Franco-Austrian alliance

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Her empire's growing rivalry with Prussia led to an alliance with France, a historic enemy of Vienna.
Foreign alliances of France
Frankish–Abbasid alliance 777–800s
Franco-Mongol alliance 1220–1316
Franco-Scottish alliance 1295–1560
Franco-Polish alliance 1524–1526
Franco-Hungarian alliance 1528–1552
Franco-Ottoman alliance 1536–1798
Franco-English alliance 1657–1660
Franco-Indian alliance 1603–1763
Franco-British alliance 1716–1731
Franco-Spanish alliance 1733–1792
Franco-Prussian alliance 1741–1756
Franco-Austrian alliance 1756–1792
Franco-Indian Alliances 1700s
Franco-Vietnamese
alliance 		1777–1820
Franco-American alliance 1778–1794
Franco-Persian alliance 1807–1809
Franco-Prussian alliance 1812–1813
Franco-Austrian alliance 1812–1813
Franco-Russian alliance 1892–1917
Entente Cordiale 1904–present
Franco-Polish alliance 1921–1940
Franco-Italian alliance 1935
Franco-Soviet alliance 1936–1939
Treaty of Dunkirk 1947–1997
Western Union 1948–1954
North Atlantic Alliance 1949–present
Western European Union 1954–2011
European Defence Union 1993–present
Regional relations
For the modern relations of both countries, see Austria–France relations.

The Franco-Austrian Alliance was a diplomatic and military alliance between France and Austria that was first established in 1756 after the First Treaty of Versailles. It lasted for much of the remainder of the century until it was abandoned during the French Revolution.

The alliance had its heyday during the Seven Years' War, when France and Austria joined forces to fight their mutual enemy, Prussia. After the allies' defeat, the intimacy of the alliance weakened, and by the 1780s, the alliance had become something closer to a formality. Austria even briefly considered the idea of entering the American War of Independence on Britain's side against France. During the French Revolution, when France first declared itself a constitutional monarchy and then overthrew and executed its king, the alliance had collapsed entirely. Austria actively tried to restore the French monarchy by going to war with the new French Republic.