German Empire :
Wilhelm II ( 1859 - 1941 ) Reign : 1888 - 1918. |
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on the pictures to enlarge! |
In
Austrian |
Red
Cross Vienna |
Phot.
Belge |
In
the uniform |
House
"Doorn" (NL) |
In
the garden of |
House
"Doorn" |
Austro - Hungarian Empire : Franz Josef I ( 1830 - 1916) Reign : 1848 - 1916. |
Of the House of Habsburg, hereditary rulers of the Austrian Empire. Franz Josef was also King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. From 1868, as a result of Austria's defeat in the Austro - Prussian war, Austria had been known as the "dual monarchy" and the "Austria - Hungary Empire". Franz Josef ascended to the throne in 1848. He was 84 years old and in the 66th year of his reign in 1914, start of World War One. He was the world's oldest and longest serving monarch in 1914, and known throughout Europe as " the venerable old gentleman ". He was little involved in the conduct of government and Austria's activities in the war. Although the office of Emperor (Kaiser) exercised close to absolutist political and military power, the Empire's diplomatic and military activities during the war were in the hands of the Army Chief of Staff Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf and State Chancellor Berchthold. Franz Josef died during the war, on November 21, 1916, and was succeeded by his great nephew the Archduke Karl, son of Franz Josef's deceased younger brother Karl Ludwig. Thereafter in the last years of the war von Hötzendorf and Berchthold were removed from power by Kaiser Karl. |
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on the pictures to enlarge! |
France
1908 |
Vienna
1914. |
Pietzer |
W.C.A.
Series |
Wohlfahrts- |
Died |
Emperor
Franz |
Royal
Wedding: |
Archduke
Karl. |
Emperor
Karl I |
Empress
Zita, Crownprince |
Zita,
Queen of |
Ottoman Empire (Turkey) : Mehmed Rechad V ( 1844 - 1918 ) Reign : 1909 - 1918 |
Mehmed V was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and as such by tradition technically the temporal and spiritual leader of the world's Muslims. He ascended to the throne in 1909 as a result of the deposition of his brother, the autocratic Sultan Abdul Hamid II, by reformist elements in the Army (called the "Young Turks"). Abdul Hamid II had ruled for 33 years and was sent into exile. Mehmed V was a totally figurehead monarch as the imposition of the constitution stripped the Sultan of almost all his prerogatives. As with Franz Josef I of Austria - Hungary, Turkey's diplomatic and wartime activities were in the hands of the military. In the case of the Ottoman Empire in the hands of triumvirate of military officers of whom the fanatically pro-German Enver Pasha was the dominant force. Mehmed V was 70 years old and in the 5th year of his reign in 1914, start of World War One which Turkey entered solely upon the dictates of Enver Pasha who had secretly ordered his Black Sea Navy ( also the German cruisers Breslau and Goeben under Turkish flag) to launch attacks upon Russia without provocation or declaration of war. Mehmed V died on July 3, 1918, just four months before Turkey's surrender to the Allied Nations. |
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on the pictures to enlarge! |
Sultan
|
"The
Awakening of the Orient" |
Sultan
|
Turkish
priest proclaiming the |
Wohlfahrts
Karte
des "Reichs- |
Kingdom of Bulgaria : Ferdinand I ( 1861 - 1948 ) Reign : 1887 - 1918. |
Ferdinand was a Prince of the German House of Sachsen - Coburg when he was recruited to assume the throne of the Principality of Bulgaria. He ascended that throne in 1887 at a time when Bulgaria was a newly independent nation, but still technically a Principality (not a kingdom) under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. In 1908 at the time of the Bosnian Crisis when Austria - Hungary annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from Turkey, Ferdinand declared Bulgaria's full independence and proclaimed himself Czar. The Ottoman Empire recognized Bulgaria's independence in return for payment of an indemnity. Ferdinand was 54 years old and in the 28th years of his reign in 1915, the year in which Bulgaria entered World War One on the side of the Central Powers. Ferdinand was a constitutional monarch but brought Bulgaria into the war against the wishes of the majority of his country's parliament, and while he did not exercise as much political power as did Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, he was an active and powerful force in the conduct of Bulgaria's diplomatic and military activities during the war. Bulgaria's front crumbled in September 1918 before a combined Allied force of Serbian, British, French, Italian and Greek armies, and on September 30, 1918 Bulgaria signed an Armistice of surrender. On October 4, 1918, 4 days after Bulgaria's surrender, Ferdinand abdicated and went into exile. The mantle of Czar passed to his son Boris. |
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"Ferdinand, |
"H.M.
Czar of |
Czar
Ferdinand of |
Kaiser
Wilhelm & |
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