title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The educators Heinrich Franz von Bombelles and Colonel Johann Baptist Coronini-Cronberg ordered Archduke Franz to study an enormous amount of time, which initially comprised 18 hours per week and was expanded to 50 hours per week by the age of 16. One of the main focuses of the lessons was language acquisition: in addition to French, the diplomatic language of the time, Latin and ancient Greek, Hungarian, Czech, Italian and Polish were the most important national languages of the monarchy. In addition, the Archduke received general education that was customary at the time (including mathematics, physics, history, geography), which was later supplemented by law and political science. Various forms of physical education completed the extensive program. Franz Joseph came to idolise his grandfather, "der Gute Kaiser Franz", who had died shortly before the former's fifth birthday, as the ideal monarch.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: On his 13th birthday, Franz Joseph was appointed Colonel-Inhaber of Dragoon Regiment No. 3 and the focus of his training shifted to imparting basic strategic and tactical knowledge. From that point onward, army style dictated his personal fashionfor the rest of his life, he normally wore the uniform of a military officer. Franz Joseph was soon joined by three younger brothers: Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (born 1832, the future Emperor Maximilian of Mexico); Archduke Karl Ludwig (born 1833, father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria), and Archduke Ludwig Viktor (born 1842), and a sister, Maria Anna (born 1835), who died at the age of four.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: During the Revolutions of 1848, the Austrian Chancellor Prince Metternich resigned (March–April 1848). The young Archduke, who (it was widely expected) would soon succeed his uncle on the throne, was appointed Governor of Bohemia on 6 April 1848, but never took up the post. Sent instead to the front in Italy, he joined Field Marshal Radetzky on campaign on 29 April, receiving his baptism of fire on 5 May at Santa Lucia.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: By all accounts, he handled his first military experience calmly and with dignity. Around the same time, the Imperial Family was fleeing revolutionary Vienna for the calmer setting of Innsbruck, in Tyrol. Called back from Italy, the Archduke joined the rest of his family at Innsbruck by mid-June. At Innsbruck at this time, Franz Joseph first met his cousin Elisabeth, his future bride, then a girl of ten, but apparently the meeting made little impression.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Following Austria's victory over the Italians at Custoza in late July 1848, the court felt it safe to return to Vienna, and Franz Joseph travelled with them. But within a few weeks Vienna again appeared unsafe, and in September the court left once more, this time for Olomouc (Olmütz) in Moravia. By now, Prince Alfred I of Windisch-Grätz, an influential military commander in Bohemia, was determined to see the young Archduke soon put on the throne. It was thought that a new ruler would not be bound by the oaths to respect constitutional government to which Ferdinand had been forced to agree, and that it was necessary to find a young, energetic emperor to replace the kindly but mentally unfit Ferdinand.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: By the abdication of his uncle Ferdinand and the renunciation of his father (the mild-mannered Franz Karl), Franz Joseph succeeded as Emperor of Austria at Olomouc on 2 December 1848. At this time, he first became known by his second as well as his first Christian name. The name "Franz Joseph" was chosen to bring back memories of the new Emperor's great-granduncle, Emperor Joseph II (Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790), remembered as a modernising reformer.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Under the guidance of the new prime minister, Prince Schwarzenberg, the new emperor at first pursued a cautious course, granting a constitution in early 1849. At the same time, a military campaign was necessary against the Hungarians, who had rebelled against Habsburg central authority in the name of their ancient constitution. Franz Joseph was also almost immediately faced with a renewal of the fighting in Italy, with King Charles Albert of Sardinia taking advantage of setbacks in Hungary to resume the war in March 1849.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: However, the military tide began to turn swiftly in favor of Franz Joseph and the Austrian whitecoats. Almost immediately, Charles Albert was decisively beaten by Radetzky at Novara and forced to sue for peace, as well as to renounce his throne.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The Hungarian reform laws (April laws) were based on the 12 points that established the fundaments of modern civil and political rights, economic and societal reforms in the Kingdom of Hungary.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The crucial turning point of the Hungarian events were the April laws which was ratified by his uncle King Ferdinand, however the new young Austrian monarch Francis Joseph arbitrarily "revoked" the laws without any legal competence. The monarchs had no right to revoke Hungarian parliamentary laws which were already signed. This unconstitutional act irreversibly escalated the conflict between the Hungarian parliament and Francis Joseph. The Austrian Stadion Constitution was accepted by the Imperial Diet of Austria, where Hungary had no representation, and which traditionally had no legislative power in the territory of Kingdom of Hungary; despite this, it also tried to abolish the Diet of Hungary (which existed as the supreme legislative power in Hungary since the late 12th century.) The new Austrian constitution also went against the historical constitution of Hungary, and even tried to nullify it. These events represented a clear and obvious existential threat for the Hungarian state. The new constrained Stadion Constitution of Austria, the revocation of the April laws and the Austrian military campaign against Kingdom of Hungary resulted in the fall of the pacifist Batthyány government (which sought agreement with the court) and led to the sudden emergence of Lajos Kossuth's followers in the Hungarian parliament, who demanded the full independence of Hungary. On 7 March 1849 an imperial proclamation was issued in the name of the emperor Francis Joseph, according to the new proclamation, the territory of Kingdom of Hungary would be carved up and administered by five military districts, while Principality of Transylvania would be reestablished. The Austrian military intervention in the Kingdom of Hungary resulted in strong anti-Habsburg sentiment among Hungarians, thus the events in Hungary grew into a war for total independence from the Habsburg dynasty.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Unlike other Habsburg ruled areas, the Kingdom of Hungary had an old historic constitution, which limited the power of the Crown and had greatly increased the authority of the parliament since the 13th century.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: On 7 December 1848, the Diet of Hungary formally refused to acknowledge the title of the new king, "as without the knowledge and consent of the diet no one could sit on the Hungarian throne", and called the nation to arms. While in most Western European countries (like France and the United Kingdom) the monarch's reign began immediately upon the death of their predecessor, in Hungary the coronation was indispensable; if it were not properly executed, the Kingdom remained "orphaned".


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Even during the long personal union between the Kingdom of Hungary and other Habsburg ruled areas, the Habsburg monarchs had to be crowned as King of Hungary in order to promulgate laws there or exercise royal prerogatives in the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary. From a legal point of view, according to the coronation oath, a crowned Hungarian King could not relinquish the Hungarian throne during his life; if the king was alive and unable to do his duty as ruler, a governor (or regent, as they would be called in English) had to assume the royal duties. Constitutionally, Franz Josef's uncle Ferdinand was still the legal king of Hungary. If there was no possibility to inherit the throne automatically due to the death of the predecessor king (since king Ferdinand was still alive), but the monarch wanted to relinquish his throne and appoint another king before his death, technically only one legal solution remained: the parliament had the power to dethrone the king and elect a new king. Due to the legal and military tensions, the Hungarian parliament did not grant Franz Joseph that favour. This event gave to the revolt an excuse of legality. Actually, from this time until the collapse of the revolution, Lajos Kossuth (as elected regent-president) became the de facto and de jure ruler of Hungary.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In Hungary, the situation was more severe and Austrian defeat seemed imminent. Sensing a need to secure his right to rule, Franz Joseph sought help from Russia, requesting the intervention of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, in order "to prevent the Hungarian insurrection developing into a European calamity".


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Tsar Nicholas supported Franz Joseph in the name of the Holy Alliance, and sent a 200,000 strong army with 80,000 auxiliary forces. Finally, the joint army of Russian and Austrian forces defeated the Hungarian forces. After the restoration of Habsburg power, Hungary was placed under brutal martial law.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Russian troops entered Hungary in support of the Austrians and the revolution was crushed by late summer of 1849. With order now restored throughout his Empire, Franz Joseph felt free to renege on the constitutional concessions he had made, especially as the Austrian parliament meeting at Kremsier had behaved—in the young Emperor's eyes—abominably. The 1849 constitution was suspended, and a policy of absolutist centralism was established, guided by the Minister of the Interior, Alexander Bach.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: On 18 February 1853, Franz Joseph survived an assassination attempt by Hungarian nationalist János Libényi. The emperor was taking a stroll with one of his officers, Count Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell, on a city bastion, when Libényi approached him. He immediately struck the emperor from behind with a knife straight at the neck. Franz Joseph almost always wore a uniform, which had a high collar that almost completely enclosed the neck. The collars of uniforms at that time were made from very sturdy material, precisely to counter this kind of attack. Even though the Emperor was wounded and bleeding, the collar saved his life. Count O'Donnell struck Libényi down with his sabre.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: O'Donnell, hitherto only a Count by virtue of his Irish nobility (as a descendant of the Irish noble dynasty O'Donnell of Tyrconnell), was made a Count of the Habsburg monarchy ("Reichsgraf"). Another witness who happened to be nearby, the butcher Joseph Ettenreich, swiftly overpowered Libényi. For his deed he was later elevated to the nobility by the Emperor and became Joseph von Ettenreich. Libényi was subsequently put on trial and condemned to death for attempted regicide. He was executed on the Simmeringer Heide.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: After this unsuccessful attack, the Emperor's brother Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, later Emperor of Mexico, called upon Europe's royal families for donations to construct a new church on the site of the attack. The church was to be a votive offering for the survival of the Emperor. It is located on Ringstraße in the district of Alsergrund close to the University of Vienna, and is known as the Votivkirche. The survival of Franz Joseph was also commemorated in Prague by erecting a new statue of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the emperor, on Charles Bridge. It was donated by Count Franz Anton von Kolowrat-Liebsteinsky, the first minister-president of the Austrian Empire.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The next few years saw the seeming recovery of Austria's position on the international scene following the near disasters of 1848–1849. Under Schwarzenberg's guidance, Austria was able to stymie Prussian scheming to create a new German Federation under Prussian leadership, excluding Austria. After Schwarzenberg's premature death in 1852, he could not be replaced by statesmen of equal stature, and the Emperor himself effectively took over as prime minister.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The 1850s witnessed several failures of Austrian external policy: the Crimean War, the dissolution of its alliance with Russia, and defeat in the Second Italian War of Independence. The setbacks continued in the 1860s with defeat in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which resulted in the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The Hungarian political leaders had two main goals during the negotiations. One was to regain the traditional status (both legal and political) of the Hungarian state, which was lost after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. The other was to restore the series of reform laws of the revolutionary parliament of 1848, which were based on the 12 points that established modern civil and political rights, economic and societal reforms in Hungary.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The Compromise partially re-established the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary, separate from, and no longer subject to the Austrian Empire. Instead, it was regarded as an equal partner with Austria. The compromise put an end to 18 years of absolutist rule and military dictatorship which had been introduced by Francis Joseph after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary on 8 June, and on 28 July he promulgated the laws that officially turned the Habsburg domains into the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: According to Emperor Franz Joseph, "There were three of us who made the agreement: Deák, Andrássy and myself."


