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Image:Austrian imperial crown dsc02787.jpg The Crown of the Austrian Emperor
The term "Austrian Empire" is also used for the Habsburg possessions before 1804, which had no official collective name, although Austria is more frequent; the term has also been used, incorrectly, of Austria-Hungary. The Austrian Empire was founded by Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (who became Austrian Emperor Franz I or "Franz") as a state comprising his personal lands within the larger Empire. This was a reaction to Napoleon Bonaparte's proclamation of the First French Empire in 1804. Austria then fought against France during the Third Coalition, and, after meeting crushing defeat at Austerlitz, agreed to the Treaty of Pressburg, which in practice meant dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, weakening Austria and reorganizing the present area of Germany under a Napoleonic imprint. On 6 August 1806, Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, due to the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine by France; he did not want Napoleon to succeed him.
The Austrian Empire did not originally include the Kingdom of Hungary, and its extensive dependent territories, which the Habsburgs had ruled since 1541; Hungary was incorporated after the defeat of the revolutionaries during the 1848/49 revolution. Much controversy ensued, including Hungarian efforts to obtain constitutional reform by declining to crown the new Emperor Francis Joseph as King of Hungary, After Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and left the German Confederation, the Austrian Empire was transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the Ausgleich of 1867, which granted Hungary and the Hungarian lands equal status to the rest of Austria as a whole.
Creation
Changes shaping the nature of the Austrian Empire took place during conferences in Rastatt (1797-1799) and Regensburg (1801-1803). On 24 March 1803, the Imperial Recess (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss) was declared, which greatly reduced the number of clerical territories from 81 to only 3 and imperial cities from 51 to 6. This measure was aimed at replacing the old constitution of the Holy Roman Empire, but the actual consequence of the Imperial Recess was the end of the Holy Roman Empire. Taking this significant change into consideration, Francis II abandoned his use of the title Holy Roman Emperor and created a new one, Emperor of Austria, for himself and his successors. The fall and dissolution of the Empire was accelerated by French intervention in the Empire in September 1805. On 20 October 1805, an Austrian army led by general Karl Mack von Leiberich was defeated by French armies near the town of Ulm. The French victory resulted in the capture of 20,000 Austrian soldiers and many cannons. Napoleon’s army won another victory in the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. In light of those events, Francis was forced to negotiate with the French from 4 December to 6 December 1805. These negotiations were concluded by an armistice on 6 December 1805.
On 12 July 1806, the Confederation of the Rhine was established comprising 16 sovereigns and countries. This confederation, under French influence, put an end to the Holy Roman Empire. On 6 August 1806, even Francis recognized the new state of things and claimed the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. When, on 11 August 1804, Francis II assumed the title of first Emperor of Austria, the empire spanned from present-day Italy to the Netherlands and from present-day Poland to the Balkans. The multi-national makeup of the empire is illustrated by the fact that its population included 6,500,000 Germans, 3,360,000 Czechs, 2,000,000 Walloons and Flemings, 1,000,000 Poles, 900,000 Croats, 700,000 Serbs and numerous smaller nationalities. The emperor ruled Austria as the namesake, but the Hungarian possessions as King of Hungary leading to the Empire's multi-national army being styled the Kaiserlich-königliche Armee (Imperial and Royal Army). Initially, the central government ruled the Cisleithanian regions of the empire while Hungary was ruled by its own Diet which enjoyed independence to some extent, as did the Netherlands, Italian duchies and Tyrol. Foreign policyThe years 1804-1815 in Austrian foreign policy were significantly determined by the Napoleonic Wars. After Prussia signed a peace treaty with France on April 5, 1795, Austria was forced to carry the main burden of war with the French Empire for almost ten years. This situation led to a distortion of Austrian economy contributing Austrians perceived the war in a highly unpopular manner. With regard to the mentioned mood, Emperor Francis II refused to join the next war against Napoleonic France for long time. On the other hand, Francis II did not abandon a possibility of a revenge on France and therefore he entered into a secret military agreement with the Russian Empire in November 1804. This convention was to assure a mutual cooperation between Austria and Russia in the case of a new war against France. An apparent unwillingness of Austria to join the Third Coalition was overcome by British subsidies. A decisive defeat at Battle of Austerlitz put an end to Austrian membership in the Third Coalition. Although Austrian budget suffered from wartime expenditures and its international position was significantly undermined, the humiliating Treaty of Pressburg provided plenty of time to strengthening the army and economy. Moreover, an ambitious Archduke Charles together with Johann Philipp von Stadion pursued a new war with France. Archduke Charles of Austria served as the Head of the Council of War and Commander in Chief of the Austrian army. Endowed with the enlarged powers, he reformed Austrian Army to preparedness for another war. Johann Philipp von Stadion, the foreign minister, personally hated Napoleon due to an experience of confiscation of his possessions in France by Napoleon. In addition, the third wife of Francis II, Marie Ludovika of Austria-Este, agreed with Stadion's efforts to begin a new war. Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, located in Paris, called for careful advance in the case of the war against France. The defeat of French army at the Battle of Bailén in Spain on 27 July 1808 triggered the war. On 9 April 1809, Austrian Army numbered 170,000 men attacked Bavaria. Despite military defeats - especially high magnitude losses like those at the Battles of Marengo, Ulm, Austerlitz and Wagram - and consequently lost territory throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (the Treaties of Campo Formio in 1797, Pressburg in 1806, and Schönbrunn in 1809), Austria played a decisive part in the overthrow of Napoleon in the campaigns of 1813-14. The latter period of Napoleonic Wars featured Metternich exerting a large degree of influence over foreign policy in the Austrian Empire, a matter nominally decided by the Emperor. Metternich initially supported an alliance with France, arranging the marriage between Napoleon and the Francis II's daughter, Marie-Louise; however, by the 1812 campaign, he had realised the inevitability of Napoleon's downfall and took Austria to war against France. Metternich's influence at the Congress of Vienna was remarkable, and he became not only the premier statesman in Europe but virtual ruler of the Empire until 1848 - the Year of Revolutions - and the rise of liberalism equated to his political downfall. Constituent lands
See alsoFor the history of these states before 1804, see Holy Roman Empire, Habsburg Monarchy, and articles on each of the component countries. After 1867, see Austria-Hungary. See also: References
Empires:
Austria |
Kingdoms:
Prussia |
Bavaria |
Saxony |
Hanover |
Württemberg |
Electorates:
Hesse-Cassel | cs:Rakouské císařství de:Kaisertum Österreich es:Imperio Austríaco fr:Empire d'Autriche it:Impero austriaco ko:오스트리아 제국 he:האימפריה האוסטרית lv:Austrijas impērija nl:Keizerrijk Oostenrijk no:Keiserdømmet Østerrike ja:オーストリア帝国 pl:Cesarstwo Austriackie pt:Império Austríaco ro:Imperiul Austriac ru:Австрийская империя sl:Avstrijsko cesarstvo sr:Аустријско царство zh:奧地利帝國
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