Emperor Franz II/I

Franz II/I

At the beginning of the 19th century, in reaction to the coronation of Napoleon as emperor of France in 1804, Emperor Franz II (*1768, +1835) proclaimed the hereditary empire of Austria, thus becoming first emperor of Austria as Franz I. In 1806, against the background of Napoleon's military victories, he finally dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, which, having been the supranational empire of Christendom for over a thousand years, then ceased to exist.