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Political difficulties in Austria mounted continuously through the late 19th century and into the 20th century. However, Franz Joseph remained immensely respected; the Emperor's patriarchal authority held the Empire together while the politicians squabbled among themselves.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Following the accession of Franz Joseph to the throne in 1848, the political representatives of the Kingdom of Bohemia hoped and insisted that account should be taken of their historical state rights in the upcoming constitution. They felt the position of Bohemia within the Habsburg monarchy should have been highlighted by a coronation of the new ruler to the king of Bohemia in Prague (the last coronation took place in 1836). However, before the 19th century the Habsburgs had ruled Bohemia by hereditary right and a separate coronation was not deemed necessary.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: His new government installed the system of neoabsolutism in Austrian internal affairs to make the Austrian Empire a unitary, centralised and bureaucratically administered state. When Franz Joseph returned to constitutional rule after the debacles in Italy at Magenta and Solferino and summoned the diets of his lands, the question of his coronation as king of Bohemia again returned to the agenda, as it had not since 1848. On 14 April 1861, Emperor Franz Joseph received a delegation from the Bohemian Diet with his words (in Czech):


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In contrast to his predecessor Emperor Ferdinand (who spent the rest of his life after his abdication in 1848 in Bohemia and especially in Prague), Franz Joseph was never crowned separately as king of Bohemia. In 1861, the negotiations failed because of unsolved constitutional problems. However, in 1866, a visit of the monarch to Prague following the defeat at Hradec Králové (Königgrätz) was a huge success, testified by the considerable numbers of new photographs taken.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In 1867, the Austro-Hungarian compromise and the introduction of the dual monarchy left the Czechs and their aristocracy without the recognition of separate Bohemian state rights for which they had hoped. Bohemia remained Austrian Crown Lands. In Bohemia, opposition to dualism took the form of isolated street demonstrations, resolutions from district representations, and even open air mass protest meetings, confined to the biggest cities, such as Prague. The Czech newspaper "Národní listy", complained that the Czechs had not yet been compensated for their wartime losses and sufferings during the Austro-Prussian War, and had just seen their historic state rights tossed aside and their land subsumed into the "other" half of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, commonly called "Cisleithania".


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The Czech hopes were revived again in 1870–1871. In an Imperial Rescript of 26 September 1870, Franz Joseph referred again to the prestige and glory of the Bohemian Crown and to his intention to hold a coronation. Under Minister-President Karl Hohenwart in 1871, the government of Cisleithania negotiated a series of fundamental articles spelling out the relationship of the Bohemian Crown to the rest of the Habsburg Monarchy. On 12 September 1871, Franz Joseph announced:


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: For the planned coronation, the composer Bedřich Smetana had written the opera "Libuše", but the ceremony did not take place. The creation of the German Empire, domestic opposition from German-speaking liberals (especially German-Bohemians) and from Hungarians doomed the Fundamental Articles. Hohenwart resigned and nothing changed.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Many Czech people were waiting for political changes in monarchy, including Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk and others. Masaryk served in the "Reichsrat" (Upper House) from 1891 to 1893 in the Young Czech Party and again from 1907 to 1914 in the Realist Party (which he had founded in 1900), but he did not campaign for the independence of Czechs and Slovaks from Austria-Hungary. In Vienna in 1909 he helped Hinko Hinković's defense in the fabricated trial against prominent Croats and Serbs members of the Serbo-Croatian Coalition (such as Frano Supilo and Svetozar Pribićević), and others, who were sentenced to more than 150 years and a number of death penalties. The Bohemian question would remain unresolved for the entirety of Franz Joseph's reign.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The main foreign policy goal of Franz Joseph had been the unification of Germany under the House of Habsburg. This was justified on grounds of precedence; from 1452 to the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, with only one period of interruption under the Wittelsbachs, the Habsburgs had generally held the German crown. However, Franz Joseph's desire to retain the non-German territories of the Habsburg Austrian Empire in the event of German unification proved problematic.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Two factions quickly developed: a party of German intellectuals favouring a Greater Germany ("Großdeutschland") under the House of Habsburg; the other favouring a Lesser Germany ("Kleindeutschland"). The Greater Germans favoured the inclusion of Austria in a new all-German state on the grounds that Austria had always been a part of Germanic empires, that it was the leading power of the German Confederation, and that it would be absurd to exclude eight million Austrian Germans from an all-German nation state. The champions of a lesser Germany argued against the inclusion of Austria on the grounds that it was a multi-nation state, not a German one, and that its inclusion would bring millions of non-Germans into the German nation state.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: If Greater Germany were to prevail, the crown would necessarily have to go to Franz Joseph, who had no desire to cede it in the first place to anyone else. On the other hand, if the idea of a smaller Germany won out, the German crown could of course not possibly go to the Emperor of Austria, but would naturally be offered to the head of the largest and most powerful German state outside of Austria—the King of Prussia. The contest between the two ideas, quickly developed into a contest between Austria and Prussia. After Prussia decisively won the Seven Weeks War, this question was solved; Austria lost no territories to Prussia as long as they remained out of German affairs.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In 1873, two years after the unification of Germany, Franz Joseph entered into the League of Three Emperors ("Dreikaiserbund") with Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany and Tsar Alexander II of Russia, who was succeeded by Tsar Alexander III in 1881. The league had been designed by the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck, as an attempt to maintain the peace of Europe. It would last intermittently until 1887.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In 1903, Franz Joseph's veto of Jus exclusivae of Cardinal Mariano Rampolla's election to the papacy was transmitted to the Papal conclave by Cardinal Jan Puzyna de Kosielsko. It was the last use of such a veto, as the new Pope Pius X prohibited future uses and provided for excommunication for any attempt.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: During the mid-1870s a series of violent rebellions against Ottoman rule broke out in the Balkans, and the Turks responded with equally violent and oppressive reprisals. Tsar Alexander II of Russia, wanting to intervene against the Ottomans, sought and obtained an agreement with Austria-Hungary.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In the Budapest Conventions of 1877, the two powers agreed that Russia would annex Bessarabia, and Austria-Hungary would observe a benevolent neutrality toward Russia in the pending war with the Turks. As compensation for this support, Russia agreed to Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. A scant 15 months later, the Russians imposed on the Ottomans the Treaty of San Stefano, which reneged on the Budapest accord and declared that Bosnia-Herzegovina would be jointly occupied by Russian and Austrian troops.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The treaty was overturned by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, which allowed sole Austrian occupation of Bosnia-Herzegovina but did not specify a final disposition of the provinces. That omission was addressed in the Three Emperors' League agreement of 1881, when both Germany and Russia endorsed Austria's right to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina. However, by 1897, under a new tsar, the Russian Imperial government had again withdrawn its support for Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Russian foreign minister, Count Michael Muraviev, stated that an Austrian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina would raise "an extensive question requiring special scrutiny".


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In 1908, the Russian foreign minister, Alexander Izvolsky, offered Russian support, for the third time, for the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary, in exchange for Austrian support for the opening of the Bosporus Strait and the Dardanelles to Russian warships. Austria's foreign minister, Alois von Aehrenthal, pursued this offer vigorously, resulting in the quid pro quo understanding with Izvolsky, reached on 16 September 1908 at the Buchlau Conference. However, Izvolsky made this agreement with Aehrenthal without the knowledge of Tsar Nicholas II or his government in St. Petersburg, or any of the other foreign powers including Britain, France and Serbia.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Based upon the assurances of the Buchlau Conference and the treaties that preceded it, Franz Joseph signed the proclamation announcing the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina into the Empire on 6 October 1908. However a diplomatic crisis erupted, as both the Serbs and the Italians demanded compensation for the annexation, which the Austro-Hungarian government refused to entertain. The incident was not resolved until the revision of the Treaty of Berlin in April 1909, exacerbating tensions between Austria-Hungary and the Serbs.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: On 28 June 1914 Franz Joseph's nephew and heir Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his morganatic wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Yugoslav nationalist of Serbian ethnicity, during a visit to Sarajevo. When he heard the news of the assassination, Franz Joseph said that "one has not to defy the Almighty. In this manner a superior power has restored that order which I unfortunately was unable to maintain."


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: While the emperor was shaken, and interrupted his holiday to return to Vienna, he soon resumed his vacation at his imperial villa at Bad Ischl. Initial decision-making during the "July Crisis" fell to Count Leopold Berchtold, the Austrian foreign minister; Count Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the chief of staff for the Austro-Hungarian army and the other ministers. The ultimate resolution of deliberations by the Austrian government during the weeks following the assassination of the Archduke was to give Serbia an ultimatum of itemized demands with which it was virtually certain Serbia would be unable or unwilling to comply, thus serving as a "legal basis for war".


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: A week after delivery of the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia, on 28 July, war was declared. Within weeks, the Germans, Russians, French and British had all entered the fray which eventually became known as World War I. On 6 August, Franz Joseph signed the declaration of war against Russia.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Franz Joseph died in the Schönbrunn Palace on the evening of 21 November 1916, at the age of 86. His death was a result of developing pneumonia of the right lung several days after catching a cold while walking in Schönbrunn Park with the King of Bavaria. He was succeeded by his grand-nephew Charles I & IV, who reigned until the collapse of the Empire following its defeat at the end of the First World War in 1918.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: It was generally felt in the court that the Emperor should marry and produce heirs as soon as possible. Various potential brides were considered, including Princess Elisabeth of Modena, Princess Anna of Prussia and Princess Sidonia of Saxony. Although in public life Franz Joseph was the unquestioned director of affairs, in his private life his mother still wielded crucial influence. Sophie wanted to strengthen the relationship between the Houses of Habsburg and Wittelsbach—descending from the latter house herself—and hoped to match Franz Joseph with her sister Ludovika's eldest daughter, Helene ("Néné"), who was four years the Emperor's junior.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: However, Franz Joseph fell deeply in love with Néné's younger sister Elisabeth ("Sisi"), a beautiful girl of fifteen, and insisted on marrying her instead. Sophie acquiesced, despite her misgivings about Sisi's appropriateness as an imperial consort, and the young couple were married on 24 April 1854 in St. Augustine's Church, Vienna.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Their marriage would eventually prove to be an unhappy one; though Franz Joseph was passionately in love with his wife, the feeling was not mutual. Elisabeth never truly acclimatized to life at court, and was frequently in conflict with the imperial family. Their first daughter Sophie died as an infant, and their only son Rudolf died by suicide in 1889 in the infamous Mayerling Incident.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In 1885 Franz Joseph met Katharina Schratt, a leading actress of the Vienna stage, and she became his friend and confidante. This relationship lasted the rest of his life, and was—to a certain degree—tolerated by Elisabeth. Franz Joseph built Villa Schratt in Bad Ischl for her, and also provided her with a small palace in Vienna. Though their relationship lasted for thirty-four years, it remained platonic.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: The Empress was an inveterate traveller, horsewoman, and fashion maven who was rarely seen in Vienna. Sisi was obsessed about preserving her beauty, carrying out many bizarre routines and strenuous exercise, and as a result suffered from ill health. She was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist in 1898 while on a visit to Geneva. A few days after the funeral, Robert of Parma wrote in a letter to his friend Tirso de Olazábal that "It was pitiful to look at the Emperor, he showed a great deal of energy in his immense pain, but at times one could see all the immensity of his grief." Franz Joseph never fully recovered from the loss. According to the future empress Zita of Bourbon-Parma he told his relatives: "You'll never know how important she was to me" or, according to some sources, "You will never know how much I loved this woman."


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Archduke Franz Ferdinand became heir presumptive ("Thronfolger") to the throne of Austria-Hungary in 1896, after the deaths of his cousin Rudolf (in 1889) and his father Karl Ludwig (in 1896). The relationship between him and Franz Joseph had always been a fairly contentious one, which was further exacerbated when Franz Ferdinand announced his desire to marry Countess Sophie Chotek. The emperor would not even consider giving his blessing to the union, as Sophie was merely of noble rank, not dynastic rank.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Although the emperor received letters from members of the imperial family throughout the fall and winter of 1899 beseeching him to relent, Franz Joseph stood his ground. He finally gave his consent in 1900. However, the marriage was to be morganatic, and any children of the marriage would be ineligible to succeed to the throne. The couple were married on 1 July 1900 at Reichstadt. The emperor did not attend the wedding, nor did any of the archdukes. After that, the two men disliked and mistrusted each other.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Following the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie in 1914, Franz Joseph's daughter, Marie Valerie, noted that her father expressed his greater confidence in the new heir presumptive, his grandnephew Archduke Charles. The emperor admitted to his daughter, regarding the assassination: "For me, it is a relief from a great worry."


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: His official grand title after the "Ausgleich" of 1867 was: "Francis Joseph the First, by the Grace of God Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, King of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria and Illyria; King of Jerusalem etc., Archduke of Austria; Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cracow, Duke of Lorraine, of Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and of Bukovina; Grand Prince of Transylvania; Margrave of Moravia; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Oświęcim, Zator and Ćeszyn, Friuli, Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and Zara (Zadar); Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol, of Kyburg, Gorizia and Gradisca; Prince of Trent (Trento) and Brixen; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria; Count of Hohenems, Feldkirch, Bregenz, Sonnenberg, etc.; Lord of Trieste, of Cattaro (Kotor), and over the Windic march; Grand Voivode of the Voivodship of Serbia."


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In addition, he founded the Order of Franz Joseph ("Franz Joseph-Orden") on 2 December 1849, and the Order of Elizabeth ("Elizabeth-Orden") in 1898.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Franz Joseph Land in the Russian Arctic was named in his honour in 1873 by the Austro-Hungarian North Pole expedition which first reported finding it. The Franz Joseph Glacier in New Zealand's South Island also bears his name.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: Franz Joseph founded in 1872 the "Franz Joseph University" (Hungarian: "Ferenc József Tudományegyetem", Romanian: "Universitatea Francisc Iosif") in the city of Cluj-Napoca (at that time a part of Austria-Hungary under the name of Kolozsvár). The university was moved to Szeged after Cluj became a part of Romania, becoming the University of Szeged.


title: Franz Joseph I of Austria

text: In certain areas, celebrations are still being held in remembrance of Franz Joseph's birthday. The Mitteleuropean People's Festival takes place every year around 18 August, and is a "spontaneous, traditional and brotherly meeting among peoples of the Central-European Countries". The event includes ceremonies, meetings, music, songs, dances, wine and food tasting, and traditional costumes and folklore from Mitteleuropa.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English broadcaster, journalist, game show host and writer who specialises in motoring. He is best known for the motoring programmes "Top Gear" and "The Grand Tour" alongside Richard Hammond and James May. He also currently writes weekly columns for "The Sunday Times" and "The Sun". Since 2018, Clarkson has hosted the revived ITV game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", replacing former host Chris Tarrant.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: From a career as a local journalist in northern England, Clarkson rose to public prominence as a presenter of the original format of "Top Gear" in 1988. Since the mid-1990s, he has become a recognised public personality, regularly appearing on British television presenting his own shows for BBC and appearing as a guest on other shows. As well as motoring, Clarkson has produced programmes and books on subjects such as history and engineering. In 1998, he hosted the first series of "Robot Wars", and from 1998 to 2000 he also hosted his own talk show, "Clarkson".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2015, the BBC decided not to renew Clarkson's contract after he assaulted a "Top Gear" producer while filming on location. That year, Clarkson and his "Top Gear" co-presenters and producer Andy Wilman formed the production company W. Chump & Sons to produce "The Grand Tour" for Amazon Prime Video.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson's opinionated but humorous tongue-in-cheek writing and presenting style has often provoked a public reaction. His actions, both privately and as a "Top Gear" presenter, have also sometimes resulted in criticism from the media, politicians, pressure groups and the public. He also has a significant public following, being credited as a major factor in the resurgence of "Top Gear" as one of the most popular shows on the BBC.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson was born in Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, the son of Shirley Gabrielle Clarkson (1934–2014), a teacher, and Edward Grenville Clarkson (1932–1994), a travelling salesman. His parents, who ran a business selling tea cosies, put their son's name down in advance for private schools, with no idea how they were going to pay the fees. However, shortly before his admission, when he was 13, his parents made two Paddington Bear stuffed toys for Clarkson and his sister Joanna. These proved so popular that they started selling them through the business. Because they were manufacturing and selling the bears without regard to intellectual property rights, upon his becoming aware of the bears Michael Bond took action through his solicitors. Edward Clarkson travelled to London to meet Bond's lawyer. By coincidence, he met Bond in the lift, and the two struck up an immediate rapport. Consequently, Bond awarded the Clarksons the licensing of the bear rights throughout the world, with the family eventually selling to Britain's then leading toystore, Hamleys. The income from this success enabled the Clarksons to be able to pay the fees for Jeremy to attend Hill House School, Doncaster, and later Repton School.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson has stated he was deeply unhappy at Repton School, saying that he had been a "suicidal wreck" there, having experienced extreme bullying. He alleged that:


