The rule of Ferdinand III of Tuscany (1769–1824), son of the Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation Leopold II of Habsburg-Lorraine (1747–1792), was marked by political turbulence during the wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. Between 1790 and 1801, he was the sovereign ruler of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, then he lived as an Austrian Archduke in Vienna at the court of his older brother Francis II of Habsburg-Lorraine (1768–1835), before becoming the Elector of Salzburg from 1803 to 1805 and the Grand Duke of Würzburg from 1806 to 1814. In 1810, he was introduced at the imperial court in Paris as a member of the Viennese entourage of his niece – Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise (1791–1847), the bride of Emperor Napoleon I (1769–1821). Contemporary historiography considers the Grand Duke, given his life trajectory, as a rag doll in the hands of France and Austria. One can ask – is that justified? The position of Ferdinand in the structure of the European elite was directly influenced by the relations between Vienna and Paris. The Grand Duchy of Würzburg was admitted to the Rhine Confederation, whose protector from 1806 was the Emperor of the French and King of Italy, Napoleon I. After Napoleon's abdication in 1814, Ferdinand was restored to rule in his native Grand Duchy of Tuscany. This paper focuses on the role Ferdinand played in political and family strategy of Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian Emperor Francis I.