Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, does not commit suicide

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Suppose that the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Rudolf, had not shot himself in 1889.  Would there have been any possibility of Austria not getting involved in WWI, and thus perhaps the Habsburg Monarchy being able to retain power?  Or would things still have spiraled out of control, as they eventually did?

[minionofmidas]

It is quite unlikely that war would have ensued in that particular situation if the Emperor of Austria and the German minister of war had had two functioning brain cells to rub together between them. That doesn't mean a similar war wasn't always on the cards - in several situations in the two decades before - as long as the prewar style of secret diplomacy (and of barely responsible governments) prevailed.
Rudolf was mad as a hatter. Nobody to cry about. (He was popular because crown princes almost always were back in the day. Give a man a bad master, and he will aspire to a good master.) Rather mourn that his father didn't die earlier.

[The Dowager Mod]

Germany needed a war sooner rather than later so it was inevitable.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Beside, Franz Joseph lived until 1916, so in 1914 he'd make decisions and usual, not powerless Rudolf.

[minionofmidas]

There's also the issue of the pretext for war being the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria...

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

There's also the issue of the pretext for war being the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria...

Well, true. Doesn't matter who exactly goes to Sarajevo.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

There's also the issue of the pretext for war being the assassination of the Crown Prince of Austria...

Well, true. Doesn't matter who exactly goes to Sarajevo.

Given that Franz Ferdinand was in favor of a softer approach and autonomy towards the ethnic minorities in the empire, if Rudolf had died in Sarajevo, FF might have been able to sway FJ to be reasonable, or maybe not.  There was bad blood between the two Franzes.

On the other hand, had Rudolf lived so that Ferdinand was not the heir presumptive, FJ might not have been so difficult on the issue of who FF would marry.