In the autumn of 1854 Johann Strauss came to a political decision: he composed a march and dedicated it "in deepest reverence to his Majesty Napoleon III [1808-73], Emperor of France [1852-70]". By this action he took sides in a dispute which, against the background of the Crimean War, had split the population of the Danube monarchy and, above all, of the Imperial capital Vienna into two camps. What had led to this disharmony? Concerned about hegemony in the Balkans and the region around the Bosphorus, Russian troops marched into Moldavia in July 1853, whereupon Turkey, which then had sovereignty over this region, declared war on the Tsar's empire. Russia had tried to win the Danube monarchy's support for its policy: Tsar Nicholas I travelled to Olmütz (today Olomouc, Czechoslovakia) and begged the young Austrian Emperor Franz Josef to intervene in the dispute on the side of Russia. The generals of the Imperial-Royal army were prepared to go along with this request, but the politicians - to some extent under the influence of the elderly Prince Metternich - opposed it, because the British and French were uniting against Russia's action. An ambassadors' conference meeting in Vienna, at which diplomats from Austria, Prussia, Britain and France took part, ended on 9 April 1854 with the signing of a protocol guaranteeing Turkish territory. Russia, Austria's ally for more than a century, would subsequently never forgive the Habsburg monarchy for what it considered ingratitude for Russian intervention to quell the Hungarian uprising of 1849. As has already been said, the diplomats of the Danube monarchy took the side of the Allies, and this opinion was shared by the majority of the Viennese population, including the 28-year-old Johann Strauss. When - in spite of the raging cholera epidemic - the 'French Party' organised a "Napoleon Festival" for 12 October 1854 at Karl Schwender's casino in the suburb of Rudolfsheim (today, the 15th District of Vienna), the Morgen-Post (12.10.1854) announced that on this occasion Johann would conduct the Strauss Orchestra in the first performance of a specially composed Napoleons-Fest-Marsch (Napoléon Festival March). Three days after the celebration, on 15 October, the Wiener Neuigkeits-Blatt published a short report on the proceedings: "Vienna, 14.10. - The popularity which Schwender's premises have achieved manifested itself again at the grand festival which took place the day before yesterday, which was attended by the élite of society. The 'Napoleon-Marsch' by Johann Strauss pleased, and had to be repeated three times". That November it was announced in the Viennese press that "his Majesty, the Emperor Napoléon III, has been pleased to accept the dedication of the 'Napoleon March' composed by Johann Strauss". For h ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SpXn8fCHtI

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