Editing Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

=== Wars with France ===
[[File:Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor at age 25, 1792.png|thumb|left|Painting of Francis II at the age of 25, wearing the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]], with the [[Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire]] and Hungary's [[Crown of Saint Stephen]] in the background (1792)]]
As the head of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and the ruler of the vast realms of Central and Eastern Europe, Francis felt threatened by the [[French Revolution|French revolutionaries]] and later [[Napoleon|Napoleon's]] expansionism as well as their social and political reforms which were being exported throughout Europe in the wake of the conquering French armies. Francis had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt [[Marie Antoinette of Austria|Marie Antoinette]], the wife of [[Louis XVI]] and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign, although, on the whole, he was indifferent to her fate.{{Sfn|Fraser|2002|p=492}}[[File:Pörträt Kaiser Franz I von Österreich.jpg|thumb|left|Francis I as [[Austrian Emperor]] wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece, undated]]Later, he led the [[Holy Roman Empire]] into the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. He briefly commanded the Allied forces during the [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|Flanders Campaign]] of 1794 before handing over command to his brother [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen|Archduke Charles]]. He was later defeated by Napoleon. By the [[Treaty of Campo Formio]], he ceded the left bank of the [[Rhine]] to [[French First Republic|France]] in exchange for [[Domini di Terraferma|Venice]] and [[Venetian Dalmatia|Dalmatia]]. He again fought against France during the [[War of the Second Coalition]].

On 11 August 1804, in response to Napoleon crowning himself as emperor of the French earlier that year, he announced that he would henceforth assume the title of hereditary emperor of Austria as Francis I, a move that technically was illegal in terms of imperial law. Yet Napoleon had agreed beforehand and therefore it happened.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Whaley |first=Joachim |title=Germany and the Holy Roman Empire |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1996-9307-8 |volume=II: The Peace of Westphalia to the Dissolution of the Reich, 1648-1806 |page=632 |oclc=772967090 |ol=25339319M |author-link=Joachim Whaley}}</ref>{{Efn|Later he was dubbed the first ''Doppelkaiser'' (double emperor) in history.{{Sfn|Posse|1909–1913|pp=256}}) For the two years between 1804 and 1806, Francis used the title and style ''by the Grace of God elected Roman Emperor, ever Augustus, hereditary Emperor of Austria'' and he was called the ''Emperor of both the Holy Roman Empire and Austria''.}}