Count Kasimir Felix Badeni
Erich Graf von Kielmansegg | |
---|---|
Succeeded by | Paul Gautsch Freiherr von Frankenthurn |
Personal details | |
Born | Surochów, Galicia, Austrian Empire | 14 October 1846
Died | 9 July 1909 Krasne, Galicia, Austria-Hungary | (aged 62)
Count Kasimir Felix Badeni (
Many people in Austria, especially Emperor Franz Joseph, had placed great hope in Badeni's efforts to reform the electoral system and the language legislation in order to solve some fundamental problems of the multinational state, which eventually failed.
Biography
Kasimir Felix Badeni was born in
Badeni retired to his country estates in 1866, nevertheless two years later he was appointed
His son Ludwik Józef Władysław Badeni was married to Alice Elisabeth, née Ankarcrona (1889-1985), a daughter of the Swedish noble Oscar Carl Gustav Ankarcrona. After Badeni's death, she secondly married Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria.
Presidency
Badeni came to power in Austria after the failure of Minister-President Alfred III zu Windisch-Grätz's coalition ministry of conservative and liberals. Keenly aware of the growing tensions within the Empire due to ethnic rivalries and the political agitation of socialists and nationalists, Badeni expressed doubt as to the ability of Austria-Hungary to wage war effectively. He claimed "a state of nationalities cannot wage war without danger to itself."[1]
Electoral reform
In 1896 he succeeded in implementing a form of universal male suffrage but made it palatable to the ruling interests of the Empire. To the previous four classes of voters, which depended on the amount of taxes each individual paid, his reform added a fifth class to include every adult male below the five-guilder threshold set for the fourth class in the 1882 Taaffe reform.
The electoral reform had far-reaching effects: the newly established fifth class encompassed 72 of the 425 seats in the lower house of the
Language conflict
Badeni courted controversy when, in an attempt to gain the support of the
Late-19th-century Germans in Austria-Hungary, as a general rule, wanted the Empire to maintain its German character established during the period of
The fringe German Nationalist Party, headed by Georg Schönerer, hoping to destabilize the Empire and join the German lands of Austria to the new German Empire, disrupted parliamentary proceedings and instigated violent protests. Although most Germans of Austria had no sympathy for the Nationalist Party's cause, they participated in street protests across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, hoping to have the ordinance repealed. Obstructionism by German nationalists slowed or stopped parliamentary business in the Reichsrat and riots erupted in Vienna, Graz, Salzburg, and the Alpine provinces.[2] Riots took place also in Prague and martial law was put into effect there.
Resignation
Amidst this political turmoil, in November 1897, Emperor Franz Joseph, frightened by the mass agitation of some of the most important segments of society, dismissed Badeni. His fall, however, did not end the political and ethnic problems within the Empire and for several years, while the Reichsrat met occasionally, the government ruled largely through emergency decree. Badeni's language ordinances were repealed in 1899, disappointing Czechs and failing to appease German nationalists.[2]
Some commentators of the time felt, that Badeni was unaccustomed to the political dynamics of the more-industrialized western part of the Empire; he was used to the provincial social relations of Galicia, where he was a landowner. That was given as an explanation for Badeni's political blunder.[citation needed] In fact Badeni believed that the Czechs were growing as a nation and their national ambitions would sooner or later have to be accommodated within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, as the ambitions of the Hungarians had been decades previously. Badeni was one of the few politicians who saw that without rapprochement between different nations within the Austro-Hungarian state, the Empire would fall apart.[citation needed]
Honours
- Austria-Hungary:[3]
- Knight of the Iron Crown, 3rd Class, 1882
- Commander of the Order of Franz Joseph, with Star, 1886
- Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1891
- Grand Cross of St. Gregory the Great[4]
- Kingdom of Romania: Grand Cross of the Star of Romania[4]
- Knight of the White Eagle[4]
- Kingdom of Serbia: Grand Cross of the White Eagle[4]
Notes
Regarding personal names: Until 1919, Graf was a title, translated as Count, not a first or middle name. The female form is Gräfin. In Germany, it has formed part of family names since 1919.
References
- ^ Rothenburg, G. (1976). The Army of Francis Joseph. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. p. 128.
- ^ a b c Rothenburg 1976, p. 129.
- ^ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1909, pp. 60, 81, 125, retrieved 1 April 2021
- ^ a b c d "Oberste Staatsverwaltung: Ministerrath in Wien", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1897, p. 287, retrieved 1 April 2021
External links
- Brockhausen, Carl (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). .