The Rise of Austria and
Prussia
Two German-speaking powers that perfected the skills of
being ABSOLUTE MONARCHS
The Hohenzollerns and
Hapsburgs (Austrian Branch)
• These two families
rose to be absolute
monarchs out of the
ashes of THE
THIRTY YEARS
WAR.
TRIVIA QUESTION!!
• How long did the Thirty Year War last???
– 1618 – 1648
– 30 Years!
The Costs of the 30 Year War
• The population of the
German states went
down 30%
• 50% of males died.
• Disease, famine and
expulsion reduced the
population another
30%
What could they be fighting over
for 30 years and creating such
destruction?
• Religion
The war started with the Holy
Roman Empire
• “The Holy Roman
Empire was neither
holy, nor Roman, nor
an Empire.”
– Voltaire
The Holy Roman Empire
• A patchwork quilt of small
countries with different
languages, customs, and
geography.
• Ruled by princes and
kings that were supposed
to be loyal to the Holy
Roman Emperor.
• Seven “electors” would
choose the Emperor.
– Ruled for life.
– Not much power over the
small countries.
The Holy Roman Empire
Under the Treaty of Trent – all of these
lands had the princes choose the religion
of the country
• The Catholic
Hapsburgs in Spain
and later Austria
pretty much left things
alone.
– “pretty much” is the
key term here!
Religious Tolerance
• Ferdinand I (Austrian
Hapsburg) even
allowed communion
to be done in both the
Protestant and
Catholic way.
Religious Tolerance is thrown
out the window – literally!
• Ferdinand II took over
after his cousin Holy
Roman Emperor
Matthias died
childless.
– Had been raised by
Jesuits.
– Sought religious
conformity throughout
his empire.
1618: Defenestration of Prague
• Ferdinand sent
Catholic nobles into
the mostly Protestant
city of Prague (now
Czech Republic) to
say they all had to
turn Catholic now.
16 18: The Defenestration of
Prague
• The Protestants
responded by tossing
Ferdinand II’s nobles
out the window.
– Literally!
– BTW: Defenestration
means “throwing out
the window.”
– “out the window”
comes from this act.
A hundred hands dragged them towards the high window, flung
back the casement and hoisted them upwards. Martinitz went first.
“Jesu Maria! Help!” he screamed and crashed over the sill.
Slavata fought longer, calling on the Blessed Virgin and clawing at
the window frame under a rain of blows until someone knocked
him senseless and the bleeding hands relaxed. Their shivering
secretary clung to Schlick for protection; out of sheer intoxication
the crowd hoisted him up and sent him to join his masters.
One of the rebels lent over the ledge leering;
“We will see if your Mary can help you!” A
second later between exasperation and
amazement, “By God, his Mary has helped,”
he exclaimed, for Martinitz was already
stirring. Suddenly a ladder protruded from a
neighbouring window; Martinitz and the
secretary made off under a hail of
misdirected missiles. Some of Slavata’s
servants, braving the mob, went down to his
help and carried him after the others,
unconscious but alive.
• A pile of manure,
piled by chance at the
bottom of the wall by
gardeners, broke their
fall. Many Catholics
later claimed they
were born down
gently by angels.
Consequences of the
Defenestration
• Massive death and
destruction for 30
years.
• Both sides sought
allies to help them.
Thirty Year War
• A local conflict ended
up being a massive
war dragging in every
European power.
– Mercenary Armies
invaded.
The Thirty Year War
• Spain sent troops.
– Support the Catholics.
• Denmark sent troops.
– Support the Protestants.
• Sweden sent troops.
– Protestant Support.
• France sent troops.
– Catholic Support
• England sent troops.
– Protestant Support
ALL the countries that
participated in the 30 Year War
•
•
•
Sweden
Bohemia
Denmark-Norway[1]
Dutch Republic
[2] France
Saxony
Electoral Palatinate
England[3]
Transylvania
Hungarian anti-Habsburg rebels[4]
Holy Roman Empire[5]
Catholic League
•
Austria
•
Bavaria
•
Kingdom of Hungary[6]
•
Croatia[7]
Spanish Empire
Destruction from the Swedish
Army in 1629.
• 2000 castles
• 18,000 villages
• 1,500 towns
– 1/3 of all Germany.
This is the war that drained so
many kingdoms we’ve studied
about!
• France
• Spain
FINALLY: Peace in 1648
• Peace of Westphalia.
• But, who won?
Who Won the 30 Year War?
• France!
– Gained territory on its
Spanish and German
frontiers.
Who lost the Thirty Year War?
• The Hapsburgs!
– ALMOST total
independence of the Holy
Roman Empire from their
control.
• Acknowledged the Holy
Roman Emperor – but he
had no control over them.
– Total independence for the
Netherlands (Holland) and
the Swiss Federation
(Switzerland).
What lessons were learned?
Hapsburg Austria changes its
focus!
• Finding a way to rule
so many different
lands, languages,
cultures, and
religions.
Hapsburg Rule
• Would send in
German-speaking
officials and settled
Austrians on the
lands of other people.
• BUT never developed
the centralized
system like France!
Problems for the Hapsburgs
• 1739: There is no
son to take over the
throne!
• Charles VI had no
living son.
ONLY a daughter: Maria Theresa
• But would the nobles
accept a woman ruler?
• A woman being Holy
Roman Emperor?
• Charles VI spent the rest
of his life getting his
nobles to agree to his
daughter being next.
– The PRAGMATIC
SOLUTION (1713)
1740: Maria Theresa becomes
Empress
• Some nobles forget
their promise to her
father and go to war.
