You wake up as Francis Joseph in after the Austro-Prussian War in August 1866

No
cringe
but would Austrian/Habsburg control still be strong enough with such a federation? wouldn't seperatist movements be a threat here?

If almost everybody is happy, no not really. Vienna would still control most of the key sectors, there would still be one army for example.

>there would still be one army for example.
That'd be a nice change from the 3 they fucking had

Leave the state to be run by incompetent ministers, lock myself away and do nothing but party and shag.

really tells you how much he actually understands the Habsburg empire

Tell the Ottomans to fuck off completely from Balkans, tell Serbs to fuck off from Bosnia, tell Russia to fuck off from Serbia.

part 1. Give Serbia independence, but keep bosnia and montenegro. Keep good relations with Bulgaria, promise them parts of Macedonia and do the same with Greece. Get better relations with Italy, possibly give them Turin as a way to ensure their loyalty.

Part 2: Federalize.

Essentially what I would do is import the US model, and is what was essentially was applied to Germany after ww2. Divide the empire to 6 to 7 parts with as many regional governments. These will have some economic self-control and democratic administration, but I would ensure no separatists get elected.

Step 3. Don't go to war over fucking Serbia.

The more time we have the better our position becomes, Russia is unstable, we can patch up things with the Italians, and keep industrializing.

>keep bosnia and montenegro
Why? They suck dick and just cause trouble

The dislike the Serbs, so I can use them as back up plan incase Serbs try a "greater Serbia" plan.Basically just isolate the Serbs since they are the troublemakers.

>Tell the Ottomans to fuck off completely from Balkans, tell Serbs to fuck off from Bosnia, tell Russia to fuck off from Serbia.
>tell Russia

Are you high?

> give Turin to Italy to ensure their loyalty

so... so this is the power of autism?
Turin was the capital of Italy, it never was under Austrian control and btw Italy was unified in 1861

>give them Turin as a way to ensure their loyalty
Do you mean Trieste? Turin is in fucking Piedmont

> Encourage the use of a lingua franca like Latin, so nobody will be offended by "muh supremacism".
> Do everything possible to help Carlists take control in Spain
> Once they take control, turn Spain into our eternal ally as in the old days
> Modernize the army, make all soldiers can communicate well with each other, raise patriotism for a common cause
> Be devoted to the Catholic faith to have the Pope's support at all times and therefore of the Catholic public opinion.
> Try to appease the situation with Russia, sooner or later they will want our help for their shitty situation.
> Destroy all the separatists in secret.
> Protect the whole family.
> Help Spain to reconquer Mexico to remove it from the sphere of American influence.

>turn Spain into our eternal ally as in the old days
>Allying with the only European power declining faster than yourself
Brilliant

The reason for its decline was because the ruling dynasty was a bag of retards, not because Spain had no potential. With the Carlists in power (who had dynasty relations with the Habsburgs) that could be stopped.

Besides, what other good allies did Austria have?

>what other good allies did Austria have?
Russia until they arseholed them over the Crimean War

They had Germany, it was better than anyone else. Russia was ticking bomb, Allying with them would've been massive mistake.

>Allying with the faggot who made you sign the shit deal with Hungary that divided your army into 3
I'm convinced WW1 was a murder suicide plot by Franz Jospeh and Hotzendorf

>They had Germany
You forget that Germany was created at the expense of Austria. OP asked what you would do right after the Austro-Prussian War where Prussia took control over territories that were closest to Austria.

So no, Germany was not their best ally, it was simply the only one apart from Russia at the time.

This guy was such a failure

>BTFO by the French
>BTFO by the Prussians
>madly in love with a wife who doesn't love him and gets killed by an Italian
>started WW1

YOU WANT A WAR GAV

Francis Joseph had a hard life.
youtube.com/watch?v=yF6ZasLNHX8

Also his brother got executed in Mexico because of Napoleon III's utter retardation

>Tell the Ottomans to fuck off completely from Balkans, tell Serbs to fuck off from Bosnia, tell Russia to fuck off from Serbia.
>Give Serbia independence, but keep bosnia and montenegro. Keep good relations with Bulgaria, promise them parts of Macedonia and do the same with Greece. Get better relations with Italy, possibly give them Turin as a way to ensure their loyalty
Just like my viddy gims :^)

>make all soldiers can communicate well with each other
The problem with this is that the army often relies on dumb recruits, recruits who can't be fucked to learn Latin or some other language as a lingua franca
> Protect the whole family.
:^)
>Destroy all the separatists in secret.
:^D
>Help Spain to reconquer Mexico to remove it from the sphere of American influence.
X^DDDDDD

>Tell the Ottomans to fuck off completely from Balkans, tell Serbs to fuck off from Bosnia, tell Russia to fuck off from Serbia.
So you're going to threaten war against Russia, Serbia, and the Ottomans simultaneous? Let us know how that works out.

