How would Wilhelm adapt to this new reality? Forced to flee Paris for Vienna after a conviction for fraud in 1935, Wilhelm watched the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party. He later moved to Paris where he continued to promote the Ukrainian cause and live a playboy lifestyle characterized by excessive drinking, homosexuality, and reckless spending. He left Vienna for Spain to visit his Hapsburg relative King Alfonso. He promoted various unsuccessful schemes such as making Ukraine a “promised land” for European Jews. His resources were slim after the fall of the Hapsburgs, so he was constantly searching for new sources of income. Wilhelm’s dream of a Ukrainian nation did not survive.Īfter World War I, Wilhelm was at loose ends. At the end of the war, the empire had fallen apart, and the Hapsburgs had to give up power. He met several prominent Ukrainians including Metropolitan Andrii Sheptytsy and Hetman Skoropadsky. Eventually, Wilhelm became the diplomatic representative of the Habsburgs in Ukraine. He soon became one of them by speaking Ukrainian, wearing an embroidered shirt under his uniform, and calling himself “Vasyl.” His soldiers nicknamed him, “The Red Prince,” because of his support of the Ukrainian peasantry. 83) In June 1915, Wilhelm received command of a platoon in a mostly Ukrainian regiment. “Service during wartime was the destiny of Habsburg archdukes.” (p. In 1914, Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand, the Hapsburg heir, was assassinated in Sarajevo. Perhaps he could eventually rule Ukraine for the Hapsburg monarchy.

He hoped to be that king! During hi s time at military school in Moravia, Wilhelm became interested in the idea of a Ukrainian state. His father believed that Poland would eventually become a separate entity and would need a Habsburg king. 2) Wilhelm’s parents had castles on a peninsula called Istria on the Adriatic Sea and in Poland. Stretching from the mountains of Ukraine in the north to the warm water of the Adriatic Sea in the south…” (p. “At the time, their family still ruled the Habsburg monarchy, Europe’s proudest and oldest realm. Although he died in obscurity in a Russian prison in 1948, Wilhelm made the creation of a Ukrainian nation the cause of his life.Īs the son of Archduke Stefan and Archduchess Maria Theresia, Wilhelm led a very privileged life along with his five brothers and sisters. Who can resist a romantic Hapsburg hero who openly embraces the cause of Ukrainian nationalism in the early 20th century? Wilhelm von Habsburg was such a man.

In this edition of Knyzka Corner, we will be discussing Timothy Snyder’s, The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke.

The Red Prince by Timothy Snyder