Chapter 1069: Farewell to the Old and Welcome to the New

August 1, 1848.

With the formal entry into force of the Treaty of Strasbourg, the victory of the Second Anti-French War ended, and the Austrian Emperor, Ferdinand Karl Leopold Joseph Franz Marcellin von Habsburg, officially announced his abdication.

Franz Joseph Karl Ludwig Anton von Habsburg will officially ascend the throne as Franz Joseph I on August 8, 1848.

The streets of Vienna have been completely renewed, with prosperity and elegance, solemnity and vitality coexisting, and it is completely impossible to tell that they have just experienced a catastrophe.

The main streets of the city and the buildings on both sides of the streets are all repainted.

Franz is very opposed to this act of destroying monuments, but in this era, painting the streets and surrounding buildings just proves the will of the people.

Because only the streets are painted by the government, and the buildings on both sides of the streets are painted by the people on their own initiative.

First of all, the imperial government, the church, and the royal family have been building momentum for Franz for so many years, and there must be a very deep impression in the minds of the people.

Franz's actions over the years have also won him a lot of reputation. More importantly, Franz's performance and decision-making in wars and disasters have made him quite popular among the people.

In particular, he has won the support and respect of those nationalists, who are quite good at making things happen.

Of course, it is impossible for Franz to really be 100% loved by everyone, but those who don't like Franz or oppose Austria have been excluded.

In 1848, Vienna suffered repeated disasters, and those opponents had already jumped out and were eliminated. As for those who did not fire, it was difficult for them to resist the temptation of money.

At this time, Vienna had become the center of Germany and even the entire Central Europe. Many people were optimistic about the future of Austria. Naturally, being able to take a piece of land in the imperial capital became the first choice for loyalists and investors.

In addition to the Austrians, the surrounding Germans and Italians, as well as the minority nobles, also flocked to it.

Those who opposed the Austrian Empire naturally would not have trouble with money, and kept the house to make things difficult for themselves.

In fact, Vienna was already full of nobles, wealthy businessmen, and nationalists from all over Europe. They seemed to have forgotten that the Austrian Empire was still in a civil war.

The carnival of the whole city had begun. People took to the streets as if celebrating a festival. There was only this topic in the pubs, restaurants, and cafes on the roadside, but everyone was enjoying it as if they had endless things to say.

Mrs. Sophie was very excited. After all, she had waited too long for this day. Franz's brothers also cast jealous or envious eyes.

Franz's sister Maria was more concerned about Franz's marriage.

"Brother, when are you getting married? I want to cut the cake"

As a direct descendant of the Austrian Empire, she would not be unable to eat cake even when she took refuge in the Tyrol Palace.

The thirteen-year-old girl was in a rebellious period. She really just wanted to cut the cake and be naughty by the way. After all, no one would blame her in public, including Mrs. Sophie.

However, little Maria obviously didn't know enough about the ways of the world. Mrs. Sophie was in a good mood, finally looking forward to her eldest son ascending the throne, but she couldn't help but feel overwhelmed when she saw her useless daughter.

"You stupid girl, you will be the emperor's sister in a few days, why are you still so ignorant? You have to act like a princess, otherwise it will bring shame to the family, do you know?"

Mrs. Sophie advised earnestly, and little Maria's big black eyes turned around and stood at attention like a soldier, which immediately made the family laugh.

Franz knew what Mrs. Sophie was worried about. Court life was completely different from family life, even for a princess who grew up in the court.

If she couldn't adapt to court life quickly, then what awaited her was not just being a loser.

After all, there were many people in the court who killed people without blood and ate people without spitting out bones. They would do their best to squeeze out all the value of the victims.

However, Franz felt that Mrs. Sophie's worries were unnecessary. After all, the Austrian Empire was in its ascendant period, and the influence of the Habsburg family was unmatched by other families.

Even if someone wanted to plot, they had to consider the consequences. This was the benefit of having a strong mother's family.

Compared with passive defense, Franz felt that it was better to take the initiative to attack. After all, there were too many rules in the palace, and the rules between different palaces were not exactly the same.

Even the palace stewards in their fifties and sixties might not be able to understand all the rules of all palaces. Instead of doing this kind of useless work, it is better to see the methods of those noble ladies directly. After all, the essence remains unchanged.

Or become the one who makes the rules.

To be honest, the Austrian Empire's coronation ceremony has always been very sloppy. The first emperor did not even have a formal coronation ceremony.

The second emperor, Ferdinand I, only held a brief ceremony in the palace due to physical and national financial reasons.

Historically, Franz's coronation was even more sloppy. Not to mention the coronation, even the succession itself was just a statement.

The Habsburg records all stated that the coronation was held in Frankfurt, but he obviously could not do that at this sensitive moment.

Franz could also go to Rome for the coronation, and Pius IX would be happy to help, but doing so would also be very ostentatious, and would further fuel the power of religion, and might even cause ethnic confrontation.

At this time, there were too many Italians in Austria. Austria originally had nearly 12 million Italians, plus the millions of refugees it had received since 1848.

At this time, the Italian population in Austria was close to the number of Germans, more than twice the number of Hungarians, who ranked third.

Before the 20th century, Italians had always maintained high birth rates, high death rates, and high population outflow rates, but even so, Italy's population still maintained a high growth rate.

At this time, Austria's measures significantly reduced the mortality rate of newborns, and used the "Anti-Human Trafficking Act" and "Anti-Human Smuggling Agreement" and the "New Labor Law" to guide all the population that should have flowed to the United Kingdom, the United States, and South America to Austria.

These people are not only able to give birth, but also gather together (like to build communities and like to form gangs), and are extremely difficult to assimilate (have a long historical heritage and strong cultural confidence).

In this era of national awakening, it is extremely easy to start a fire, but to put it out often requires the blood of tens or even millions of people.