Joseph 2 austria biography of william hill

Professional Affiliation

Former Professor of National Security Strategy, National War College, Washington D.C.

Expert Bio

William H. Hill is a Global Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute. A retired Foreign Service officer, Dr. Hill is an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union, east-west relations, and European multilateral diplomacy. He served two terms – January 2003-July 2006 and June 1999-November 2001 – as Head of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, where he was charged with negotiation of a political settlement to the Transdniestrian conflict and facilitation of the withdrawal of Russian forces, arms, and ammunition from Moldova. He is the author of Russia, the Near Abroad and the West: Lessons from the Moldova-Transdniestria Conflict, and No Place for Russia: European Security Institutions Since 1989.

Wilson Center Project

"Post-Cold War Euro-Atlantic Security Institutions"

Previous Terms

• Oct 2001 - Jun 01, 2002: "European Security Institutions Since the Cold War: The Changing Roles of NATO and OSCE" 
• Aug 2014 - June 30, 2015: Public Policy Scholar: "Post-Cold War Euro-Atlantic Security Institutions"

Palatine of Hungary from 1796 to 1847

Archduke Joseph Anton of Austria (German: Erzherzog Joseph Anton Johann Baptist von Österreich; Hungarian: Habsburg József Antal János Baptista főherceg, József nádor; 9 March 1776 – 13 January 1847) was the 103rd and penultimate palatine of Hungary who served for over fifty years from 1796 to 1847, after a period as governor in 1795.

The latter half of his service coincided with the Hungarian Reform Era, and he mediated between the government of Francis I, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor and the Hungarian nobility, representing the country's interests in Vienna. He played a prominent role in the development of Pest as a cultural and economic centre; the neoclassical buildings constructed on his initiative define the city's modern appearance. The landscaping of the City Park of Budapest and Margaret Island happened under his supervision. He supported public education, technical higher education, the arts, the construction of railroads, and various progressive-thinking societies and associations. He donated substantially towards the establishment of the Hungarian National Museum, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and the National Széchényi Library.

He was an archduke of Austria and a prince of Bohemia, Hungary, and Tuscany as the son of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor. The Hungarian or Palatinal branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine descends from him. In the Imperial Army, and later in the Austrian Army, he bore the rank of Feldmarschall.

Early life and education

Childhood in Tuscany

Archduke Joseph Anton Johann Baptist of Austria was born on 9 March 1776 in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany as the ninth child and seventh son of Leopold I, Grand Duke of Tuscany and InfantaMaria Luisa of Spain. He had fifteen siblings, two of whom died in infancy. Through his father, he was a grandson of Maria Theresa, Holy Roman Empress Dowager, Que

Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790

"Joseph II" redirects here. For other uses, see Joseph II (disambiguation).

Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I, and the brother of Marie Antoinette, Leopold II, Maria Carolina of Austria, and Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma. He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the union of the Houses of Habsburg and Lorraine, styled Habsburg-Lorraine.

Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism like his brother Leopold II; however, his commitment to secularizing, liberalizing and modernizing reforms resulted in significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programs. Meanwhile, despite making some territorial gains, his reckless foreign policy badly isolated Austria. He has been ranked with Catherine the Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia as one of the three great Enlightenment monarchs. False but influential letters depict him as a somewhat more radical philosophe than he probably was. His policies are now known as Josephinism.

He was a supporter of the arts, particularly of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. He died with no known surviving legitimate offspring and was succeeded by his younger brother Leopold II.

Early life

He was baptised under the full name Josephus Benedictus Joannes Antonius Michael Adamus, born an archduke of Austria. Joseph was born in the midst of the early upheavals of the War of the Austrian Succession. His formal education was provided through the writings of David Hume, Edward Gibbon, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the Encyclopédistes, and by the example of his contemporary (and sometimes rival) King Frederick II of Prussia. His