Hapsburg (Noun)
Meaning
A royal German family that provided rulers for several European states and wore the crown of the Holy Roman Empire from 1440 to 1806.
Classification
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects.
Examples
- The Hapsburgs ruled a vast swathe of Europe, with territories stretching from Spain to Hungary and from Austria to Italy.
- The Hapsburg Empress Maria Theresa successfully played off her enemies against each other and retained effective control over her lands.
- Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Hapsburg Emperor Joseph allied to defeat the Ottoman Turks in a series of battles along the Danube.
- The 1914 assassination of the Hapsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked a diplomatic crisis that eventually led to the outbreak of World War I.
- As Austria's Hapsburg dynasty crumbled in the late 1800s, its monarch Franz Joseph became increasingly isolated from European politics.