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The Austrian Empire (German: Kaisertum Österreich)
was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is
today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It
was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation
was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the
Austrian Empire as a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of
1867. The Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918) was itself
dissolved by the victors at the end of World War I and broken into
separate new states.
The term "Austrian Empire" is also used for the Habsburg
possessions before 1804, which had no official collective name,
although Austria is more frequent; the term of Austria-Hungary has
also been used.
The Austrian Empire was founded by the Habsburg monarch German-
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 of German Nation.
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
English 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.
After Austria was defeated in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, and
left the German Confederation, 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.
