THE AUSTRIAN PARTITION^103Map 4. Austrian Galicia, (1773-1918)tional experiments. The pious absolutism of Maria Theresa (1740-80) gave way
to the ambitious but impermanent reforms of her son, Joseph II (1780-90). The
reigns of Leopold II (1790-2.), and of Francis II (1792-1835) were disturbed by
the upheavals of the Revolutionary Era, during which, in 1806, the old Holy
Roman Empire was destroyed and superseded by the Austrian Empire. The
reactionary and unbending rule of Metternich, whose supremacy continued for
more than thirty years to the end of the reign of Ferdinand I (1835-48), was bro-
ken by the Revolution of 1848. The long reign of Francis-Joseph I (1848-1916)
witnessed several profound changes. From the absolutist stance of his early
years, he passed in i860 into a period of timid experimentation, which started
with the October Diploma of 1860 establishing a constitutional system, and
which came to a head with the Ausgleich of 1867 initiating the Dual Monarchy
of Austria—Hungary. In his later years, he made far-reaching concessions to
demands for democracy and minority rights, and in 1907 admitted the principle
of universal suffrage. He died in November 1916, when Austria was already on
the point of collapse, leaving his great-nephew Charles I (1916-18) little hope of