TH 16 – 6 v2 Aug 13
AP EURO HISTORY
ABSOLUTISM IN AUSTRIA
I AUSTRIA: Continuing power in a new direction
Notes
1. The Habsburg dynasty failed in its attempt to centralize and
consolidate its monarchical power over the Holy Roman Empire in
the Thirty Years’ War
a. The Habsburgs continued to hold the title of Holy Roman
Emperor although it was largely ceremonial after the Peace of
Westphalia.
b. Habsburg power had always been based on the territory they
controlled not the title of Holy Roman Emperor.
c. The Habsburgs concentrated on Austria as their base for power as
a nation-state
d. The attention of the Habsburgs was turned to the southeast and
the conflict with the Ottoman Empire after the Thirty Years’ War
1) The new territory gained was mostly in non-Germanic lands.
2) The Habsburgs found themselves with an empire composed of
many of different nationalities
3) The Austrian-Habsburg Empire was a medieval-style empire
of various languages and cultures in the modern age of nationstates
2. The Habsburgs recovered and responded to make Austria one of the
five Great Powers of the eighteenth century
II LEOPOLD I (1657-1705)
1. Leopold resisted the power of the Ottoman Turks from the Balkans
and Louis XIV of France from the Rhineland
a. Louis XIV of France continued to oppose Habsburg power in
Europe
b. Louis XIV financed Turkish military ventures against the
Habsburg lands
c. The last Turkish invasion of Habsburg lands was the siege of
Vienna in 1683
2. Austria took the offensive against the Ottoman Empire after 1683
a. The Ottoman Empire was beginning to weaken due to poor
emperors and advanced European technology
b. Budapest, capital of Hungary, was captured in 1686
c. Treaty of Karlowitz, 1699, gave the Habsburgs control of
Hungary.
d. Magyar aristocrats of Hungary were subjugated to the Habsburg
monarchy
e. Prince Eugene of Savoy emerged as a skilled general of the
Austrian military
3. Austria fought in both the War of the League of Augsburg and War
of the Spanish Succession continuing the old rivalry with France
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Leopold I
TH 16 – 6 v2 Aug 13
AP EURO HISTORY
a. The Habsburgs led the anti-Louis XIV coalition
b. The War of the Spanish Succession focused on the HabsburgBourbon conflict over the throne of Spain
c. Prince Eugene of Savoy led the Austrian forces together with
English forces under Sir John Churchill to victory at the Battle of
Blenheim, 1705
Notes
III. JOSEPH I, 1705-1711: Very short reign. He died of smallpox.
IV CHARLES VI (1711-1740)
1. The War of the Spanish Succession continued to its completion in
1714
a. Prince Eugene of Savoy continued with Austrian victories
b. The Habsburgs lost the throne of Spain to the Bourbons.
c. Austria gained the Spanish-Austrian Netherlands (modern
Belgium) and Spain’s holdings in Italy (Naples, Sardinia, and
Milan), all hereditary Habsburg lands
d. Austria was confirmed as one of the 18th century’s great
powers
2. Charles VI had no male heir
a. No female had ever ruled Austria
b. No woman had ever been elected as Holy Roman Emperor
3. Charles VI proposed the Pragmatic Sanction calling for the respect
of the right of his daughter, Maria Theresa, to inherit all of the
Habsburg lands
a. The Pragmatic Sanction was accepted by the major nations of
Europe and the nobility of Austria
b. The Pragmatic Sanction was broken by Frederick the Great of
Prussia in 1740 as the Prussian army seized Silesia beginning the
War of the Austrian Succession
Charles VI
V. MARIA THERESSA (1740-1780)
Maria Theresa vs. Frederick the Great
Maria Theresa
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