Austrian Empire influence in the Austrian Empire. Francis' heir was his son Ferdinand I, but he suffered from an intellectual disability. Ferdinand's accession preserved the Habsburg dynastic succession, but he was not capable of ruling. The leadership of the Austrian Empire was transferred to a state council composed of Metternich, Francis II's brother Archduke Louis, and Count Franz Anton Kolowrat, who later became the first Minister-President of the Austrian Empire. The liberal Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire forced Metternich's resignation. Metternich is remembered for his success in maintaining the status quo and the Habsburg influence in international affairs. No Habsburg
History of the Catholic Church in Germany of the Teutonic Knights and Knights of Saint John. Monasteries and abbeys lost their means of existence as they had to abandon their lands. The secularization of society became a main theme of European history in the 18th and especially 19th century and was vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church, resulting in a struggle which was later termed “Kulturkampf”. In Germany, this process had its first culmination in the German revolutions of 1848–49 and, after their suppression, gained new momentum with the establishment of liberal governments in various German states in the 1850s and 1860s and in the empire in