Pressburg, Treaty of

(1805)

   A peace treaty signed on December 26, 1805, in the capital of Hungary, now Bratislava in Slovakia, which ended hostilities between Austria and France in the Third Coalition war after Napoleon Bonaparte ’s decisive victory at Austerlitz on December 2. The key southern German states and the Batavian Republic (Holland) also signed. Austria recognized Napoleon as king of Italy and ceded the western part of Venetia to the kingdom; however, Napoleon failed to keep his promise to separate the Italian monarchy from the French crown. The electors of Bavaria and Württemburg were made kings. Austria was forced to hand over her most western territories, the Tyrol and Vorarlberg to Bavaria; the remaining Vorlände, enclaves in southwestern Germany, were given to Baden and Württemburg. In return, Austria was given the lands of the Elector of Salzburg, who in their place received the formerly Bavarian Principality of Würzburg.

   The abandonment of the titles of elector by these rulers and the termination of the Holy Roman Emperor’s right to call on military contingents from southern Germany was a clear signal that the thousand-year-old Holy Roman Empire was at an end. Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine on July 18, 1806, and Habsburg Emperor Francis II confirmed the Empire’s dissolution two weeks later. Napoleon’s domination of Central Europe was expressed in a clause, under which France guaranteed Austria’s territorial integrity. Austria agreed to pay an indemnity of 40 million French francs. The Franco-Russian war would continue for another 18 months.

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   FURTHER READING:

    Castle, I. Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Eagles of Europe. London: Pen & Sword, 2005;

    Schroeder, Paul W. The Transformation of European Politics, 1763–1848. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.

   DAVID HOLLINS