What Happened In China In 1912

Whatever happened the Habsburgs...and three other fallen dynasties?

THE HEAD OF the House of Habsburg and the eldest son of the last emperor of Austria-Hungary has died today at the age of 98.

Otto Von Habsburg, son of Charles I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, died in his home in Poecking in Germany this morning, according to his spokeswoman Eva Demmerle. He has lived there, in exile, since the 1950s.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso paid tribute to “a great European … who gave an important impetus to the European project throughout his rich life”.

A self-proclaimed politics addict, Habsburg was an advocate of the European Union and campaigned for the removal of the Iron Curtain.

On the day of his abdication in May 1961, he proclaimed himself to be “a loyal citizen of the republic [of Austria]“.

Habsburg handed over control of the family affairs to his son Karl in 2007 but continued to be seen in public. His wife, Regina, died last year.

He will be buried July 16 in the Emperor Tomb in Vienna, below the Austrian capital’s Capuchin Church.

Here we take a deeper look at the Habsburg story and some other fallen dynasties:

Born in 1912, Habsburg witnessed the demise of his family’s dynasty when the Austrian-Hungarian empire was dismantled after World War I. In 1922, at the tender age of nine, he took over as the head of the family following his father’s sudden death. However, at this point, Austria and Germany had lost World War I and the Republic of Austria had been born.

Here is Otto (fifth from left) pictured with his seven younger siblings in Spain, just one of the European countries they lived in during their exiled years.

Despite his life-time exile from Austria, Otto von Habsburg claimed to do a number of heroic deeds for his native land, such as helping 15,000 citizens escape the German Nazis and negotiating the country’s postwar fate with world leaders.

Before World War II broke out, he tried to become chancellor of Austria in order to fight the expected invasion by Hitler’s troops but could not garner enough support.

However, he said he did contact the White House during the war to plead with the US military not to bomb his beloved country. He has claimed these conversations stopped the US Army from bombing certain towns and cities in Austria.

Here he is pictured in a hotel room in Washington in 1942.

Archduke Otto of Habsburg, as he was then known, married Princess Regina in 1951. At this time, Habsburg was also known as the Pretender to the Austrian throne as he still refused to give up his claim to the title. In an interview with a newspaper in the 1960s, he likened politics to opium, stating it was impossible to give up once it had been experienced.

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