Austro-Italian ironclad arms race
In the years after Ferdinand Max's departure from Austria, the Imperial Austrian Navy suffered under further political and budgetary constraints. In April 1864, it was proposed that the naval ministry, which the former Archduke had helped to establish, be disbanded. In January 1865, Emperor Franz Joseph I dissolved the ministry and the Imperial Austrian Navy was again placed under the jurisdiction of the Austrian Ministry of War. Under the 1865 budget, just 7,100,000 Florins were allocated towards naval expenses, but once more, none of the funds were designated for warship construction. In 1866, the naval budget grew slightly to 7,800,000 Florins, but for the third consecutive year there would be no funds for additional ironclads, or other warships. Thus, when the Seven Weeks War began in June 1866, the Imperial Austrian Navy would possess only ships which had been constructed during Ferdinand Max's tenure as "Oberkommandant der Marine".
History of Austria
The dynasty was now en route to become a world power. The concept of "pietas austriacae" (the divine duty to rule had originated with Rudolph I, but was reformulated by Frederick as AEIOU, "Alles Erdreich ist Österreich untertan" or "Austriae est imperare orbi universo" (Austria's destiny is to rule the world), which came to symbolise Austrian power. However, not all events proceeded smoothly for Frederick. The Austrian-Hungarian War (1477–1488) resulted in the Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus setting himself up in Vienna in 1485 till his death in 1490. Hungary occupied the entire Eastern Austria. Frederick therefore found himself with an itinerant court, predominantly in the Upper Austrian capital of Linz.