Like the suicidal policies of Nicholas II in Russia, Francis Joseph’s youthful and naive experiment in autocracy illustrates what is perhaps the deadliest weapon in the arsenal of revolutionary movements: their ability to goad their adversaries into self-slaughtering madness. Ironically, Francis Joseph was probably saved from destruction by the very enormity of his error. He had so radically misread the whole politico-diplomatic situation in Europe that the saber of reaction was wrenched out of his hands before he had time to chop off his own head with it.
Chop off his own head
