi). Austria’s terrain is highly mountainous, lying within the Alps; only 32% of the country is below 500 metres (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,798 metres (12,461 ft). The majority of the population speak local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, and Austrian German in its standard form is the country’s official language. Other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene.
 The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty when the vast majority of the country was a part of the Holy Roman Empire. From the time of the Reformation, many Northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. The Thirty Years War, the influence of the Kingdom of Sweden and Kingdom of France, the rise of the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Napoleonic invasions all weakened the power of the Emperor in the North of Germany, but in the South, and in non-German areas of the Empire, the Emperor and Catholicism maintained control. During the 17th and 18th centuries, Austria was able to retain its position as one of the great powers of Europe and, in response to the coronation of Napoleon as the Emperor of the French, the Austrian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1804. Following Napoleon’s defeat, Prussia emerged as Austria’s chief competitor for rule of a larger Germany. Austria’s defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary. After the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Austria was left out of the formation of a new German Empire, although in the following decades its politics, and its foreign policy, increasingly converged with those of the Prussian-led Empire. During the 1914 July Crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, Germany guided Austria in issuing the ultimatum to Serbia that led to the declaration of World War I.
After the collapse of the Habsburg (Austro-Hungarian) Empire in 1918 at the end of World War I, Austria adopted and used the name the Republic of German-Austria (Deutschösterreich, later Österreich) in an attempt for union with Germany, but was forbidden due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919. In the 1938 Anschluss, Austria was occupied and annexed by Nazi Germany.[14] This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies and Austria’s former democratic constitution was restored. In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral.
Today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $52,216 (2014 est.). The country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, and is a founder of the OECD. Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro in 1999.
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