OOC:
Just for reference.
"In the German and Italian wars things seemed to be unraveling for the Coalition. George III, now solely Elector of Hanover, had withdrawn from the war after abdicating the British throne depriving the Coalition of an important ally and forever earning him the enmity of the reformist states and Prussia. The French had counter-attacked and were now across the Rhine in the north while slowly liberating Bavaria from the Austrians. The Prussian drive into Saxony was more successful however and was soon threatening Dresden. A huge defeat near Marburg in early 1797 by a combined Franco-Saxon force was a major setback for the Prussians. At Marburg the neglect of the Prussian army under Frederick William II was made obvious as the Prussian infantry lacked the precision and ferocity of the past and were outmatched by the more experienced French troops. The Austrians meanwhile were in a bad state. They were being driven back in Italy and South Germany, the Balkans were being gobbled up by the bear and the Poles were moving into the border having ended their Civil War. The aging Joseph II was now beginning to consider making peace with France and Bavaria to avoid total collapse. The Bavarians achieved a shock victory near Innsbruck in November and Frederick-Augusts took this moment to announce his new title of Frederick-Augusts I King of Saxony and Bavaria, and renouncing any obedience to the Holy Roman Empire or its emperor Joseph. France immediately backed this move and encouraged other allied German states to follow suit. Ironically this gave Joseph an opportunity to solve the Hungarian crisis. In late 1797 he, and his supporters, pushed through a new constitution which gave the Hungarians increased authority and a parliament at Budapest, subservient to Vienna. Abandoning the Imperial title, now bereft of any true meaning, he decided to unify the two halves of his realm completely and on November 10th 1797 declared the United Empire of Austria and Hungary (or the Austro-Hungarian Empire) claiming a new title of Emperor and renouncing the position of Holy Roman Emperor, a move that placated the Hungarians and seemed to win over the support of much of the nobility in both halves of the new Empire. Freed from the internal difficulty more troops could be sent to stem the enemy advance in the west. After over eight hundred years of existence the ancient Holy Roman Empire had ceased to exist. "
-Direwolf22