When it comes to 19th-century Europe, it is impossible not to avoid a topic figure, that is, the famous Napoleon! It was the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars that profoundly affected the Political Landscape of Europe and changed the fate of many modern European countries. This includes Austria
Austria
Speaking of the historical period of Austria, it was first developed as a frontier territory in the hands of the Babenberg family as an Austrian principality. The Babenberg dynasty was then taken over by the Habsburgs for hundreds of years, during which time Austria was upgraded from a principality to a grand duchy
At the end of the Grand Duchy of Austria, the main branch of the Habsburg family was severed, and the female Maria. Theresia took over the family domain and began the rule of the Austrian Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty
After a period of development and innovation of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, Austria was "upgraded" again, and the Grand Duchy of Austria ruled by the Habsburg-Lorraine Dynasty was upgraded to become the famous Austrian Empire!
Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty
We have previously talked about the process of Austria's change from the Habsburg dynasty to the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty (see the severance of the Habsburg family in Austria for details!). From Maria to Joseph – A Brief History of Austria 17)
Maria. Theresia
Among them, as a key pivotal figure in the transition of the times, is naturally The Austrian Maria. Queen Theresia, it was her rule that allowed the austrian Habsburg family to continue
Maria's successor was his son Joseph II, whom we have introduced, who accepted democratic ideas and carried out drastic reforms in Austria, and achieved many achievements, but in the end he ended up hating because of domestic contradictions and too many oppositional forces
Joseph II
From his youth to his death, Joseph II has been committed to the reform of the country, but the more he reaches his old age, the more he rebels, after all, the feudal forces in Europe for thousands of years cannot be easily changed, and the worms are still dead and not stiff
Thus joseph II, in his later years, under internal and external pressure, was forced to cancel some reform measures, and all his lifelong efforts to obtain freedom and welfare for his subjects seemed to be in vain, so he was deeply shocked and sick.
Joseph
And until his death, he had no wife, no children, and no mistresses. So today we evaluate Joseph as a reformer who dedicated his life to the country.
But glory returned to glory, and as soon as Joseph died, the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty was once again at risk of extinction, when Joseph's brother Leopold II came out...
Leopold II
Leopold II was Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1790–1792, succeeding his brother Joseph II), king of Hungary and Bohemia, and Grand Duke of Tuscany, Italy under the Grand Duchy of Austria
He was also the son of Maria Theresia and Franz I, and unlike Joseph's eldest son, Leopold was the third son in the family
Of course, after the death of his brother Joseph (1790), he inherited the Habsburgs, but by coincidence, he himself died two years later in 1792
Leopold
After the death of Leopold II, he passed on the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty to his son Franz II! Yes, that's right, it was Franz II who eventually founded the Austrian Empire!
Franz II
Franz II was the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (reigned 1792–1806) and the first Emperor of the Austrian Empire (reigned 1804–1835). And he was known as Franz I during his tenure as Emperor of Austria (European naming conventions are quite annoying anyway[cover your face])
He was the son of Leopold II and Maria Luisa of Spain, and thus became the head of the Habsburg family after his father's death in 1792 (in other words, Joseph II's side was completely severed).
When Franz II became Holy Roman Emperor (1792), the division of the German city-states was already very serious, and the internal division of the Holy Roman Empire at the end of the 18th century, even the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries, was quite terrible
The Holy Roman Empire was divided within itself
By the time Franz II took the throne, the Holy Roman Emperor had long since lost his real power, and the country was basically divided into large and small princely states, the two strongest of which were Austria and Prussia.
The French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon, which affected Europe at that time, exacerbated the division of the German city-states, so to speak: the prospects for the entire Holy Roman Empire are not optimistic!
French Revolution
After the Second Coalition against Napoleon, the Holy Roman Empire lost all of Italy's territory, and even the coffin of the pension was lost
In addition, Switzerland at that time also established the Helvetti Republic, which plundered the territory of the Grand Duchy of Austria in the middle of the Alps. The Holy Roman Empire and the Grand Duchy of Austria both suffered heavy losses
Map of the Republic of Helvetti
In order to fight against napoleon, who had repeated victories, the ambitious Franz II also integrated domestic territories and resources. On May 18, 1804, after Napoleon, the first ruler of France, became emperor, Franz II, who had always had the ambition to be called emperor, also followed suit
Napoleon was proclaimed emperor
On August 10, 1804, three months after Napoleon became emperor, Franz II of the Austrian Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty finally became emperor and proclaimed himself Emperor of Austria.
Thus began the struggle between the Austrian Empire (1804-1918) and the Napoleonic Empire (1804-1815)...
Two clashes
After the outbreak of the French Revolution, Austria participated in three anti-French wars in order to extinguish the flames of this revolution and to strangle this spark in its cradle
But coincidentally, France produced a Napoleon, and except for the first anti-French war, the remaining six anti-French alliances had to fight against Napoleon, a military wizard
As expected, the Coalition lost the Second and Third Wars against France, and Napoleon became emperor, establishing the famous First French Empire (Napoleon's Empire).
