LEOPOLD II. (1747-1792), Roman emperor and grand duke of Tuscany, son of the empress Maria Theresa and her hus band, Francis I., was born in Vienna on May 5, 1747. He was a third son, and was at first educated for the priesthood. On the death of his elder brother Charles in 1761 it was decided that he should succeed to his father's grand duchy of Tuscany. This settlement was the condition of his marriage on Aug. 5, 1764 with Maria Louisa, daughter of Charles III. of Spain, and on the death of his father Francis I. in 1765 he succeeded to the grand duchy.
When he succeeded, on the death of his brother Joseph II., to the Austrian lands he made large concessions to the interests offended by his brother's innovations. He recognized the Estates of his different dominions as "the pillars of the monarchy," and pacified the Hungarians, and divided the Belgian insurgents by concessions. When these failed to restore order, he marched troops into the country, and re-established at the same time his own authority, and the historic franchises of the Flemings.
Leopold's reign lasted barely two years (179o-92) and during that period he was hard pressed by peril from west and east alike. Revolution endangered the life of his sister Marie Antoinette, and also threatened his own dominions with the spread of a sub versive agitation. From the east he was threatened by the ag gressive ambition of Catherine II. of Russia, and by the un scrupulous policy of Prussia. To his sister he gave good advice and promises of help if she and her husband could escape from Paris. The French émigrés were refused audience. Within six weeks of his accession he opened negotiations with England to im pose a check on Russia and Prussia. He put pressure on England by threatening to cede his part of the Low Countries to France, and then, when secure of English support, he was in a position to baffle the intrigues of Prussia. A personal appeal to Frederick William II. led to a conference between them at Reichenbach in July 1790, and to an arrangement which was in fact a defeat for Prussia. Leopold's coronation as king of Hungary on Nov.
15, 1790, was preceded by a settlement with the diet in which he recognized the dominant position of the Magyars.
In January Leopold dismissed the count of Artois, afterwards Charles X., king of France, to avoid being entangled in the affairs of France. The insults inflicted on Louis XVI. and Marie An toinette, however, at the time of their attempted flight to Va rennes in June, led him to make a general appeal to the sover eigns of Europe to take common measures in view of events which "immediately compromised the honour of all sovereigns, and the security of all governments." On Aug. 25 he met the king of Prussia at Pillnitz, near Dresden, and they drew up a declaration of their readiness to intervene in France if and when their as sistance was called for by the other powers. When Louis XVI. swore to observe the constitution of September 1791, the emperor professed to think that a settlement had been reached in France, and hoped to avoid war. He died suddenly on March 1, 1792.
Several volumes containing the emperor's correspondence have been published. Among these are: Joseph II. und Leopold von Toskana. Ihr Briefwechsel 1781-1790 (Vienna, 1872), and Marie Antoinette, Joseph II. and Leopold II. Ihr Briefwechsel (Vienna, 1866), both edited by A. Ritter von Arneth ; Joseph II., Leopold II. und Kaunitz. Ihr Briefwechsel (Vienna, 1873) ; and Leopold II., Franz II. and Catharina. Ihre Correspondenz nebst einer Einleitung: Zur Geschichte der Politik Leopolds II. (Leipzig, 1874), both edited by A. Beer ; and Leopold II. and Marie Christine. Ihr Briefwechsel 1781-1792, edited by A. Wolf (Vienna, 1867). See also H. von Sybel, Ober die Regierung Kaiser Leopolds II. (Munich, 186o) ; A. Schultze, Kaiser Leopold II. and die franzosische Revolution (Leipzig, 1899) ; and A. Wolf and H. von Zwiedeneck-Stidenhorst, Osterreich enter Maria Theresa, Joseph II. and Leopold II. (1882-84) ; K. T. von Heigel, Deutsche Gesch. vom Tode Friedrichs d. Gr. bis zur Auflosung des alten Reiches (1899-1911, 2 vols.) .