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: I suffered many terrible things. I was thrown on an hourly basis into the ice plunge pool, dragged from my bed in the middle of the night and beaten, made to lick the lavatories clean and all the usual humiliations that... turn a small boy into a gibbering, sobbing, suicidal wreck... they glued my records together, snapped my compass, ate my biscuits, defecated in my tuck box and they cut my trousers in half.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: According to his own account, he was expelled from Repton School for "drinking, smoking and generally making a nuisance of himself." He famously left with one C and two U (fail) grades at A level. Clarkson attended Repton alongside Formula One engineer Adrian Newey and former "Top Gear" Executive Producer Andy Wilman.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: He played the role of a preparatory school pupil, Atkinson, in a BBC radio "Children's Hour" serial adaptation of Anthony Buckeridge's "Jennings" novels until his voice broke.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson's first job was as a travelling salesman for his parents' business, selling Paddington Bear toys.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: He later trained as a journalist with the "Rotherham Advertiser", before also writing for the "Rochdale Observer", "Wolverhampton Express and Star", "Lincolnshire Life", "Shropshire Star" and the Associated Kent Newspapers.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: When writing in 2015 in his final column for "Top Gear" magazine, he credited the "Shropshire Star" as his first outlet as a motoring columnist: "I started small, on the "Shropshire Star" with little Peugeots and Fiats and worked my way up to Ford Granadas and Rovers until, after about seven years, I was allowed to drive an Aston Martin Lagonda... It was 10 years before I drove my first Lamborghini."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 1984, Clarkson formed the Motoring Press Agency (MPA), in which, with fellow motoring journalist Jonathan Gill, he conducted road tests for local newspapers and automotive magazines. This developed into articles for publications such as "Performance Car". He has regularly written for "Top Gear" magazine since its launch in 1993.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson writes regular columns in the tabloid newspaper "The Sun", and for the broadsheet newspaper "The Sunday Times". His columns in the "Times" are republished in "The Weekend Australian" newspaper. He also writes for the "Wheels" section of the "Toronto Star". He has written humorous books about cars and several other subjects, with many of his books being collections of articles that he has written for "The Sunday Times".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson's first major television role came as one of the presenters on the British motoring programme "Top Gear", from 27 October 1988 to 3 March 1999, in the programme's earlier format. Jon Bentley, a researcher at "Top Gear", helped launch his television career. Bentley shortly afterwards became the show's producer, and said about hiring Clarkson: He was just what I was looking for – an enthusiastic motoring writer who could make cars on telly fun. He was opinionated and irreverent, rather than respectfully po-faced. The fact that he looked and sounded exactly like a twenty-something ex-public schoolboy didn't matter. Nor did the impression there was a hint of school bully about him. I knew he was the man for the job. [...] Clarkson stood out because he was funny. Even my bosses allowed themselves the odd titter.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson then also presented the show's new format from 20 October 2002 to 8 March 2015. Along with co-presenters James May and Richard Hammond, he is credited with turning "Top Gear" into the most-watched TV show on BBC Two, rebroadcast to over 100 countries around the world. Clarkson's company Bedder 6, which handled merchandise and international distribution for "Top Gear", earned over £149m in revenue in 2012, prior to a restructuring that gave BBC Worldwide full control of the "Top Gear" rights.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson presented the first series UK version of "Robot Wars". His talk show, "Clarkson", comprised 27 half-hour episodes aired in the United Kingdom between November 1998 and December 2000, and featured guest interviews with musicians, politicians and television personalities. Clarkson went on to present documentaries focused on non-motoring themes such as history and engineering, although the motoring shows and videos continued. Alongside his stand-alone shows, many mirror the format of his newspaper columns and books, combining his love of driving and motoring journalism, with the examination and expression of his other views on the world, such as in "Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld", "Jeremy Clarkson's Car Years" and "Jeremy Clarkson Meets the Neighbours".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: After Trinny and Susannah labelled Clarkson's dress sense as that of a market trader, he was persuaded to appear on their fashion makeover show "What Not to Wear" to avoid being considered for their all-time worst dressed winner award. Their attempts at restyling Clarkson were rebuffed, and Clarkson stated he would rather eat his own hair than appear on the show again.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: For an episode of the first series of the BBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" broadcast in November 2004, Clarkson was invited to investigate his family history. It included the story of his great-great-great grandfather, John Kilner (1792–1857), who invented the Kilner jar, a container for preserved fruit.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson's views are often showcased on television shows. In 1997, Clarkson appeared on the light-hearted comedy show "Room 101", in which a guest nominates things they hate in life to be consigned to nothingness. Clarkson dispatched caravans, houseflies, the sitcom "Last of the Summer Wine", the mentality within golf clubs, and vegetarians. He has made several appearances on the prime time talk shows "Parkinson" and "Friday Night with Jonathan Ross" since 2002. By 2003, his persona was deemed to fit the mould for the series "Grumpy Old Men", in which middle-aged men talk about any aspects of modern life which irritate them. Since the topical news panel show "Have I Got News for You" dismissed regular host Angus Deayton in October 2002, Clarkson has become one of the most regularly used guest hosts on the show. Clarkson has appeared as a panellist on the political current affairs television show "Question Time" twice since 2000. On 2 October 2015, he presented "Have I Got News for You" again for the first time since his dismissal.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson received a BAFTA nomination for Best Entertainment Performance in 2006. Jonathan Ross ended up winning the award. He won the National Television Awards Special Recognition Award in 2007, and reportedly earned £1 million that same year for his role as a "Top Gear" presenter, and a further £1.7 million from books, DVDs and newspaper columns. Clarkson and co-presenter James May were the first people to reach the North Magnetic Pole in a car also in 2007, chronicled in "".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: He sustained minor injuries to his legs, back and hand in an intentional collision with a brick wall while making the 12th series of "Top Gear" in 2008.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2014, he received a £4.8 million dividend and an £8.4 million share buyout from BBC Worldwide, bringing his estimated income for the year to more than £14 million.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 30 July 2015, it was announced that Clarkson, along with former "Top Gear" hosts Richard Hammond and James May would present a new show on Amazon Prime Video. The first season was made available worldwide in 2016. On 11 May 2016, Clarkson confirmed on his Twitter feed that the series would be titled "The Grand Tour", and air from a different location each week.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 9 March 2018, it was announced that Clarkson would host a revamped series of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" on ITV. The show had previously been presented by Chris Tarrant.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson is in favour of personal freedom and against government regulation, stating that government should "build park benches and that is it. They should leave us alone." He has a particular contempt for the Health and Safety Executive. He often criticised the Labour governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, especially what he calls the "ban" culture, frequently fixating on the bans on smoking and 2004 ban on fox hunting. In April 2013, Clarkson was among 2,000 invited guests to the funeral of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In an attempt to prove that the public furore over the 2007 UK child benefit data scandal was unjustified, he published his own bank account number and sort code, together with instructions on how to find out his address, in "The Sun" newspaper, expecting nobody to be able to remove money from his account. He later discovered that someone had set up a monthly direct debit for £500 to Diabetes UK.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson supported a Remain vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, three days before the referendum, he and fellow Top Gear/Grand Tour presenter James May posted a video stating their support. Clarkson did not support Brexit, stating that while the European Union has its problems, Britain would not have any influence over the EU, should it leave the Union. He envisions the European Union being turned into a US-like "United States of Europe", with one army, one currency, and one unifying set of values. In 2019, Clarkson said: "Europe has to punish us—they can't allow us to leave without being damaged because then everyone will want to go. We don't want to go if we're going to be damaged." In a January 2019 interview with LBC, Clarkson called Brexit voters "coffin-dodging idiots", though also criticized the younger voters, who overwhelmingly supported Remain, for their voting inactivity.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson's comments have both a large number of supporters and opponents. He often comments on the media-perceived social issues of the day, such as the fear of challenging adolescent youths, which he calls "hoodies". In 2007, Clarkson was cleared of allegations of assaulting a young person while visiting central Milton Keynes, after Thames Valley Police said that if anything, he had been the victim.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: As a motoring journalist, he is frequently critical of government initiatives such as the London congestion charge or proposals on road charging. He is also frequently scornful of caravanners and cyclists. He has often singled out John Prescott, the former Transport Minister, and Stephen Joseph, the head of the public transport pressure group Transport 2000, for ridicule.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In September 2013, a tweet proposing that he might stand for election as an independent candidate in Doncaster North, the constituency of the then Labour leader of the opposition, Ed Miliband, was retweeted over 1,000 times – including by John Prescott.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson has been critical of the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. He referred to the US as the "United States of Total Paranoia", commenting that one needs a permit to do everything except for purchasing weapons. In 2017, in response to the United States officially recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Clarkson advised Palestinians to recognize London as the capital of the United States.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2020, Clarkson stated that he usually votes for the Conservative Party, claiming not to be a natural Tory but "it just happens to be that every time it comes around and you weigh up which is going to provide you with a better life, the better country to live in, then it's usually the Conservatives" and mocked the policies of Tony Blair and Jeremy Corbyn, stating "only an idiot would vote for Corbyn." However, he also expressed support of incumbent Labour leader Keir Starmer and maintained that he was prepared to vote for Labour "if there's an election tomorrow" citing Boris Johnson's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Clarkson is also a personal friend of former Prime Minister and Conservative leader David Cameron.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson is critical of the green movement and environmentalism, including groups such as Greenpeace—he has called them "eco-mentalists" and "old trade unionists and CND lesbians" but has also said that, although he "hate[s] the movement, [he] loves the destination" of environmentalism and believes that people should quietly strive to be more eco-friendly. He has been dismissive of windfarms and renewable energy and has spoken in support of hydrogen cars.