ition of Poland (January 23, 1793), which eliminated the "buffer state"
on which Austrian statesmanship had hitherto laid such importance, and
brought the Austrian and Russian frontiers into contact. Such, too, was the
treaty of Campo Formio (October 17, 1797) which ended the first
revolutionary war. By this treaty the loss of the Belgian provinces was
confirmed, and though Austria gained Venice, the establishment of French
preponderance in the rest of Italy made a breach in the tradition of
Habsburg supremacy in the peninsula, which was to have its full effect only
in the struggles of the next century. The rise of Napoleon, and his
masterful interference in Germany, produced a complete and permanent
revolution in the relations of Austria to the German states. The campaigns
which issued in the treaty of Luneville (February 9, 1801) practically
sealed the fate of the old Empire. Even were the venerable name to survive,
it was felt that it would pass, by the election of the princes now
tributary to France, from the house of Habsburg to that of Bonaparte.
[Sidenote: The "Empire of Austria."] Francis II. determined to forestall
the possible indignity of the subordination of his family to an upstart
dynasty. On the 14th of May 1804, Napoleon was proclaimed emperor of the
French; on the 11th of August Francis II. assumed the style of Francis I.,
hereditary emperor of Austria. [Sidenote: End of the Holy Roman Empire.]
Two years later, when the defeat of Austerlitz had led to the treaty of
Pressburg (January 1st, 1806) by which Austria lost Venice and Tirol, and
Napoleon's Confederation of the Rhine had broken the unity of Germany,
Francis formally abdicated the title and functions of Holy Roman emperor
(August 6, 1806).

Austria had to undergo further losses and humiliations, notably by the
treaty of Vienna (1809), before the outcome of Napoleon's Russian campaign
in 1812 gave her the opportunity for recuperation and revenge. The skilful
diplomacy of Metternich, who was now at the head of the Austrian
government, enabled Austria to take full advantage of the situation created
by the disaster to Napoleon's arms. His object was to recover Austria's
lost possessions and if possible to add to them, a policy which did not
necessarily involve the complete overthrow of the French emperor. Austria,
therefore, refused to join the alliance between Russia and Prussia signed
on the 17th of March 1813, but pressed on her armaments so as to b