Franz Joseph I of Austria (Code Geass: The Beginning Map Game)

Franz Joseph I is Emperor of Austria,King of Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia and Lombardy-Venetia following the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand I following the Revolution of 1848. .

Early Life
Franz Joseph was born in the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the oldest son of Archduke Franz Karl (the younger son of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II), and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Because his uncle, from 1835 the Emperor Ferdinand, was weak-minded, and his father unambitious and retiring, the young Archduke "Franz" was brought up by his mother as a future Emperor with emphasis on devotion, responsibility and diligence. Franz came to idolise his grandfather, der Gute Kaiser Franz, who had died shortly before the former's fifth birthday, as the ideal monarch.

At the age of 13, young Archduke Franz started a career as a colonel in the Austrian army. From that point onward, his fashion was dictated by army style and for the rest of his life he normally wore the uniform of a military officer.

Following the Revolution of 1848, the need for a new, younger and more energetic ruler appeared, especially since the new Emperor would nto be bound by the oaths of constitutional respect Ferdinand I agreed to.

It was thus at Olmütz on 2 December that, by the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father, the mild-mannered Franz Karl, Franz Joseph succeeded as Emperor of Austria. It was at this time that he first became known by his second as well as his first Christian name. The name "Franz Joseph" was chosen deliberately to bring back memories of the new Emperor's great-granduncle, Emperor Joseph II, remembered as a modernising reformer.