ORF-E
English
1 x 52 min
Worldwide except for Germany, France, the Czech Republic and Hungary

The Habsburg Dynasty had ruled large parts of Europe and the world for 650 years. During World War I, however, the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire sowed the seeds of its own demise. When Charles I inherited Franz Joseph’s throne in November 1916, he embarked on a single-handed mission to make peace. He offered France control of Alsace-Lorraine – a betrayal of his greatest ally and brother-in -arms, Germay. The so-called “Sixtus Affair” destroyed the last chance for peace in Europe – and sealed the fate of the Habsburg Dynasty and the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself. Charles I would go down in history as the last emperor of Europe.