Map of the First French Empire (green)
After the Third Coalition, Franz II's defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz led to the fall of Vienna(also the capital of Austria) of the Holy Roman Empire three times by the French, and the Austrian army was even completely annihilated
Battle of Austerlitz
Forced to be helpless, the two sides signed the famous "Peace of Presburg", and the famous Confederation of the Rhine during the Napoleonic Wars of the French Revolution was founded!
The so-called Federation of the Rhine (1806-1813) was actually a political entity in the German region established by Napoleon after the defeat of Tsar Alexander I of the Russian Empire and Emperor Franz II of Austria at the Battle of Austerlitz
Approximate location of the Rhine Federation
Its original members were actually the 16 former Holy Roman Empire states, but either actively or passively entered the French side and became part of the power of the Napoleonic Empire.
Sphere of influence at the height of the Napoleonic Empire
This move was undoubtedly a precursor to the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire, and although the Holy Roman Empire had long since ceased to exist in name only, the establishment of the Rhine Federation became the last aphrodisiac and critical illness notice of the Holy Roman Empire
In 1806, Napoleon forcibly dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, and at this point, the Holy Roman Empire, which had lasted for eight hundred years, finally collapsed! At the same time, on 6 August 1806, Franz II was forced to renounce the title of Holy Roman Emperor, and he became the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire
Fortunately, Franz II retained the title of Emperor of Austria, that is, only the Holy Roman Empire was ended and the Austrian Empire was left behind (for details, see The Establishment of the Empire, From the Grand Duchy of Austria to the Austrian Empire - A Brief History of Austria18)
Of course, Austria later became part of the Rhine Confederacy, and Franz II was forced to marry his daughter Marie Luisa to Napoleon in a consensual manner, in exchange for some rights.
Mary Louisa
Franz II was again forced to submit to napoleon and Tsar Alexander I's Tyrsit alliance. And according to the agreement, it is not allowed to interfere in the Seventh Russo-Turkish War.
The four holy alliances against Napoleon initiated by Franz II, after being defeated by Napoleon, greatly weakened Austria's national strength, indirectly led to the rise of Prussia in the future, and since then the power of the Habsburg dynasty has declined significantly, and it has never been able to restore its influence throughout Europe...
develop
After the great weakening after 1806, Austria may have indeed been beaten up a little more honestly, no longer so clamoring against France, and even sometimes even thinking of side with France
In 1809, Emperor Franz I of Austria appointed Clemens Ventzer von Metternich as Prime Minister, and Austria's anti-French policy was changed to strategic cooperation with France.
Clemens Ventzer von Metternich
And this Clemens Metternich is a legend, not only a famous Austrian diplomat in the nineteenth century, but also an interesting life experience (if you are interested, you can search for his celebrity anecdotes)
After 1801, Metternich became Austria's ambassador to Saxony, Prussia, and France. In 1809 he became Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire, directly changing Austria's attitude toward France at the time
Clemens Metternich
In 1810, under the influence of Clemens Metternich's diplomatic ideas, Franz I decided to marry his daughter Maria Louise to Napoleon I in order to consolidate Austria's position.
In 1812, Napoleon I's invasion of Russia failed, and Kutuzov fought in Moscow and caused Napoleon to retreat. Seeing that the time had come, Austria quickly turned to france again, and joined forces with other anti-French forces in Europe to hastily form the Sixth Anti-French Alliance
Napoleon I's invasion of Russia failed
After the Battle of Leipzig, the Sixth Coalition finally defeated Napoleon, defeating Napoleon's undefeated myth and invading the French capital of Paris in March 1814.
Battle of Leipzig
In the same year, Franz II presided over the Congress of Vienna immediately after the fall of Napoleon, at which Prime Minister Metternich once again used diplomatic maneuvers to retake the lost territories and obtain Venice and Milan, the most economically and culturally developed, and later formed the German Confederation headed by Austria, and Austria's status as a great power was restored.
Vienna Conference
The entire Vienna Conference, under the leadership of Prime Minister Metternich, also established the Vienna System and the Holy League in an attempt to restore the old "order" in Europe in order to offset the influence of liberalism, and of course was eventually forced to formulate a constitution that recognized some of the reforms.
The Holy Alliance, established at the Congress of Vienna presided over by Austrian Prime Minister Metternich in 1815, became the representative of the restoration forces, uniting European monarchies to maintain absolutism and making Austria act as a European gendarme.
Vienna Conference Caricature
So it is not surprising that this so-called "Vienna system" was overthrown after the Revolution of 1848, the Austrian Empire that Franz II had spent his life trying to maintain was facing collapse, and nationalism in Hungary, Bohemia, and the Balkans was abuzz with nationalism...
At this time, of course, the Prime Minister of the Austrian Empire, Metternich (and Franz II), remained the central figure of the Holy Alliance and the Quadruple Alliance, and for more than thirty years a Metternich system (the Vienna system) was formed in Europe with "orthodoxy" and "balance of power" as the core.
The Vienna System
Behind the surface stable Vienna system is full of loopholes, laying the groundwork for the "great changes" in Europe in the future, and the Austrian Empire is also facing new crises and challenges in the new historical period...
Austrian Empire Location (green)
So how will the Vienna system eventually collapse? Where will the Austrian Empire go from here? How was the famous Austro-Hungarian Empire born?
Stay tuned for this series, and stay tuned for the next issue!