Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns
Vocabulary: Hapsgurg
Hohenzollern
Maria Theresa Frederick the Great
War of Austrian Succession
Charles VI
balance of power
Seven Years War
Absolutism in Central Europe: Two German-speaking families
became turned to absolute rule in their respective countries: the
Hapsburgs in Austria & the Hohenzollerns in Prussia.
After losses in the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, Austria remained
the most powerful state of the Holy Roman Empire [HRE]. The
HRE throne was continuously occupied by Habsburgs since 1438.
The Austrian Hapsburgs took several steps to become absolute
rulers of the region. First, during the War, they took the German
state of Bohemia & wiped out Protestantism, making it a Catholic
state. They created a new nobility who owed their loyalty to the
emperor. Second, after the War, they centralized the government
and created a new standing army. By 1699, they retook Hungary.
In 1711, Charles VI became the Hapsburg ruler of a difficult
empire. Within its borders lived a diversity of people: Czechs,
Hungarians, Italians, Croatians, and Germans. A Hapsburg ruler
wore the separate crowns of Austria, Hungary, and Bohemia in
order to keep the empire together.
Charles VI spent his reign trying to
rule all these diverse peoples &
lands. He forced leaders of Europe
to sign an agreement to say that,
upon his death, they would accept
Charles’s eldest daughter as the
heir to Hapsburg territories. His
heir was Maria Theresa. He made
this agreement to guarantee Maria
Theresa a peaceful reign. Instead,
she faced years of war with her
main enemy being Prussia, a new
state to the north of Austria.
Maria Theresa 1717–1780 was an able ruler. She was Roman
Catholic and very religious. As empress, she decreased the power of
the nobility. Unlike other absolute rulers of her time, she cared for the
peasants’ well-being & limited the amount of labor that nobles forced
the peasants to do. She argued: “The peasantry must be able to
sustain itself.” Maria Theresa devoted herself to family. She married
for love and had 10 children. She continually advised her children
even into adulthood. Her most famous child was Marie Antoinette,
wife of Louis XVI of France. She scolded Marie for spending lavishly
and making the French hate her. She did not live to see her
daughter’s execution at the hands of the French.
In 1740, Maria Theresa succeeded her father, five months after
Frederick II became King of Prussia. Frederick wanted the
Austrian land, which bordered his country. The land produced iron
ore, textiles, and grew food products. Frederick assumed that
Maria Theresa weak because she was a woman. He thought she
would not be able to defend her lands. So in 1740, he sent his army
to occupy the Austria’s land on the border, thus beginning the a
new war with Austria.
Frederick II or “the Great”: Prussia’s ruling family was the
Hohenzollerns. This family had political, economic, and imperial
ambitions, which threatened to upset central Europe’s balance of
power in which the strength of a nation’s ruler & army kept other
nations from starting a war and taking over others’ land.
Frederick the Great, called King, inherited the Hohenzollern
quest for power. His predecessors built up their state from small
holdings of Brandenburg & Prussia. During the Thirty Years’ War
in 1640, 20-year-old Frederick of Prussia inherited Brandenburg.
He decided that a strong army was the best way to ensure safety
and protect his lands. The creation of a strong standing army of
80,000 men was his 1st move toward absolute monarchy. To pay
the army, he introduced permanent taxation.
Frederick also weakened local government assemblies in his
territories. Prussia’s nobility resisted this power. However,
Frederick’s father had bought their cooperation by giving them
exclusive rights to be army officers.
Under Frederick I, Prussia had become a rigidly controlled,
military society. Frederick I worried that his son was not military
enough to rule. The Prince Frederick loved music & poetry. In
1730, young Frederick tried to run away with a friend. They were
caught. To punish his son, the king ordered young Frederick to
witness his friend’s beheading. Despite such bitter memories,
Frederick II, followed his father’s policies when he became king.
Frederick the Great 1712–1786 reigned
during the same time, as Maria Theresa.
They were so different. Maria was religious,
Frederick was an atheist. Maria had a loving
home life; Frederick married a woman whom
he hated. Maria many children; Frederick
died without a son. An aggressor in foreign
affairs, Frederick wrote that “the fundamental
role of governments is extending their
territories.” Frederick supported religious
tolerance and legal reform. He earned the
title “the Great” by achieving popular goals in
domestic and foreign affairs.
The War of Austrian Succession: In 1740 Maria Theresa had
recently given birth, but she still went to Hungary for help. She
held her infant in her arms as she asked the Hungarian nobles for
help against Prussia. For years, the nobles resented their Hapsburg
rulers, but they pledged to give Maria Theresa an army. Then
Great Britain joined Austria’s fight because its enemy, France, was
Prussia’s ally. Maria Theresa and her allies could not stop Prussia.
Austria, in the end, lost land in 1748.
The Seven Years’ War: Maria Theresa decided that the French
kings were no longer Austria’s enemies so she made them allies.
When Frederick heard this, he allied with Great Britain—Austria’s
former ally. Now, Austria, France & Russia were allied against
Britain & Prussia. Austria & Prussia switched allies, and, for the
first time, Russia played a role in European affairs.
In 1756, the Seven Years War began. Frederick attacked the
Austrian ally, Saxony. Soon every great European power was in
the war which was fought in Europe, India, and North America.
The war ended in 1763. This war started in 1754 in Pennsylvania
under Major George Washington against French scouts. It was
called the French and Indian War.
The war didn’t change the territory of Europe. Neither Austria
nor Prussia gained. However, both France and Britain’s colonies
were affected. The British emerged as the victors in the War.
France lost its colonies in North America to Britain and Britain
gained sole economic domination of India. This set the stage for
the American Revolution in 1776 and led to British expansion in
India in the 1800s.
1. What caused Maria Theresa and Frederick II to adopt the rule of
absolutism?
2. How did each war change alliances, borders, and holdings of European
countries?