 At the beginning of his reign, he was also an advocate of a new "principle of nationalities" ("principe des nationalités") that supported the creation of new states based on nationality, such as Italy, in place of the old multinational empires, such as the Habsburg Monarchy (or Empire of Austria, known since 1867 as Austria-Hungary).In this he was influenced by his uncle's policy as described in the "Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène".In all of his foreign policy ventures, he put the interests of France first.