alternatehistory.com

I'm currently reading through Danubia, and it makes the claim that Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria between 1790 and 1792, was the last truly shrewd and capable statesman of the Hapsburg emperors. It would be his mysterious death at 44 that would drop the responsibility of ruling Austria through the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars on the lap of his comparative dullard of a son, Francis I(II).

Leopold had much more time to rule the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. While not a master of spectacle, he proved to be an intelligence administrator and reformer who opened the duchy up to industry, banned capital punishment, advanced treatment of the insane, and even might have introduced some form of constitution if he had the time.

So, assuming his death was just a random accident by incompetent doctors, what would the effects be if Leopold II was to spend, say, twenty years on the Hapsburg throne, rather than a mere two? Would France have been crushed more quickly, or would Napoleon take a harsher line on an Austria headed by a more competent emperor?
Top