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 460 General History of Europe England and Austria, had joined in a great coalition to put an end to Napoleon's power. In August, 1805, Napoleon decided to turn his army eastward and give up the plan for invading the British Isles. He had at least succeeded in terrifying England. One of the Austrian commanders exhibited the most surprising incapacity in allowing himself to be shut up in Ulm, where he was forced to capitulate with all his troops (October 20). Napo- leon then marched down the Danube with little opposition, and before the middle of November Vienna was in the possession of French troops. Napoleon thereupon led his forces north to meet the allied armies of Austria and Russia ; these he defeated, on December 2, in the terrible winter battle of Austerlitz. Russia then withdrew for a time and signed an armistice ; and Austria was obliged to submit to a humiliating peace, the Treaty of Pressburg. By this treaty Austria ceded various territories in Italy to Napoleon and consented to permit his friends the rulers of Bavaria and Wiirtemberg to assume the title of "King." 810. The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire (isoe). Napoleon had no desire to unify Germany; he merely wished to maintain a certain number of independent states, or groups of states, which he could conveniently control. He had provided, in the Treaty of Pressburg, that the newly created sovereigns should enjoy the "plenitude of sovereignty," precisely as did the rulers of Austria and Prussia. This treaty, by explicitly declaring several of the most impor- tant of the German states altogether independent of the emperor, rendered the further existence of the Holy Roman Empire impossible. The emperor, Francis II, accordingly abdicated, August 6, 1806. Thus the most imposing and enduring political office known to history was formally abolished. 811. Francis II assumes the Title of "Emperor of Austria." Francis II did not, however, cease to be an "emperor." Shortly after the First Consul had received that title Francis adopted the title "Emperor of Austria," to designate him as the ruler of all the possessions of his house. 1 Hitherto he had been officially 1 Thus Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire became Francis I of Austria.