– Austrian War of
Succession (1740 –
1748)
– Men who preferred
SALIC LAW.
• Only men could inherit.
Empress Maria Theresa
• But what would you
do to rule in a world
that most think it is a
“man’s only” role?
Empress Maria Theresa
• Married and made her
husband an emperor.
– But she was DE
FACTO ruler.
• The ruler in fact.
• The “real” power.
Empress Maria Theresa
Made sure to have the
“heir” and the “spare”
for succession.
16 children!
11 girls
5 boys
Empress Maria Theresa
• Rebuild a military.
– Didn’t really win any
battles.
• Started some education
reforms.
– Education for boys and
some girls.
• Centralized government.
• Reformed tax codes.
– Nobles and the church paid
as well as the commoners.
• Expelled Jews from some
of her lands.
Empress Maria Theresa
• Even outlawed the death
penalty!
• Urged doctors to learn
how to make childbirth
safer for women.
• Was interested in
inoculations for smallpox.
• Decency Police patrolled
the streets of Vienna –
her capitol.
Empress Maria Theresa
• Died 1780 (aged 63).
• Son Joseph II took
over.
• Her youngest
daughter became
Queen Marie
Antoinette in France.
TRIVIA: The full title of Empress
Maria Theresa
• Maria Theresa, by the
Grace of God, Dowager
Holy Roman Empress;
Queen of Hungary, of
Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of
Croatia, of Slavonia, of
Galicia, of Lodomeria,
etc; Archduchess of
Austria; Duchess of
Burgundy, of Styria, of
Carinthia and of Carniola;
Grand Princess of
Transylvania;
Empress Maria Theresa’s full
title (cont.)
• Margravine of Moravia;
Duchess of Brabant, of
Limburg, of Luxemburg,
of Guelders, of
Württemberg, of Upper
and Lower Silesia, of
Milan, of Mantua, of
Parma, of Piacenza, of
Guastalla, of Auschwitz
and of Zator; Princess of
Swabia;
Maria Theresa’s full title (cont.)
• Princely Countess of
Habsburg, of Flanders, of
Tyrol, of Hennegau, of
Kyburg, of Gorizia and of
Gradisca; Margravine of
Burgau, of Upper and
Lower Lusatia; Countess
of Namur; Lady on the
Wendish Mark and of
Mechlin; Dowager
Duchess of Lorraine and
Bar, Dowager Grand
Duchess of Tuscany
Maria Theresa
Hohenzollern Prussia
• Hapsburgs created a
Catholic power.
• The Hohenzollerns in
Prussia created a
new Protestant
power.
Prussia
• “Prussia is not a state
that possesses an
army.
• It is an army that
possesses a state.”
Frederick William I
• 1713: Using Louis
XIV’s model he set to
make the JUNKERS
be completely under
his control.
– German Nobles =
JUNKERS (yoon-kerz)
Frederick William’s Absolutism
• Would go into temper
tantrums and strike
men in the face with
his cane.
• Kick women in the
street.
– It was his divine right
to do such things!
Frederick William’s wife
Sophia Dorothea of
Hanover
The daughter of King
George I of England.
Had manners
where her husband
didn’t!
Their Son: Frederick
• His father wanted him
to be a soldier-king.
– Raised him as “plain
folk” without the royal
surroundings.
– It was a “rough”
upbringing.
Instructions on raising his son:
• “His tutor must take the greatest pains to
imbue my son with a sincere love for the
soldier’s profession and to impress upon
him that nothing else in the world can
confer upon a prince such fame and honor
as the sword.”
Young Frederick had other ideas
• Preferred writing
poetry and music –
particularly playing
the flute.
• Felt that he had to
escape his father.
– With a friend tried to
run away to England
to be with his
grandfather.
The runaways were captured
• Frederick William I’s
WRATH against his
son:
– Ordered his son be
removed from the
succession.
– Ordered Frederick to
watch while his friend
was beheaded.
Young Frederick was released
and made crown prince again!
• Agreed to marry his
father’s choice of a
bride.
– “There could never be
love nor any friendship
between us.”
• Letter Frederick wrote
to his sister about his
marriage.
Frederick becomes King or
KAISER of Prussia in 1740
• BRILLIANT military
leader.
• Used his military to
make Prussia into a
more unified territory.
– Beat Maria Theresa’s
army.
• Twice.
Frederick the Great
• Military tactics of
keeping the enemy
from unifying.
• Making a
concentrated force to
hit at the enemy.
– OBLIQUE ORDER
Frederick the Great’s Prussia
• Began the effort that
140 years later would
unite Germany under
Prussian rule.
Frederick the Great
• Made Prussia into a
military power and
one of the Great
Nations in Europe.
Other changes under Frederick
the Great
• Built the Prussian
economy into selfsufficiency
– Prussia would not
need imports in a time
of war.
• Religious toleration
– If all men would serve
in his military.
Frederick II: “Enlightened”
Absolutism
• Sponsored
architecture
– Rococo style in Berlin
• Sponsored music
– Bach and wrote 100
flute sonatas.
• Sponsored
philosophy.
– Voltaire and Goethe
Frederick the Great
• Spoke French,
English, Spanish,
Portuguese, and
Italian; he also
understood Latin,
ancient and modern
Greek, and Hebrew.
Frederick the Great: Old Age
• 1770s until his death
in 1786, he
increasingly preferred
isolation.
• Best company was
his greyhounds.
• Found dead in his
armchair surrounded
by his dogs.
Frederick’s Successor?
• Nephew
– Frederick William II
• Interested more in
pleasure.
• Before he died he had
bankrupted Prussia, the
army was a joke, and
there was no faith in the
monarchy.