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson rejects the scientific consensus on climate change, believing that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions do not affect the global climate. He has also expressed doubt that the effects of climate change are "a bad thing", saying in 2005 "let's just stop and think for a moment what the consequences might be. Switzerland loses its skiing resorts? The beach in Miami is washed away? North Carolina gets knocked over by a hurricane? Anything bothering you yet?" However, during a 2019 trip to Cambodia while filming "The Grand Tour", Clarkson acknowledged the "graphic demonstration" of climate change impacts on the Mekong River and Tonlé Sap was "genuinely alarming", but still expressed doubt that it was driven by human activity. Cambodia was undergoing a severe drought during the show's filming. Clarkson is against climate activism, and has often made personal attacks against teenage activist Greta Thunberg, whom he has called "a spoilt brat".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Environmentalists have protested or heckled Clarkson on a number of occasions for his views, including at his honorary degree ceremony at Oxford Brookes University, where a protester threw a banana meringue pie in his face in 2006, and in 2009 when activist group Climate Rush dumped horse manure on his lawn. Clarkson's comments on Greta Thunberg were criticized by his own daughter.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Whilst Clarkson states such views as described above in his columns and in public appearances, his public persona does not necessarily represent his personal views, as he acknowledged whilst interviewing Alastair Campbell on "Top Gear", saying "I don't believe what I write, any more than you [Campbell] believe what you say".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson has been described as a "skillful propagandist for the motoring lobby" by "The Economist". With a forthright and sometimes deadpan delivery, Clarkson is said to thrive on the notoriety his public comments bring, and has risen to the level of the bête noire of the various groups who disagree with his views. On the Channel 4-organised viewer poll, for the "100 Worst Britons We Love to Hate" programme, Clarkson polled in 66th place. By 2005, Clarkson was perceived by the press to have upset so many people and groups, "The Independent" put him on trial for various "crimes", declaring him guilty on most counts.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Responses to Clarkson's comments are often directed personally, with derogatory comments about residents of Norfolk leading to some residents organising a "We hate Jeremy Clarkson" club. In "The Guardian's" 2007 'Media 100' list, which lists the top 100 most "powerful people in the [media] industry", based on cultural, economic and political influence in the UK, Clarkson was listed as a new entrant at 74th. Some critics even attribute Clarkson's actions and views as being influential enough to be responsible for the closure of Rover and the Luton manufacturing plant of Vauxhall. Clarkson's comments about Rover prompted workers to hang an "Anti-Clarkson Campaign" banner outside the defunct Longbridge plant in its last days.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: The BBC often played down his comments as ultimately not having the weight they were ascribed. In 2007, they described Clarkson as "not a man given to considered opinion", and in response to an official complaint another BBC spokeswoman once said: "Jeremy's colourful comments are always entertaining, but they are his own comments and not those of the BBC. More often than not they are said with a twinkle in his eye."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On his chat show, "Clarkson", he caused upset to the Welsh by placing a 3D plastic map of Wales into a microwave oven and switching it on. He later defended this by saying, "I put Wales in there because Scotland wouldn't fit."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2005, Clarkson received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the Oxford Brookes University. His views on the environment precipitated a small demonstration at the award ceremony for his honorary degree, when Clarkson was pied by road protester Rebecca Lush. Clarkson took this incident in good humour, responding "good shot" and subsequently referring to Lush as "Banana girl".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2008, an internet petition was posted on the Prime Minister's Number 10 website to "Make Jeremy Clarkson Prime Minister". By the time it closed, it had attracted 49,446 signatures. An opposing petition posted on the same site set to "Never, Ever Make Jeremy Clarkson Prime Minister" attracted 87 signatures. Clarkson later commented he would be a rubbish Prime Minister as he is always contradicting himself in his columns. In the official response to the petition, Number 10 agreed with Clarkson's comments.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In response to the reactions he gets, Clarkson has stated "I enjoy this back and forth, it makes the world go round but it is just opinion." On the opinion that his views are influential enough to topple car companies, he has argued that he has proof that he has had no influence. "When I said that the Ford Orion was the worst car ever it went on to become a best-selling car."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson was ranked 49th on "Motor Trend" Magazine's Power List for 2011, its list of the fifty most influential figures in the automotive industry.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson has a keen interest in the British Armed Forces and several of his DVDs and television shows have featured a military theme, such as flying in military jets or several Clarkson-focused "Top Gear" spots having a military theme such as Clarkson escaping a Challenger 2 tank in a Range Rover, a Lotus Exige evading missile lock from an Apache attack helicopter, a platoon of Irish Guardsmen shooting at a Porsche Boxster and Mercedes-Benz SLK, or using a Ford Fiesta as a Royal Marine landing craft. In October 2005, Clarkson visited British troops in Baghdad.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2003, Clarkson presented "", looking at recipients of the Victoria Cross, in particular focusing on his father-in-law, Robert Henry Cain, who received a VC for actions during the Battle of Arnhem in World War II.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2007, Clarkson wrote and presented "Jeremy Clarkson: Greatest Raid of All Time", a documentary about the World War II Operation Chariot, a 1942 Commando raid on the docks of Saint-Nazaire in occupied France. At the end of 2007, Clarkson became a patron of Help for Heroes, a charity aiming to raise money to provide better facilities to wounded British servicemen. His effort led to the 2007 Christmas appeal in "The Sunday Times" supporting Help for Heroes.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson is passionate about engineering, especially pioneering work. In "Inventions That Changed the World" Clarkson showcased the invention of the gun, computer, jet engine, telephone and television. He has previously criticised the engineering feats of the 20th century as merely improvements on the truly innovative inventions of the Industrial Revolution. He cites the lack of any source of alternative power for cars, other than by "small explosions". In "Great Britons", as part of a public poll to find the greatest historical Briton, Clarkson was the chief supporter for Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a prominent engineer during the Industrial Revolution credited with numerous innovations. Despite this, he also has a passion for many modern examples of engineering. In "Speed" and "Extreme Machines", Clarkson rides and showcases numerous vehicles and machinery. Clarkson was awarded an honorary degree from Brunel University on 12 September 2003, partly because of his work in popularising engineering, and partly because of his advocacy of Brunel.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In his book "I Know You Got Soul", he describes many machines that he believes possess a soul. He cited the Concorde crash as his inspiration, feeling a sadness for the demise of the machine as well as the passengers. Clarkson was a passenger on the last BA Concorde flight, on 24 October 2003. Paraphrasing Neil Armstrong he described the retirement of the fleet as "This is one small step for a man, but one huge leap backwards for mankind".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: He briefly acquired an English Electric Lightning F1A jet fighter XM172, which was installed in the front garden of his country home. The Lightning was subsequently removed on the orders of the local council, which "wouldn't believe my claim that it was a leaf blower", according to Clarkson on a Tiscali Motoring webchat. The whole affair was set up for his programme "Speed", and the Lightning was returned back to serving as gate guardian at Wycombe Air Park (formerly RAF Booker). Due to deteriorating condition and threat of scrapping, XM172 was then purchased by Neil Airey and transported to Spark Bridge, Cumbria, for restoration. The aircraft is now in good condition and viewable by appointment.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In a "Top Gear" episode, Clarkson drove the Bugatti Veyron in a race across Europe against a Cessna 182 piloted by co-presenter James May. The Veyron was an £850,000 technology demonstrator project built by Volkswagen to become the fastest production car, but a practical road car at the same time. In building such an ambitious machine, Clarkson described the project as "a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world." After winning the race, Clarkson announced that "It's quite a hollow victory really, because I've got to go for the rest of my life knowing that I'll never own that car. I'll never experience that power again."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson wanted to purchase the Ford GT after admiring its inspiration, the Ford GT40 race cars of the 1960s. Clarkson was able to secure a place on the shortlist for the few cars that would be imported to Britain to official customers, only through knowing Ford's head of PR through a previous job. After waiting years and facing an increased price, he found many technical problems with the car. After "the most miserable month's motoring possible," he returned it to Ford for a full refund. After a short period, including asking "Top Gear" fans for advice over the Internet, he bought back his GT. He called it "the most unreliable car ever made", because he was never able to complete a return journey with it. In 2006, Clarkson ordered a Gallardo Spyder and sold the Ford GT to make way for it. In August 2008, he sold the Gallardo because "idiots in Peugeots kept trying to race [him] in it". In October, he announced that he had sold his Volvo XC90. In January 2009, in a review of the car printed in "The Times", he wrote: "I’ve just bought my third Volvo XC90 in a row and the simple fact is this: it takes six children to school in the morning."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson has spoken highly of the Czech-made Škoda Yeti, calling it possibly the best car in the world, and used 20 minutes of a "Top Gear" episode putting the Yeti through a number of challenges to support his point. Clarkson called the Brera, Alfa's latest sports car, "Cameron Diaz on wheels". Clarkson has expressed fondness for late-model V8 Holdens, available in the UK rebadged as Vauxhalls. Of the Monaro he said, "It's like they had a picture of me on their desk and said <nowiki>[</nowiki>Australian accent<nowiki>]</nowiki> 'Let's build that bloke a car!'" and "I can't believe it... I've fallen in love... with a Vauxhall!" Clarkson suffered two slipped discs that he attributed to driving the Monaro, which he described as being "back-breakingly marvellous". Clarkson considers the Lexus LFA as the best car he has ever driven.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: During "Top Gear"'s , Clarkson revealed that the Porsche 928 was a car that was close to his heart; Clarkson was given the car to test for the series in 1994 and used it to unexpectedly drive from London to Sheffield to visit his dying father in hospital. Clarkson said that had he had not driven the Porsche 928 (which was fast enough where a chicken he had cooked was "still warm" by the time he arrived in Sheffield), he "wouldn't have had the opportunity to say goodbye to [his] dad".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson dislikes the British car brand Rover, the last major British owned and built car manufacturer. This view stretched back to the company's time as part of British Leyland. Describing the history of the company up to its last flagship model, the Rover 75, he paraphrased Winston Churchill and stated "Never in the field of human endeavour has so much been done, so badly, by so many," citing issues with the rack and pinion steering system. In the latter years of the company, Clarkson blamed the "uncool" brand image as being more of a hindrance to sales than any faults with the cars. On its demise, Clarkson stated "I cannot even get teary and emotional about the demise of the company itself – though I do feel sorry for the workforce." Clarkson has also expressed hatred for the Toyota Prius.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson has also criticised Vauxhalls and has described Vauxhall's parent company, General Motors, as a "pensions and healthcare" company which sees the "car making side of the business as an expensive loss-making nuisance". Clarkson has expressed particular disdain for the Vauxhall Vectra, describing it as:


