Franz Joseph I was the longest-reigning emperor of Austria and the king of Hungary. He ruled over the kingdoms from 1848 to 1916, until his death. He was also the third-longest-reigning ruler in the history of Europe, after Louis XIV of France and Johann II of Liechtenstein. He was also the president of the ‘German Federation’ from May 1, 1850, to August 24, 1866. He was the uncrowned king of Bohemia during his reign. Since childhood, Franz was expected to become an able ruler, since his father was not too ambitious and his uncle was mentally weak. Thus, Franz Joseph was crowned as the new emperor on December 2, 1848, after Emperor Ferdinand stepped down from the throne. He began his reign with an effort to replace constitutionalism with absolute centralism, or neoabsolutism, and continued to bring changes in his domestic and foreign policies. The assassination of his nephew resulted in a war against Serbia, which led to the First World War. He died on November 21, 1916, after reigning for 68 long years.