FRANCIS JOSEPH

FRANCIS JOSEPH, emperor of Austria and king of Hungary; succeeded to the throne in 1848 on the abdication of his uncle, Ferdinand I.; the Hungarian difficulty has been the chief problem of his reign, with which he at first dealt in a spirit of harsh oppression, but since 1866 a milder policy has been adopted, and the desire for national autonomy was met by the creation of a dual monarchy in 1867, Francis being crowned king of Hungary; other important events have been the cession of Lombardy to Sardinia in 1859 and of Venetia in 1866, after an unsuccessful war with Prussia; b. 1830.