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: After a "Top Gear" piece by Clarkson for its launch in 1995, described by "The Independent" as "not doing [GM] any favours", Vauxhall complained to the BBC and announced, "We can take criticism but this piece was totally unbalanced."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson's comments and actions have sometimes resulted in complaints from viewers, car companies, and national governments.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In 2004, the BBC apologised unreservedly and paid £250 in compensation to a Somerset parish council, after Clarkson damaged a 30-year-old horse-chestnut tree by driving into it to test the strength of a Toyota Hilux. In December 2006, the BBC complaints department upheld the complaint of four "Top Gear" viewers that Clarkson had used the phrase "ginger beer" (rhyming slang for "queer") in a derogatory manner, when Clarkson picked up on and agreed with an audience member's description of the Daihatsu Copen as being a bit "gay". The "" was criticised by the BBC Trust for glamorising drunk driving in a scene showing Clarkson and James May in a vehicle, despite Clarkson saying to the camera, "And please do not write to us about drinking and driving, because I am not driving I am sailing" (as they were on top of international, frozen waters). They stated the scene "was not editorially justified" despite occurring outside the jurisdiction of any drunk-driving laws.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In a later incident during a "Top Gear" episode broadcast on 13 November 2005, Clarkson, while talking about a Mini design that might be "quintessentially German", made a mock Nazi salute, and made references to the Hitler regime and the German invasion of Poland by suggesting the GPS "only goes to Poland".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In November 2008, Clarkson attracted over 500 complaints to the BBC when he joked about lorry drivers murdering prostitutes. The BBC stated the comment was a comic rebuttal of a common misconception about lorry drivers and was within the viewer's expectation of Clarkson's "Top Gear" persona. Chris Mole, the Member of Parliament for Ipswich, where five prostitutes were murdered in 2006, wrote a "strongly worded" letter to BBC Director-General Mark Thompson, demanding that Clarkson be sacked. Clarkson dismissed Mole's comments in his "Sunday Times" column the following weekend, writing, "There are more important things to worry about than what some balding and irrelevant middle-aged man might have said on a crappy BBC2 motoring show." Andrew Tinkler, chief executive of the Eddie Stobart Group, a major trucking company, stated that "They were just having a laugh. It's the 21st century, let's get our sense of humour in line."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In July 2009, Clarkson was reported to have called then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown "a silly cunt" during a warm-up while recording a "Top Gear" show. Although several newspapers reported that he had subsequently argued with BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow, who was present at the recording, the BBC denied that he had been given a "dressing down". John Whittingdale, Conservative chair of the Culture Select Committee remarked: "Many people will find that offensive, many people will find that word in particular very offensive [...] I am surprised he felt it appropriate to use it."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In July 2010, Clarkson reportedly angered gay rights campaigners after he made a remark on "Top Gear" that did not get aired on 4 July episode. But guest Alastair Campbell wrote about it on Twitter. Clarkson said: "I demand the right not to be bummed". The BBC later said that they cut this remark out as they "edited down" the interview as it was too long to fit into the show.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In an episode aired after the watershed on 1 August 2010, Clarkson described a Ferrari F430 as "special needs". He said the car owned by co-presenter James May looked "like a simpleton". Media regulator Ofcom investigated after receiving two complaints, and found that the comments "were capable of causing offence" but did not censure the BBC.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 12 January 2012, the Indian High Commission lodged a formal complaint with the BBC over the "tasteless" antics of Clarkson's "Top Gear" Christmas special where he mocked India's culture and people. During the 90-minute special, which was aired twice over the Christmas break, Clarkson made a string of jokes about Indian food, clothes, toilets, trains and history.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On an episode of "Top Gear" broadcast on 5 February 2012, Clarkson compared a Japanese car/camper van to a person with a growth on their face. A major UK charity that supports people with facial disfigurements, Changing Faces, complained to the BBC and Ofcom after Clarkson's remarks.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In an unused take for a "Top Gear" feature recorded in early 2012, Clarkson is alleged to have mumbled the ethnic slur "nigger" when repeating the children's rhyme Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. The clip later surfaced on the website of the "Daily Mirror" tabloid at the beginning of May 2014. In the take, Clarkson attempts to mumble the sentence so as to obscure the word, but admitted that upon a close listening, the word could still be heard. Clarkson apologised for his efforts not being "quite good enough" to ensure the footage was not used. It was reported on 3 May, that the BBC had given Clarkson a final warning, with the presenter accepting that he would be sacked if he made another offensive remark.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Near the end of the "Top Gear: Burma Special", which aired March 2014, Clarkson and Hammond were seen admiring a wooden bridge, which they had built during the episode. Clarkson is quoted as saying "That is a proud moment, but there's a slope on it" as a native crosses the bridge, "slope" being a pejorative for Asians. "Top Gear" Executive Producer Andy Wilman responded: "When we used the word slope in the recent "Top Gear Burma Special" it was a light-hearted word play joke referencing both the build quality of the bridge and the local Asian man who was crossing it. We were not aware at the time, and it has subsequently been brought to our attention, that the word slope is considered by some to be offensive."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In October 2014, Clarkson attracted controversy when filming the "" after driving a Porsche 928 in Argentina with the licence plate H982 FKL, allegedly referring to the 1982 Falklands War. Also, during the broadcast, Clarkson was seen referring to the controversy that had risen after the Burma Special; when inspecting a bridge, which he and his colleagues had built during the episode, he was quoted as saying "That is a proud moment, Hammond, but... is it straight?" With Hammond replying "Yes."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In October 1998, Hyundai complained to the BBC about what they described as "bigoted and racist" comments he made at the Birmingham Motor Show, where he was reported as saying that the people working on the Hyundai stand had "eaten a dog" and that the designer of the Hyundai XG had probably eaten a spaniel for his lunch. Clarkson also allegedly referred to those working on the BMW stand as "Nazis", although BMW said they would not be complaining.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In March 2004, at the British Press Awards, he swore at Piers Morgan and punched him before being restrained by security; Morgan says it left him with a scar above his left eyebrow.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In April 2007, he was criticised in the Malaysian parliament for having described one of their cars, the Perodua Kelisa, as the worst in the world, adding that "its name was like a disease and [suggesting] it was built in jungles by people who wear leaves for shoes". A Malaysian government minister countered, pointing out that no complaints had been received from UK customers who had bought the car.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In February 2009, while in Australia, Clarkson made disparaging remarks aimed at the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, calling him a "one-eyed Scottish idiot", and accused him of lying. These comments were widely condemned by the Royal National Institute of Blind People and also Scottish politicians, who requested that he should be taken off air.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: He subsequently apologised for referencing Brown's monocular blindness, but insisted: "I haven't apologised for calling him an idiot."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: His 4 September 2011 column for "The Sun" newspaper drew angry remarks in response to Clarkson's call to abolish the Welsh language: "I think we are fast approaching the time when the United Nations should start to think seriously about abolishing other languages. What's the point of Welsh, for example? All it does is provide a silly maypole around which a bunch of hotheads can get all nationalistic."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 30 November 2011, while being interviewed on the BBC's "The One Show", Clarkson commented on the UK's public sector strike that day, lauding the capital's empty roads. After mentioning the BBC's need for balance, he said, "I would take them outside and execute them in front of their families." The programme later apologised for his remarks, with further apologies issued by Clarkson and the BBC. These remarks had attracted 21,335 complaints to the BBC within 36 hours; the BBC also received 314 messages of support for Clarkson.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson was criticised by the mental health charity Mind for his 3 December 2011 column for "The Sun", in which he described those who jump in front of trains as "Johnny Suicide" and argues that following a death, trains should carry on their journeys as soon as possible. He adds: "The train cannot be removed nor the line reopened until all of the victim's body has been recovered. And sometimes the head can be half a mile away from the feet." ... "Change the driver, pick up the big bits of what's left of the victim, get the train moving as quickly as possible and let foxy woxy and the birds nibble away at the smaller, gooey parts that are far away or hard to find."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson often discusses high speed driving on public roads, criticising road safety campaigns involving cameras and speed bumps. In 2002, a Welsh Assembly Member Alun Pugh wrote to BBC Director-General Greg Dyke to complain about Clarkson's comments that he believed encouraged people to use Welsh roads as a high-speed test track. A BBC spokesman said that suggestions Clarkson had encouraged speeding were "nonsense". Clarkson has also made similar comments about driving in Lincolnshire. In a November 2005 "Times" article, Clarkson wrote on the Bugatti Veyron, "On a recent drive across Europe I desperately wanted to reach the top speed but I ran out of road when the needle hit 240 mph," and "From the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. Because you simply wouldn't believe me." In 2007, solicitor Nick Freeman represented Clarkson against a charge of driving at 86 mph in a 50 mph zone on the A40 road in London, defeating it on the basis that the driver of the car loaned to Clarkson from Alfa Romeo could not be ascertained. In 2008, Clarkson claimed in a talk at the Hay Festival to have been given a speeding ticket for driving at 186 mph on the A1203 Limehouse Link road in London.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In March 2015, Clarkson was suspended by the BBC from "Top Gear" following a "fracas" with one of the show's producers, Oisin Tymon. It emerged that Clarkson had been involved in a dispute over catering while filming on location in Hawes, North Yorkshire. Clarkson had been offered soup and a cold meat platter, instead of the steak he wanted, because the hotel chef had gone home.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: The BBC announced that the next episode of the show would not be broadcast on 15 March. It was later announced through the BBC's website that the network would be likely to drop the remaining two episodes of the series as well in the wake of the incident, which involved Clarkson punching producer Oisin Tymon, who was later treated in hospital. Tymon also claimed that Clarkson had called him a "lazy Irish cunt". Clarkson's contract with the BBC expired at the end of March, and a previously proposed three-year renewal was withdrawn.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: A Change.org petition, aiming to reverse the BBC decision, was started on 10 March by blogger Guido Fawkes. The petition reached its target 1,000,000 signatures by the afternoon of 20 March, and was delivered to the BBC in an artillery vehicle by a man dressed as "Top Gear" test driver The Stig, with Fawkes as spokesman. The hosting website described the petition as the fastest-growing campaign in its history.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 19 March 2015, at a charity auction at the Roundhouse in Camden, north London, Clarkson launched into a verbal tirade against BBC studio bosses related to his suspension from the programme, saying "The BBC have fucked themselves." He later stated that this was "meant in jest".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 25 March 2015, the BBC released an official statement confirming that, as a result of the actions which led to his suspension, they would not be renewing his contract with the show. Following the statement, North Yorkshire Police requested to view the report and stated that "action will be taken by North Yorkshire police where necessary". However, Tymon informed the police that he did not wish to press charges against Clarkson, and Clarkson urged fans of the show to stop trolling Tymon on social media, as what happened was not his fault. British police investigated death threats made against BBC Director-General Tony Hall over Clarkson's firing. Less than 24 hours after his dismissal, Clarkson was approached by Zvezda, a Russian state broadcaster, to present a motoring programme.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In his "Sunday Times" column on 19 April, Clarkson revealed that two days before he hit Tymon, he had been told by his doctor that a lump he had could be cancer of the tongue. Testing later confirmed that it was not cancerous. In the same column, he stated that he had initially considered retiring from television following his dismissal, but was now planning a new motoring programme.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In November 2015, Tymon sued Clarkson and the BBC for racial discrimination over the verbal abuse he received in the March incident. The following February, Clarkson formally apologised to Tymon and settled the racial discrimination and personal injury claim for £100,000.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In December 2022, he was criticised for one of his columns in "The Sun" on Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, which was deemed misogynistic by critics as he stated: "I hate her. Not like I hate Nicola Sturgeon or Rose West. I hate her on a cellular level. At night, I'm unable to sleep as I lie there, grinding my teeth and dreaming of the day when she is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her," a reference to a scene from the television series "Game of Thrones". Clarkson subsequently stated he was "horrified to have caused so much hurt" over his comments, which were also criticized by his daughter Emily.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 19 December 2022, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) said it had received more than 12,000 complaints about the piece, close to the number of complaints they received across the whole of 2021, which was 14,355. "The Sun"s website published a statement in response to the criticism: "In light of Jeremy Clarkson's tweet he has asked us to take last week's column down." By the following day on 20 December 2022 IPSO said the number complaints had risen to 17,500 surpassing the total number of complaints the regulating body received in 2021. In light of the controversy, Edward Faulks, the chair of IPSO, declined a private dinner invitation by Rupert Murdoch, who owns "The Sun". The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, whose name was also mentioned in the column, described Clarkson's comments as "deeply misogynist and just downright awful and horrible" and warned that "words have consequences". The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, responded to the controversy by emphasising that "language matters". In a letter to ITV chief executive Carolyn McCall, SNP MP John Nicolson called on the organisation to sack Clarkson.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 20 December 2022 more than 60 cross-party MPs contacted the Sun’s editor, Victoria Newton, to demand an apology and called for “action [to be] taken” against Clarkson.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson married Alex Hall in 1989, but she left him for one of his friends after six months. In May 1993, he married his manager, Frances Cain, daughter of VC recipient Robert Henry Cain, in Fulham. The couple lived in Chipping Norton, in the Cotswolds, with their three children. Clarkson has been described as a member of the Chipping Norton set. Known for buying him car-related gifts, for Christmas 2007 Clarkson's second wife bought him a Mercedes-Benz 600. Clarkson and Cain divorced in 2014.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson was involved in a protracted legal dispute about access to a "permissive path" across the grounds of his second home, a converted lighthouse, on the Isle of Man between 2005 and 2010, after reports that dogs had attacked and killed sheep on the property. Clarkson and his wife had claimed that four sheep were deliberately killed after being chased into the sea by a dog let off its lead. He lost the dispute after the Isle of Man government held a public inquiry, and he was told to re-open the footpath. The decision was affirmed by the Isle of Man High Court.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Clarkson is a fan of the progressive rock band Genesis and attended the band's reunion concert at Twickenham Stadium in 2007. He also provided sleeve notes for the reissue of the album "Selling England by the Pound" as part of the "Genesis 1970–1975" box set.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In September 2010, Clarkson was granted a privacy injunction against his first wife to prevent her from publishing claims that their sexual relationship continued after his second marriage (see "AMM v HXW"). He voluntarily lifted the injunction in October 2011, commenting that: "Injunctions don't work. You take out an injunction against somebody or some organisation and immediately news of that injunction and the people involved and the story behind the injunction is in a legal-free world on Twitter and the Internet. It's pointless."


