The Holy Roman Empire lasted over a thousand years. Had it been accurately named, historians would refer to it as a Central European Defensive Coalition, which is what it actually was. It was a loose confederation, so loose, in fact, that it’s not even clear when it began: historians point to various dates between 800 A.D. and 962 A.D. as the starting point for the empire.
Its ending point, however, is quite clear. The last emperor of the HRE, Franz II, dissolved the empire and abdicated in August 1806.
Franz II, however, had developed a backup plan. Two years earlier, in August 1804, he’d established Austria as its own empire, so that when he dissolved the HRE, the Austrian Empire remained as a self-sustaining unit. So the Holy Roman Emperor Franz II became the Austrian Emperor Franz I.
But why did he dissolve his own empire?
In 1806, Napoleon was in the midst of his reign over France, and in the midst of his imperial wars throughout Europe. The HRE had been weakened, and Napoleon was already in the process of subsuming it into an organization called the Confederation of the Rhein. Napoleon’s goal was to destroy the HRE, and thereby gain glory as the one who destroyed it.
Napoleon’s goal, according to historian Fabio Aromatici, was not only to eliminate the HRE, but also make its dynasty, the Habsburg family, irrelevant:
He wanted to narrow down the three hundred states part of the Empire to only one hundred and obviously reduce the influence of the Habsburg family.
Napoleon, in 1806, was on a rampage, his army occupying various territories in central Europe. He was on his way to Vienna, the capital of the HRE and seat of the Habsburgs.
He was about to enter Vienna and Emperor Francis knew he had to do something after almost four centuries of virtually unbroken Habsburg succession since Albert II in 1438. It was a matter of honor. After all, who wants to be remembered as the emperor who lost the empire, throne, and crown after a thousand years?
There is debate about what exactly Franz II was thinking, and responsible historians do not speculate about unverifiable matters. Motives, especially when not documented in writing, remain matters of conjecture.
Many researchers suggest, however, that Franz II, seeing that he could not defend or sustain the HRE, knew that he could at least deny Napoleon the joy of destroying it. By dissolving the empire, Franz II eliminated the object which Napoleon was pursuing. Napoleon couldn’t destroy an empire that didn’t exist.
The emperor had declared that the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved - unconquered - after a thousand years and that he was no longer to be considered Emperor Francis II but Emperor Francis I of Austria! The old empire was dead! Long live the new one! To be precise, nowadays there is still one princely member state of the Holy Roman Empire that has preserved its status as a monarchy until today: Liechtenstein. All the others are gone, part of history, bordering legend.
People clapped, cheered, cried, and wept, many cursed Napoleon.
Franz II made his stunning declarations from “the external balcony-altar of the Church of Am Hof.” This fascinating piece of Viennese architecture was the “stage for this historical announcement.”
The Kirche am Hof is one of many historic buildings in Vienna with its own architectural story and documented significance. The platform from which Franz II made his declarations is less of an altar, and resembles in some respects a balcony, except that it rests upon pillars or columns, and is essentially the roof of a sort of narthex or foyer or entryway into the church. It is surrounded on three sides by the external walls of the church, which rise significantly above it. On the fourth and front side, it is open, and overlooks the Platz, the large open area in front of the church. The space of the narthex beneath it is completely enclosed on all sides.
The Viennese call such a structure a Söller or Altan or Altane.
There are some historians, however, who see Franz’s abdication differently. They do not see it as a shrewd way to outwit Napoleon. They see it simply as the inevitable collapse of the HRE.
Even such historians, however, concede that Franz had deliberately undermined Napoleon’s Confederation of the Rhein, and had the foresight to provide himself with an alternative imperial title two years prior to the actual abdication.
