Francis II, Francis, 1768 to 1835, the last emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, reigned from 1792 to 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire after its decisive defeat by the First French Empire under Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz. In 1804, he had founded the Austrian Empire and became Francis I, the first Emperor of Austria, reproduction of a woodcut from 1880, digitally enhanced, Francis II, 1768 b