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: Since 2017, Clarkson has been in a relationship with Irish-born former actress and screenplay writer Lisa Hogan, who features in his Amazon Prime series "Clarkson's Farm".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: On 4 August 2017, he was admitted to hospital after falling ill with pneumonia while on a family holiday in Majorca, Spain, and was being treated in a hospital there. He subsequently said he could "breathe out harder and for longer than a non-smoking 40-year-old" and had 96 percent capacity for a person his age. "In short, getting on for three-quarters of a million fags have not harmed me in any way. I have quite literally defied medical science".


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In January 2021, Clarkson revealed he had tested positive for COVID-19 during December 2020 after displaying symptoms.


title: Jeremy Clarkson

text: In October 2021, Clarkson was the subject of a death hoax on Twitter, after the hashtag "#RIPJeremyClarkson" began trending in the UK.


title: Milan

text: Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city has 3.26 million inhabitants. Its continuously built-up urban area (whose outer suburbs extend well beyond the boundaries of the administrative metropolitan city and even stretch into the nearby country of Switzerland) is the fourth largest in the EU with 5.27 million inhabitants. According to national sources, the population within the wider Milan metropolitan area (also known as Greater Milan), is estimated between 8.2 million and 12.5 million making it by far the largest metropolitan area in Italy and one of the largest in the EU.


title: Milan

text: Milan is considered a leading alpha global city, with strengths in the fields of art, chemicals, commerce, design, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media (communication), services, research and tourism. Its business district hosts Italy's stock exchange (), and the headquarters of national and international banks and companies. In terms of GDP, Milan is the wealthiest city in Italy, has the third-largest economy among EU cities after Paris and Madrid, and is the wealthiest among EU non-capital cities. Milan is viewed along with Turin as the southernmost part of the Blue Banana urban development corridor (also known as the "European Megalopolis"), and one of the Four Motors for Europe.


title: Milan

text: The city's role as a major political centre dates back to the late antiquity, when it served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire, while from the 12th century until the 16th century, Milan was one of the largest European cities, and a major trade and commercial centre, consequently becoming the capital of the Duchy of Milan, which was one of the greatest political, artistic and fashion forces in the Renaissance. Despite losing much of its political and cultural importance in the early modern period, the city regained its status as a major economic and political centre, being considered today as the industrial and financial capital of Italy.


title: Milan

text: The city has been recognized as one of the world's four fashion capitals (the others being London, New York, and Paris) thanks to several international events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, which are among the world's biggest in terms of revenue, visitors and growth. It hosted the Universal Exposition in 1906 and 2015. The city hosts numerous cultural institutions, academies and universities, with 11% of the national total of enrolled students. Milan received 10 million visitors in 2018, with the largest numbers of foreign visitors coming from China, United States, France and Germany. The tourists are attracted by Milan's museums and art galleries that include some of the most important collections in the world, including major works by Leonardo da Vinci. The city is served by many luxury hotels and is the fifth-most starred in the world by Michelin Guide. Milan is also home to two of Europe's most successful football teams, A.C. Milan and Inter Milan, and one of Europe's main basketball teams, Olimpia Milano. Milan will host the Winter Olympic and Paralympic games for the first time in 2026, together with Cortina d'Ampezzo.


title: Milan

text: The etymology of the name "Milan" (Lombard: "Milan" ) remains uncertain. One theory holds that the Latin name "Mediolanum" comes from the Latin words "medio" (in the middle) and "planus" (plain). However, some scholars believe that "lanum" comes from the Celtic root "lan", meaning an enclosure or demarcated territory (source of the Welsh word "llan", meaning "a sanctuary or church", ultimately cognate to English/German "Land") in which Celtic communities used to build shrines. Hence "Mediolanum" could signify the central town or sanctuary of a Celtic tribe. Indeed, about sixty Gallo-Roman sites in France bore the name "Mediolanum", for example: Saintes ("Mediolanum Santonum") and Évreux ("Mediolanum Aulercorum"). In addition, another theory links the name to the boar sow (the "Scrofa semilanuta") an ancient emblem of the city, fancifully accounted for in Andrea Alciato's "Emblemata" (1584), beneath a woodcut of the first raising of the city walls, where a boar is seen lifted from the excavation, and the etymology of "Mediolanum" given as "half-wool", explained in Latin and in French. According to this theory, the foundation of Milan is credited to two Celtic peoples, the Bituriges and the Aedui, having as their emblems a ram and a boar; therefore "The city's symbol is a wool-bearing boar, an animal of double form, here with sharp bristles, there with sleek wool." Alciato credits Ambrose for his account.


