The emperor who made Salzburg Austrian. Following Napoleon's final defeat, the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) confirmed Salzburg's permanent incorporation into the Austrian Empire in 1816. That union has lasted to the present day. It was Franz I who definitively ended the centuries of shifting sovereignty and made Salzburg what it remains: an Austrian city.
He was simultaneously the last Holy Roman Emperor (as Franz II) and the first Emperor of Austria (as Franz I), a dual identity that reflects the upheaval of the Napoleonic era. Under him, the ancient Prince-Archbishopric ceased to exist. His domestic policy, guided by the conservative minister Metternich, shaped the political climate of the Biedermeier era.
