Original scientific paper
Francis I of Austria on Dubrovnik (Ragusa) in His Diary 1818
Ivan Pederin
Abstract
Francis I, the Emperor of Austria, made a trip to Croatia in the spring of 1818 following a suggestion of the Duke Joseph Maximilian Liech tenstein, who had some plans for Austrian territorial expansion on account of the Ottoman provinces of the East Mediterranean.
Francis I was a soldier with some experience in warfare strategy after the wars against Napoleon. He had a good taste, but poor education, which may be considered characteristic for aristocracy. He was fond of architecture so far as it was Roman architecture (Split in the Dalmatian Croatia was particularly rich in Roman buildings), but he neglected the Croatian literature and science of Dubrovnik, the »Croatian Athens«. He also disliked the medieval architecture in which Dubrovnik is very rich. He was completely indifferent for all economic problems of the impoverished Republic, which went under his rule after the lawless abolition declared by the French troops in 1808. He did not make this trip in order to bring prosperity to the Croatian province of Dalmatia, which he had refused to incorporate with Croatia, but to study the possibility to use Dubrovnik and her fortresses as a starting point for the intended war against the Ottoman Empire. This war was never declared owing to the premature death of J. M. v. Liechtenstein and Meternich's decision that status quo ante was to be considered.
The Emperor's opinion was that Dubrovnik was uncaptured in a defensive war, but useless in an offensive one. For the Croatian reader it must be distasteful to see how the Emperor did not see anything else in the »Croatian Athens«, but fortresses and guns.
Keywords
Francis I of Austria; Dubrovnik; diary
Hrčak ID:
244680
URI
Publication date:
30.6.1979.
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