Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor

Biography

Francis was born in Florence in 1768, the eldest son of Leopold, then Grand Duke of Tuscany and later emperor. He succeeded his father as ruler of the Habsburg lands on 1 March 1792 and was elected Holy Roman Emperor that July, as the French Revolutionary Wars began. Defeated in the first coalition war, he gave up the left bank of the Rhine at Campo Formio in 1797 in exchange for Venice and Dalmatia.

When Napoleon made himself emperor, Francis took the title Emperor of Austria in 1804. Defeat at Austerlitz forced him to accept the Peace of Pressburg in 1805, and after Napoleon set up the Confederation of the Rhine he laid down the Holy Roman crown in August 1806, ending the empire. A further defeat in 1809 cost more territory and led to the marriage of his daughter Marie Louise to Napoleon.

Austria joined the final coalition against Napoleon in 1813. Represented by his chancellor Metternich, Francis presided over the Congress of Vienna, recovered most of his lands, became the first president of the German Confederation and joined the Holy Alliance. Deeply distrustful of radicalism after the Revolution, he ruled as a conservative until his death in Vienna in 1835, when his son Ferdinand I succeeded him.