Austrian Empire - History

History

The Austrian Empire was founded by the Habsburg monarch Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (who became Emperor Francis I of Austria), as a state comprising his personal lands within and outside of the Holy Roman Empire.

This was a reaction to Napoleon Bonaparte's proclamation of the First French Empire in 1804.

Austria and some parts of the Holy Roman Empire then took the field against France and its German allies during the Third Coalition which led to the crushing defeat at Austerlitz in early December 1805. By the fourth of that same month, a cease fire was in place and peace talks were being conducted nearby.

Subsequently, Francis II agreed to the humiliating Treaty of Pressburg (December 1805), which in practice meant dissolution of the long-lived Holy Roman Empire with a reorganization of the lost German territories under a Napoleonic imprint into a precursor state of what became modern Germany, those possessions nominally having been part of the Holy Roman Empire within the present boundaries of Germany, as well as other measures weakening Austria and the Habsburgs in other ways. Certain Austrian holdings in Germany were passed to French allies—the King of Bavaria, the King of Württemberg and the Elector of Baden. Austrian claims on those German states were renounced without exception.

One consequence of that was eight months later on 6 August 1806, Francis II dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, due to the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine by France, as he did not want Napoleon to succeed him. This action was unrecognized by George III of the United Kingdom who was also the Elector of Hanover who had also lost his German territories around Hanover to Napoleon. The British claims were settled by the creation of the Kingdom of Hanover which was held by George's British heirs until Queen Victoria's ascension, after which point it split into the British and Hanoverian royal families.

Although the office of Holy Roman Emperor was elective, the House of Habsburg had held the title since 1440 (with one brief interruption) and Austria was the core of their territories.

Since 1815 Austria had been the leading member of the German Confederation and in this capacity participated in a war against Denmark (1850 to 1852).

Sardinia allied itself with France for the conquest of Lombardy-Venetia. Austria was defeated in the 1859 armed conflict.The Treaties of Villafranca and Zurich removed Lombardy, except for the part east of the Mincio river, the so-called Mantovano.

The 1861 Constitution created an Upper House (de:Herrenhaus) and a House of Deputies (de:Abgeordnetenhaus). But most nationalities of the monarchy remained dissatisfied.

After the second war with Denmark in 1864, Holstein came under Austrian, Schleswig and Lauenburg under Prussian administration. But the internal difficulties continued. Diets replaced the parliament in 17 provinces, the Hungarians pressed for autonomy, and Venetia was attracted by the now unified Italy.

Austria was defeated by the Prussian army in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 in the north, but resisted on land and sea against the Italians in the south. Venetia and Mantovano joined Italy. Austria renounced its membership of the German Confederation.

After this military and political disaster, the nationalities made new demands, and eventually a compromise was reached with the Hungarians in 1867. The Austrian Empire was transformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which granted Hungary and the Hungarian lands equal status to the rest of Austria as a whole. In June 1867, Franz Joseph I was crowned King Of Hungary. It should be noted that the KuK (German for Imperial and Royal) is not related to this fact (the name "Imperial and Royal" was born in 1745 where the "royal" part meant the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary).