Ending and Remembering

Huge numbers of lives were lost in all the imperial wars, and millions of Indians died, not just fighting for the British, but in famines under British rule. Napoleon I and III, Wilhelm II, and Karl I were forced to abdicate after military defeat and Agustín and Maximilian of Mexico were executed. Pedro II of Brazil and George VI of India relinquished their thrones for other reasons. The chapter discusses how imperial cities bear witness today to the regimes that have gone and discusses what statuary and monuments in Paris, in Petrópolis, in Koblenz, and in India tell us about how vanished emperors are remembered.

Harnessing Religion to the Imperial Cause

Religion plays a central role in any monarchical system, for it is God Himself who is considered the fount of monarchical power. Imperial regimes, like monarchical ones, used religion to legitimate as well as to project their power. This chapter discusses Franz Joseph of Austria’s Catholic piety and how Napoleon I instrumentalized religion and clashed with the pope. It analyses the Feast of the Saint-Napoleon, which Napoleon III used to project his power, and the Hohenzollerns’ presentation of themselves as the defenders of Protestantism. The renovation of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, a huge programme of church building in the Prussian lands, and Wilhelm II’s three most prestigious church projects are discussed in detail.

Seeing the Emperor

Seeing and being seen is the glue that cements the relationship between ruler and ruled. That the ruler should present him or herself to the public gaze became even more important in the nineteenth century when his or her subjects began increasingly to call for self-determination. Emperors, like all rulers, had to be on show and, though they could sometimes be seen in the flesh, most people had to rely on images, which had to be carefully composed. The chapter discusses the different iconographical types of official imperial portrait. The technical means to reproduce and disseminate images became more and more sophisticated during the nineteenth century, with photography and film the most important innovations.

Staging Empire as History and Allegory in Austria and Germany

Theatrical presentations of the foundational myths of the Austrian and German empires, either as costumed processions and pageants or as specially commissioned plays for the theatre, were staged on anniversaries and important jubilees. In Austria, the most important was Franz Joseph’s Diamond Jubilee in 1908, when a pageant of 12,000 lay participants took place in Vienna, while other elements of the national myth were presented on the stage. Wilhelm II played an active part in promoting the imperial theatre festival in Wiesbaden between 1896 and 1914, for which parts of the Hohenzollern myth were dramatized. In 1897, on Wilhelm I’s hundredth birthday, Ernst von Wildenbruch’s Willehalm was performed in Berlin, a verse drama presenting Wilhelm I in allegorical form as the hero who rescued Germany from the evil French.

Showcasing the Empire

The second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth were remarkable for large-scale international exhibitions of agricultural products, manufactured goods, technological inventions, and artworks that were staged in major cities in purpose-built buildings and visited by very large numbers of people. These events were demonstrations of national pride, functioned as engines of modernity, and promoted the global exchange of knowledge, global competition, and global trade. The chapter discusses how Napoleon III used the Paris exhibitions of 1855 and 1867 to promote himself and his Empire and how Franz Joseph engaged in international diplomacy during the Viennese world exhibition on 1873. Pedro II used his prestige to promote Brazilian exhibits in Paris in 1862 and 1857, in Vienna in 1873 and in Philadelphia in 1876.

Adopting the Imperial Idea Beyond Europe

During the Napoleonic period, ‘the imperial idea’ spread to colonial territories far from Europe. This chapter discusses how Brazil became an empire when Pedro I declared independence from Portugal and how Mexico declared independence from Spain under Agustín de Iturbide. Pedro II succeeded his father as emperor of Brazil but abdicated in 1889. Agustín I was executed in 1824, as was the second emperor of Mexico, Maximilian of Austria, in 1867. These emperors also had to create symbolic power with courts, costumes, ceremonial, and coronations on the Napoleonic model, Queen Victoria was given the title of empress in 1876 and the British invented a ceremony of acclamation in 1877 which they called a ‘durbar’.

Performing Emperorship

To be an emperor was a performance, which kept the emperor in power as long as it fulfilled a need in his subjects. The imperial court and its courtiers were the essential background for this performance. Coronation robes had to be invented and court dress designed and minutely regulated in order to mark gradations in rank among courtiers and officials. An extensive system of medals, honours, and decorations was used in all territories to reward those close to the crown and bind them to the emperor. In India, the viceregal court had to represent the might and magnificence of a distant empress and ensure the loyalty of the Indian princes who ruled a third of India.

Creating the Imperial City

This chapter discusses the creation of imperial cities: Paris was remodelled by Napoleon III, the layout of Vienna was altered in the era of Franz Joseph, and Berlin was expanded under Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II from a Prussian into an imperial capital. In each case this meant creating broad boulevards, green spaces, and impressive buildings, but also providing clean water, efficient sewage systems, street lighting, and local transport. Monuments celebrating victories and generals were also part of the urban design. London only built a ceremonial avenue in the twentieth century. Maximilian had great plans for Mexico City based on what he had seen in Paris, Vienna, and Brussels, while Pedro II built Petrópolis, a summer residence in the hills above Rio de Janeiro.

Being an Imperial Consort

Within the structure of an imperial court, the empress played a key role, but one which was a challenge to negotiate for the twenty empresses between 1804 and 1947. They had to fulfil a biological imperative whose success was out of their hands while conforming to expectations of how they should act that often ran counter to their own individuality. In the latter part of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, they were also playing their role at a time when the place of women in society was up for debate, while at the same time they themselves were subject to increasing exposure in the developing mass media. The chapter discusses the empresses in relation to motherhood, beauty and fashion, charitable activities, and political involvement, as well as picking out some empresses for special discussion.

Creating Myth, Asserting Dynasty

The series of new nineteenth-century emperors analysed in this book begins in 1804 with two figures who exemplify two contrasting methods of projecting imperial power. One of them, Napoleon Bonaparte, concentrated his efforts on inventing a tradition and on creating a myth and a huge panoply of power to compensate for the fact that he was a parvenu. The other, Franz I of Austria, formerly Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor, quietly asserted his ancient lineage and reminded his people of his dynastic claim to imperial glory. This chapter analyses Napoleon I’s coronations as emperor of the French and as king of Italy and Franz I’s creation of Franzensburg, a dynastic monument open to the public.