Peace of Leoben

The Peace of Leoben was a general <a href="/facts/Armistice/myGLIXmj">armistice</a> and preliminary peace agreement between the <a href="/facts/Holy_Roman_Empire/6mdobnXN">Holy Roman Empire</a> and the <a href="/facts/First_French_Republic/GpRHNfcm">First French Republic</a> that ended the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_First_Coalition/JlLo1gdR">War of the First Coalition</a>. It was signed at Eggenwaldsches Gartenhaus, near <a href="/facts/Leoben/t4IxmBgA">Leoben</a>, on 18 April 1797 (29 germinal V in the <a href="/facts/French_revolutionary_calendar/orIoRTpp">French revolutionary calendar</a>) by General <a href="/facts/Maximilian%2c_Count_of_Merveldt/FFUCm7dr">Maximilian von Merveldt</a> and the <a href="/facts/Marzio_Mastrilli/kL1LMuHI">Marquis of Gallo</a> on behalf of the <a href="/facts/Emperor_Francis_II/P3trV5zq">Emperor Francis II</a> and by General <a href="/facts/Napol%25C3%25A9on_Bonaparte/8TKBIjPM">Napoléon Bonaparte</a> on behalf of the <a href="/facts/French_Directory/wHeSvJdt">French Directory</a>. Ratifications were exchanged in <a href="/facts/Montebello_della_Battaglia/6QScDdb5">Montebello</a> on 24 May, and the treaty came into effect immediately.
On 30 March, Bonaparte had made his headquarters at <a href="/facts/Klagenfurt/pM0eET4M">Klagenfurt</a> and from there, on 31 March, he sent a letter to the Austrian commander-in-chief, <a href="/facts/Archduke_Charles/f7t19ydn">Archduke Charles</a>, requesting an armistice to prevent the further loss of life. Receiving no response, the French advanced as far as <a href="/facts/Judenburg/GT0xbMfK">Judenburg</a> by the evening of 7 April. That night, Charles offered a truce for five days, which was accepted. On 13 April, Merveldt went to the French headquarters at Leoben. He requested the armistice be extended so that a preliminary peace could be signed, which was granted, and three proposals were drawn up. The final one was accepted by both sides, and on 18 April at Leoben, the preliminary peace was signed.
The treaty contained nine public articles and eleven secret ones. In the public articles, the Emperor ceded his "Belgian Provinces" (the <a href="/facts/Austrian_Netherlands/JIEJQoMy">Austrian Netherlands</a>), and in the secret articles, he ceded his Italian states (<a href="/facts/Lombardy/2p62Pxuc">Lombardy</a>) in exchange for the <a href="/facts/Terraferma/MvceAv49">Italian mainland possessions</a> of the <a href="/facts/Republic_of_Venice/5aqUw6gJ">Republic of Venice</a>, which had not yet been conquered. Except for these personal losses to the ruling <a href="/facts/Habsburgs/0ttzWDwA">Habsburgs</a>, the treaty preserved the integrity of the Holy Roman Empire, unlike in the amplified <a href="/facts/Treaty_of_Campo_Formio/cx1mMnbN">Treaty of Campo Formio</a> of 17 October 1797.
No final peace between the Holy Roman Empire and France was reached before the outbreak of the <a href="/facts/War_of_the_Second_Coalition/ubDX0PVP">War of the Second Coalition</a> in 1799.

Peace of Leoben open-in-new

Peace of Leoben