Organised by the Collegium Hungaricum with the collaboration of the Otto von Habsburg Foundation, an Austro-Hungarian academic conference was held in Vienna on 21 March 2022. At the event, the biography and legacy of Charles, the last Austrian Emperor and Hungarian King was presented, and a photo exhibition of the months of the former monarch’s stay in Madeira was opened.
During the full-day conference, invited speakers shared the results of their recent historical research with the audience. Two well-known Viennese professors of history, Manfred Rauchensteiner and Lothar Höbelt, analysed the military and foreign policy of the last monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Chistopher Brennan, a British historian researching in Vienna, took a new look at Emperor Charles’ attempts to reform Austria, incorporating the Empire’s nationality policy into his presentation. On the Hungarian side, Róbert Fiziker, chief archivist and historian, outlined the return attempts of Charles IV in 1921, while Iván Bertényi, Jr., evaluated the Hungarian domestic policy efforts of the late monarch. Among the speakers was Gergely Fejérdy, Deputy Director of our Foundation. He presented the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy from the perspective of his son, Otto von Habsburg, based on his memoirs.
Later this year, the organisers plan to publish a collection of papers on the conference, so that a wider audience can access the thoughts of the experts, thus enriching our knowledge of the monarch who died 100 years ago.
Gergely Fejérdy
Programme of the conference
Karl I. von Habsburg 1922 - 2022_Programm
