Why was Franz Ferdinand the throne presumptive and not any of Franz Joseph's daughters?

by JimmyPlaysGuitar
tim_mcdaniel

"Heir presumptive".

Because the house of Habsburg had had semi-Salic inheritance for some 200 years (the family pact of 1703): women could inherit only if all male lines had ended. Female succession had provoked the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1715) and the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). A good source with many more details is on heraldica.org.