laststandonzombieisland

At the beginning of World War One in 1914 there sat three Royal families. The Romanovs on the seat of Imperial Russia in St. Petersburg, the Hohenzollerns on the throne of Imperial Germany in Berlin, and the Hapsburgs on the combined KuK throne of Austria and Hungary.

In 1914 they ruled most of the world. It should be remembered that Russia held 1/6th of the Worlds land mass including what is now Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, most of Poland, the Caucasus, et al.

In Austria most of what is now central Europe and the Balkans were unified under the old Hapsburg throne, the last holdout of the millennium old Holy Roman Empire. It was an Austrian archduke’s death, Franz Ferdinand, that ignited the entire WWI thing after all.

By 1918 all of these empires had been swept away. The Tsar and his family lay buried in a shallow grave in the forests of the Ural mountains, executed by the Bolsheviks. The Kaiser of Germany, with his mustache still perfect was in exile in Holland. The Hapsburgs of Austria had been banished from their country as well.

Little Archduke Otto, not yet four when he was crowned and only six when his family throne was dissolved, fled Austria for a life of exile. In nearly a hundred years on the run he was offered  the throne of Spain by Franco (which he turned down), was given a death sentence by Hitler (who was Austrian and was found unfit to serve in the Imperial Austrian Army in 1914 it should be remembered), and had a hand in the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Poor homeless Otto finally passed quietly away July 4, 2011 at age 98…since he was titularly on the rolls of the Imperial Army in World War One he may be considered Austria last WWI veteran…he was still in exile in Germany when he died.

Truly the end of an era.