Allow with France

Russia wouldn't do a shit with him after Crimea war backstabbing that happened several years after Russia saved Austria monarchy from Hungarians.

This

Have more kids.

Really Franz Ferdinand wasn't all that wrong in what he wanted.
>Czechs appeased by making them part of the monarchy, with their own parliament
>catholic Croatians also made part of the monarchy, and are a stand-in for all other slavs
>German should be mandatory as a second-language if you're trying to get anywhere in life
I really can't see why he didn't ally with France. If he had aided the during the Franco-Prussian war, Rome would still be in French hands, and Italians couldn't direct their autism against the Trento line. The Ottoman-France-Austrian alliance is also so obvious it's strange no one wanted it.
And for fuck's sake, just leave Bosnia as a nebulous entity, half-owned by you and half-owned by Ottomans.

>>madly in love with a wife who doesn't love him
I can see why though.

Neglected that his niece (I think) died when her dress caught fire, and she roasted alive. Franz, Franz has had a hard life.

You will take that back.

Why don't people look like this anymore? Anytime someone today tries to pull off this type of beard it looks cringey and goofy as fuck.

That can be repaired, like by giving Serbia Bosnia

>limited autonomy for the different nationalities
>schools in local language, but all children have to learn German as well
>conscription after school
>reorganize the administrative system after the Prussian model to make it more efficient
>let Prussian/German officers reorganize and improve the army
rate

And look like fool to most of the europe

Better to look like a dickhead than actually be a dickhead

Everyone needs to realize the following:

Franz Joseph was universally beloved by all his subjects and even the fiercest separatists NEVER directed their autism at him but at the empire as a political entity. He was UNTOUCHABLE by the virtue of his deeds and character which resonated deeply. He was universally acclaimed as a good and just man, an excellent ruler.

The Habsburg emperors as a whole were amazing examples of the glory of righteous absolutism and this rendered demoncracy so worthless that the British (in particular) meme about how AH was terrible etc. because it de facto proved that monarchy WORKS. The dynasty began in the 10th century.

In slavic lands such as mine communist writers shitposted en masse about how "bad" AH was, and the democrats in Britain did too. Everything you read about AH is more than likely a product of Anglo-Saxon hatred and communist propaganda (older example)

Franz Ferdinand would've solved all the issues of the Monarchy with his reforms. This is why he was killed. This empire would've survived and thrived.

AH did not want world domination, african colonies, never opposed other countries (USA, UK, France) and never wanted to be a hegemonic superpower. Everyone knew this.

AH's actions in WW1 were reasonable. They killed their Archduke. They didn't expect or want to go full tard like Germany did. They just ended up with an ally that abused them and took them as de facto hostage.

The more you know about history and how things ended up the more virtuos and proven AH looks. Its destruction was an unmitigated disaster and the greatest tragedy of the 20th century.

Also, Italy was a prostitute in WW1 and WW2, the UK the whoremaster, and France was merely unfortunate. Russia as well. The US was a massive war profiteer and a dishonest player.

t. Croat

Serbia wanted Austrian territories and grew ever stronger. Ceding land to them would have been retarded.

Furthermore: scale and history

Everything the Habsburgs did in their private and political life had centuries in mind. This appeared as sluggishness to the modernity obsessed days of yesteryear, but this was because the world was rapidly changing and going to shit. They observed, mulled over and then acted - seeking lasting stability and endurance rather than flashy gestures and grand victories. The system obviously worked because in one way or the other Austria was the actual 1 000 year Reich without ANY moral dilemmas.

>AH's actions in WW1 were reasonable
>Demand all this shit from Serbia
>Serbia says no to literally one thing
>WAR
>Commit atrocities there
I dread to think what you consider unreasonable
Serbia wanted Bosnia and Vojvodina, neither of which are any good

By that point Serbia had acted against AH many, many times. The assasination was the straw that broke the camels back. Also, you don't seem to understand what war is very well.

It's literally one fucking bullet point von Hotzendorf, chill the fuck out there's no need to start a war you;re obviously dogshit at about it

Expecting a Croat to have any sniff of sympathy whatsoever for Serbs? Come on now, lad.