title: Milan

text: The Celtic Insubres, the inhabitants of the region of northern Italy called Insubria, appear to have founded a settlement around 600 BC. According to the legend reported by Livy (writing between 27 and 9 BC), the Gaulish king Ambicatus sent his nephew Bellovesus into northern Italy at the head of a party drawn from various Gaulish tribes; Bellovesus allegedly founded the settlement in the times of the Roman monarchy, during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus. Tarquin is traditionally recorded as reigning from 616 to 579 BC, according to ancient Roman historian Titus Livy.


title: Milan

text: During the Roman Republic, the Romans, led by consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, fought the Insubres and captured the settlement in 222 BC. The chief of the Insubres then submitted to Rome, giving the Romans control of the settlement. The Romans eventually conquered the entirety of the region, calling the new province "Cisalpine Gaul" () – "Gaul this side of the Alps" – and may have given the city its Latinized name of Mediolanum: in Gaulish "*medio-" meant "middle, centre" and the name element "-lanon" is the Celtic equivalent of Latin "-planum" "plain", thus "*Mediolanon" (Latinized as "Mediolānum") meant "(settlement) in the midst of the plain".


title: Milan

text: In 286 the Roman Emperor Diocletian moved the capital of the Western Roman Empire from Rome to Mediolanum. Diocletian himself chose to reside at Nicomedia in the Eastern Empire, leaving his colleague Maximian at Milan.


title: Milan

text: Maximian built several gigantic monuments: the large circus (470 × 85 metres), the "thermae" or "Baths of Hercules", a large complex of imperial palaces and other services and buildings of which few visible traces remain. Maximian increased the city area to 375 acres by surrounding it with a new, larger stone wall (about 4.5 km long) with many 24-sided towers. The monumental area had twin towers; the one included later in the construction of the convent of San Maurizio Maggiore remains 16.6 m high.


title: Milan

text: The Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan from Mediolanum in 313 AD, granting tolerance to all religions within the Empire, thus paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion of Roman Europe. Constantine was in Mediolanum to celebrate the wedding of his sister to the Eastern Emperor, Licinius.


title: Milan

text: In 402 the Visigoths besieged the city and the Emperor Honorius moved the Imperial residence to Ravenna.


title: Milan

text: In 452 Attila in his turn besieged Mediolanum, but the real break with the city's Imperial past came in 539, during the Gothic War, when Uraia (a nephew of Witiges, formerly King of the Italian Ostrogoths) laid Mediolanum to waste with great loss of life. The Lombards took Ticinum as their capital in 572 (renaming it "Papia" – the modern Pavia), and left early-medieval Milan to the governance of its archbishops.


title: Milan

text: After the siege of the city by the Visigoths in 402, the imperial residence moved to Ravenna. An age of decline began which worsened when Attila, King of the Huns, sacked and devastated the city in 452 AD. In 539 the Ostrogoths conquered and destroyed Milan during the Gothic War against Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. In the summer of 569 the Lombards (from whom the name of the Italian region Lombardy derives), conquered Milan, overpowering the small Byzantine garrison left for its defence. Some Roman structures remained in use in Milan under Lombard rule. Milan surrendered to Charlemagne and the Franks in 774.


title: Milan

text: The 11th century saw a reaction against the control of the Holy Roman Emperors. City-states emerged in northern Italy, an expression of the new political power of the cities and their will to fight against all feudal powers. Milan was no exception. It did not take long, however, for the Italian city-states to begin fighting each other to try to limit neighbouring powers. The Milanese destroyed Lodi and continuously warred with Pavia, Cremona and Como, who in turn asked Frederick I Barbarossa for help. In a sally they captured Empress Beatrice and forced her to ride a donkey backwards through the city until getting out. These brought the destruction of much of Milan in 1162. A fire destroyed the storehouses containing the entire food supply, and within just a few days Milan was forced to surrender.


title: Milan

text: A period of peace followed and Milan prospered as a centre of trade due to its geographical position. During this time, the city was considered one of the largest European cities.


title: Milan

text: In 1395, Gian Galeazzo Visconti became the first Duke of Milan after receiving the title from Wenceslaus, King of the Romans. In 1447 Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, died without a male heir; following the end of the Visconti line, the Ambrosian Republic was established; it took its name from St. Ambrose, the popular patron saint of the city. Both the Guelph and the Ghibelline factions worked together to bring about the Ambrosian Republic in Milan. Nonetheless, the Republic collapsed when, in 1450, Milan was conquered by Francesco I of the House of Sforza, which made Milan one of the leading cities of the Italian Renaissance.


title: Milan

text: Milan's last independent ruler, Lodovico il Moro, requested the aid of Charles VIII of France against the other Italian states, eventually unleashing the Italian Wars. The king's cousin, Louis of Orléans, took part in the expedition and realized most of Italy was virtually defenseless. This prompted him to come back a few years later in 1500, and claim the Duchy of Milan for himself, his grandmother having been a member of the ruling Visconti family. At that time, Milan was also defended by Swiss mercenaries. After the victory of Louis's successor François I over the Swiss at the Battle of Marignan, the duchy was promised to the French king François I. When the Spanish Habsburg Emperor Charles V defeated François I at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, northern Italy, including Milan, passed to Habsburg Spain.


title: Milan

text: In 1556, Charles V abdicated in favour of his son Philip II and his brother Ferdinand I. Charles's Italian possessions, including Milan, passed to Philip II and remained with the Spanish line of Habsburgs, while Ferdinand's Austrian line of Habsburgs ruled the Holy Roman Empire. The Great Plague of Milan in 1629–31, that claimed the lives of an estimated 60,000 people out of a population of 130,000, caused unprecedented devastation in the city and was effectively described by Alessandro Manzoni in his masterpiece "The Betrothed". This episode was seen by many as the symbol of Spanish bad rule and decadence and is considered one of the last outbreaks of the centuries-long pandemic of plague that began with the Black Death.


title: Milan

text: In 1700, the Spanish line of Habsburgs was extinguished with the death of Charles II. After his death, the War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701 with the occupation of all Spanish possessions by French troops backing the claim of the French Philippe of Anjou to the Spanish throne. In 1706, the French were defeated in Ramillies and Turin and were forced to yield northern Italy to the Austrian Habsburgs. In 1713–1714 the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt formally confirmed Austrian sovereignty over most of Habsburg Spain's Italian possessions including Lombardy and its capital, Milan. Napoleon invaded Italy in 1796, and Milan was declared capital of the Cisalpine Republic. Later, he declared Milan capital of the Kingdom of Italy and was crowned King of Italy in the cathedral. Once Napoleon's occupation ended, the Congress of Vienna returned Lombardy, and Milan, to Austrian control in 1815.


title: Milan

text: On March 18, 1848, Milan efficaciously rebelled against Austrian rule, during the so-called "Five Days" (), that forced Field Marshal Radetzky to temporarily withdraw from the city. The bordering kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia sent troops in order to protect the insurgents and organised a plebiscite that ratified by a huge majority the unification of Lombardy with Piedmont-Sardinia. But just a few months later the Austrians were able to send fresh forces that routed the Piedmontese army at the Battle of Custoza on 24 July and to reassert Austrian control over northern Italy. About ten years later, however, Italian nationalist politicians, officers and intellectuals such as Cavour, Garibaldi and Mazzini were able to gather a huge consensus and to pressure the monarchy to forge an alliance with the new French Empire of Napoleon III in order to defeat Austria and establish a large Italian state in the region. At the Battle of Solferino in 1859 French and Italian troops heavily defeated the Austrians that retreated under the Quadrilateral line. Following this battle, Milan and the rest of Lombardy were incorporated into Piedmont-Sardinia, which then proceeded to annex all the other Italian statlets and proclaim the birth of the Kingdom of Italy on March 17, 1861.


title: Milan

text: The political unification of Italy enhanced Milan's economic dominance over northern Italy. A dense rail network, whose construction had started under Austrian patronage, was completed in a brief time, making Milan the rail hub of northern Italy and, with the opening of the Gotthard (1882) and Simplon (1906) railway tunnels, the major South European rail hub for goods and passenger transport. Indeed, Milan and Venice were among the main stops of the Orient Express that started operating from 1919. Abundant hydroelectric resources allowed the development of a strong steel and textile sector and, as Milanese banks dominated Italy's financial sphere, the city became the country's leading financial centre. Very rapid industrialization in the last two decades of the 1800s led to the birth of a massive worker class as well as bitter social conflicts. In May 1898, Milan was shaken by the Bava Beccaris massacre, a riot related to soaring cost of living.


title: Milan

text: Milan's northern location in Italy closer to Europe, secured also a leading role for the city on the political scene. It was in Milan that Benito Mussolini built his political and journalistic careers, and his fascist Blackshirts rallied for the first time in the city's Piazza San Sepolcro; here the future Fascist dictator launched his March on Rome on 28 October 1922. During the Second World War Milan large industrial and transport facilities suffered extensive damage from Allied bombings that often also hit residential districts. When Italy surrendered in 1943, German forces occupied and plundered most of northern Italy, fueling the birth of a massive resistance guerrilla movement. On April 29, 1945, the American 1st Armored Division was advancing on Milan but, before it arrived, the Italian resistance seized control of the city and executed Mussolini along with his mistress and several regime officers, that were later hanged and exposed in Piazzale Loreto, where one year before some resistance members had been executed.