A Brief Travel History of Austria by Melvin Cole

Author:Melvin Cole [Cole, Melvin]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: MC Publishing
Published: 2014-02-01T05:00:00+00:00

Maria Theresia: 1740-1780 (4 minutes)

Maria Theresia (1740-1780) took the throne upon the death of her father Charles VI, due to the death of Charles only son Maria Theresia was allowed to assume the throne via a promulgation known as the Pragmatic Sanction which allowed female heirs to succeed to the domains of the Habsburgs in the event that there was no mail heir.

When Maria Theresia assumed the throne her authority was immediately questioned. Frederick William I the Prussian king (Prussia is part of today’s Germany) invaded and took passion of the wealthy Habsburg province of Silesia (today part of Poland, Czech Republic and Germany). This started the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748). Maria Theresia sent her military to take back Silesia but she was ill equipped for the task as Frederick II had spent most of the treasury on the many wars he had been engaged in, also the Austrian army was far less equipped than the high efficient Prussian army – she failed to gain back Silesia.

This defeat prompted the formation of an alliance between France, Bavaria (today part of Germany) and Spain to defeat the Habsburg monarchy. The alliance was later joined by Saxony (today in Germany), Sardinia (today part of Italy) and Prussia. Austria’s allies were Great Britain and the Dutch Republic who were wary of entering the conflict. Saxony and Sardinia later switched side to support Austria in hopes to gaining territory and Russia also jointed the Austrian cause in 1745 to prevent Prussia who had dropped out of the war from reentering. Austria would gain back some minor Italian territory but the main consequence of the war was the loss of Silesia to Prussia, which Maria Theresia vowed to get back but never did.

The War had begun when Charles Albert of Bavaria (today part of Germany) had protested Maria Theresia’s succession, Prussia had taken advantage of this situation by invading Silesia Charles Albert was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1742; he was the only non-Habsburg to be Emperor between 1440 and 1806. When Charles Albert died in 1789 Maria Theresia’s husband Francis Stephen of Lorraine succeeded him as Holy Roman Emperor.

Maria Theresia’s first set of reforms included updating and expanding the army. She also engaged in financial reform by collecting more form the territories and centralizing the Government.

In 1745 Austria ceded Silesia to Prussia. In 1756 she ended relations with her old allay England to alley herself with Austria’s old enemy France, who was now too weak to be a direct threat to Austria. Austria was allied to France, Russia and Spain in the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) and opposed Britain and Prussia. The war was fought in European colonies more than in Europe and resulted in Great Britain annexing Canada, Bengal and Florida and France transferring Louisiana to Spain. However, Austria did not gain back Silesia as she had hoped. The revenge that Maria Theresia plotted on Prussia never materialized.

The expenses of the Seven Years War added to Austria’s existing debt. After studying the

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