Last Update 3rd April 2002
Austria was led throughout the Napoleonic period by Emperor Franz II, the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He was coronated March 1792, following the death of the Leopold II who had only come to power in 1790. Two years into his reign Leopold was introducing new reforms to the Empire. These budding reforms would quickly disappear under Franz, and the Hapsburg Empire would sink into a long period of melancholy.
One month after his coronation, France declared war on the Hapsburgs, a situation which was to continue off an on for the next 20 years. Of all the nations of Europe, Austria would face the French more than any other nation. While they