Charles I of Austria (Ausgleich of 1917)

Charles I of Austria (17 August 1887 - 3 August 1940) was the Emperor of Austria from 21 November 1916 until his death on 3 August 1940. On the 28 June 1914 his uncle Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo causing the First World War. Charles then became the Crown Prince and ascended the throne following the death of his great-uncle Emperor Franz Joseph I in 1916. He signed peace treaties with the Triple Entente and withdrew Austria from the war. He then federalised the multi-ethnic Empire through the Ausgleich on the 15 May 1917.

Before the POV
Charles was born 17 August 1887 in the Persenbeug Castle to Archduke Otto Franz of Austria and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony. As a child, Charles was raised as a devout Roman Catholic in the tradition of his family. He spent his childhood with his father's regiment and was privately educated and on the conclusion of his studies entered the army, serving as an officer in Prague.

In the years following he carried out his military duties in various Bohemian garrison towns. Charles's relations with his granduncle were not intimate, and so up to the time of the assassination of his uncle in 1914, he was not a figure into affairs of state. In 1911, Charles married Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Due to Franz Ferdinand's morganatic marriage, his children were excluded from the succession to the throne of Austria-Hungary. As a result, Charles was the second in line and expected to marry a noble of equal rank. Zita was both a devout Catholic and of a royal lineage of the House of Bourbon.

Charles became heir after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in 1914, only at this time did the old Emperor take steps to initiate the heir-presumptive to the affairs of state. Charles spent his time during the first phase of the First World War at headquarters at Teschen, but exercised no military influence. Charles then became a Field Marshal and in the spring of 1916, in connection with the offensive against Italy, he was entrusted with the command of a Corps, whose affections the heir-presumptive to the throne won by his affability and friendliness. The offensive, after a successful start, soon came to a standstill. Shortly afterwards, Charles went to the eastern front as commander of an army operating against the Russians and Romanians.

Franz Joseph I then died on 21 November 1916, Charles ascended the throne and was crowned on 30 December 1916. In 1917, Charles secretly entered into peace negotiations with France. through his brother-in-law, Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma, an officer in the Belgian Army.