FRANCIS II., emperor of Germany, and L of Austria, the eldest son of Leopold II. and of Maria Louisa of Spain, was born at Florence in February 1763. At an early age he was sent to Vienna to be brought up under the eyes of his uncle, Joseph II., who gave him the best preceptors in that capital. He was well instructed in the art of administration, and he made himself master of all its details. He was also engaged iu several campaigns against the Turks, and was present at the taking of Belgrade, by General Laudon, in 1789. When Joseph II. died, in 1790, Francis took the direction of the government till the arrival of his father from Florence. Two years afterwards Leopold himself died, in 1792, and Francis, who succeeded to his vast dominions, was likewise elected his successor to the imperial crown. He came to the throne at a very anxious moment. The rash or pre mature, though well-meant reforms of Joseph II., had sown deep dis content in several parts of the hereditary states of Austria, which the conciliatory measures of Leopold had not bad time to allay : the Bel gians were in open revolt, and Francis himself was on the eve of a war with France. In April 1792, Louis XVI. was obliged, by the legislative assembly, to declare war against him. The Austrian armies on the Rhine carried on the war for some years with varied success, and without any definite result; but the successes of Bonaparte in Italy, in 1796-97, decided the fate of the war. [BONAPARTE.] By the treaty of Catnpoformio, Francis gave up Belgium and the duchy of Milan, receiving in exchange Venice and Dalmatia. In 1799 a new coalition took place between Austria, Russia, and England, and the allied armies were eminently successful, both in Italy and Germany ; but a misunderstanding between the Austrian and Russian com manders led to the defeat of the Russians in Switzerland. In 1800, Bonaparte having won the battle of Marengo and reconquered Lom bardy, nogociations of peace followed ; but Francis refused to treat separately from his ally, England, and hostilities began afresh. The French under Moreau having gained the battle of Hohenlinden, advanced towards Vienna, when Francis proposed peace, and tho treaty of Lune ville followed in 1801, by which Ferdinand, the emperor's brother, was obliged to give up Tuscany, and his uncle to renounce Modena. In December 1804, while Napoleon crowned himself emperor of France at Paris, Francis foreseeing the approaching dissolution of the German empire, declared himself hereditary emperor of Austria. In 1805, feeling jealous of the new encroachments of Napoleon I. in Italy and
Holland, the Austrian cabinet formed a new coalition with Russia and England. The campaign was unfavourable to Austria, the French entered Vienna, and the battle of Austerlitz finished the war. By the following peace of Presburg, December 1805, Austria gave up the Venetian states and the TyroL The old Germau empire was now dissolved after a thousand years' duration : and iu August 1806, Francis renounced the title of emperor of Germany, and assumed that of Francis I., emperor of Austria, king of Bohemia and Hungary, &c. He now availed himself of some years of peace to repair the cala mities of the former wars, to make reductions, enforce a strict economy, and support the credit of the state. In the war of Napo leon I. against Prussia, 1806-7, Austria maintained a strict neutrality. After the peace of Tilsit and the conferences of Erfurt between Napoleon I. and Alexander, the occupation of North Germany by the French, and the invasion of Spain, the emperor Francis felt alarmed, and prepared for a fresh struggle, which he saw must take place sooner or later for the independence of his crown. Availing himself of Napoleon's embarrassments iu Spain, at the beginning of 1809, he began alone a fourth war against France, with a force of 400,000 men. The archduke Charles commanded the army of Germany, and the arch duke John that of Italy, whilst • force under General Ciutsteler entered the Tyrol, where the people rose to a man for their former sovereign. This war had a different character from the preceding, Inasmuch as the people of Germany began now to take part against the French : corps of partisans were formed under Schill, the duke of Brunswick Oels, and others who annoyed the French, and a general spirit of insurrection manifested iteelf against the foreign yoke. The opera tious of the war were also conducted on a different plan from the former wars of Marengo, Austerlitz, and Jena, when a single battle had decided the fate of the contest. The Austrians now fought detached engagements with various success, and although obliged to retire, and even to abandon Vicuna, the archduke Charles kept his army together in good or ter. The battle of Aspens was fought with a tremendous loss ou both sides, aud Napoleon I. was obliged to retire across the Danube. After some time the battle of Wagram took place, and although led by the Austrians, yet the archduke retired in good order towards Bohemia. Ile proposed an armistice, which Napoleon I. accepted, and after long negociations the peace of Schtinbrunn took place in October 1809.