the empire and the Habsburg family interests, he promulgated the Pragmatic
Sanction, which provided that the succession should go to the female line
and that the empire’s territorial integrity should be preserved. This change in
the rules o f inheritance needed the approval of the various diets and the sup
Balkan nationalities under Habsburg rule
port o f the m ajor foreign powers. T h rou gh concessions on other matters, C harles V I was able to w in over the diets and to gain the support o f the neighboring powers, France, Spain, Saxony, and Prussia. These govern ments, however, consulted together on h ow they could best profit from the situation.
In 1740 Charles’s daughter, M aria Theresa, came to the throne. She was imm ediately faced w ith the necessity o f defending her inheritance, because Frederick the Great invaded Silesia. In the general European w ar that fo l low ed, Austria was supported by Britain, which contributed mainly subsi dies, by H olland, by some Germ an states, and eventually by Russia. In o p position was a strong coalition including Prussia, France, Bavaria, Spain, and Saxony, all o f which hoped to gain by the defeat and dism em berm ent o f the monarchy. In the peace concluded in 1748, Austria was com pelled to surren der Silesia, but otherwise the Pragm atic Sanction was upheld. A lth ough the integrity o f the em pire was preserved w ith this one exception, H absburg bitterness toward Prussia became extreme.
M aria Theresa at this time enjoyed the services o f one o f the m ost able diplom ats o f the century, C ount Wenzel von Kaunitz. Ju d gin g Prussia to be the m ost dangerous enemy o f the state, he attempted to form a diplom atic front against that power. To do this he sought to reverse the diplom atic com binations o f the past and to com e to an agreement w ith the traditional foe, France. Such a radical shift in alignments was difficult for both pow ers, but in M ay 1756 a defensive alliance was concluded. Well aware o f the negotia tions directed against him , Frederick II in A ugust 1756 invaded Saxony. In this second war o f the mid-century, A ustria, France, and Russia, w ith some Germ an states, were allied against Prussia, which was supported by Britain and other German principalities. A lth ou gh the position o f Prussia was often precarious, Frederick was immensely aided by the death o f Em press Eliza beth o f Russia and the accession o f Peter III. A n admirer o f the Prussian king, the new tsar sim ply reversed the Russian alignment and join ed Fred erick. In 1763 the Treaty o f H ubertusberg was concluded, w hich, as far as the H ab sbu rg Em pire was concerned, sim ply confirmed the loss o f Silesia. A l though the monarchy had thus suffered no irreparable damage, the wars had demonstrated the weakness o f the state and the need for radical reform in order to face the future.
The eighteenth century
T H E R E F O R M P E R I O D : M A R I A T H E R E S A A N D J O S E P H II
U n til his death in 1765 M aria Theresa’s husband, Francis Stephen o f Lorraine, had been both co-regent and H o ly Rom an Emperor. A fter his death, his eldest son, Joseph II, held these positions and became closely associated in the formulation and implementation o f the reforms. In 1780, on the death of his m other, Joseph became the sole ruler. Both M aria Theresa and J o s e p h
Balkan nationalities under Habsburg rule
were influenced by the ideas and atmosphere o f the Enlightenm ent. T h e ef fect o f these doctrines on the national movements w ill be examined in sub sequent sections. F o r n ow the importance o f these new ideas is that they direcdy affected the attitude o f a grou p o f rulers know n as enlightened des pots, w hich included Catherine the G reat and Frederick the G reat as well as the H ab sbu rg monarchs. A lth ough they differed on many matters, they all were convinced that it was their duty to devote their reigns to the betterment o f their subjects’ lives and to strengthening their states. B elieving that state pow er should be used to achieve social progress, they favored the interven tion o f its agents and institutions in many phases o f national life. In the H absbu rg E m pire their attitude was revolutionary in that they wanted to insert the authority o f the central governm ent between the feudal nobility and the great mass o f the tax-burdened unfree peasantry. T he state w ould thus stand as m oderator and judge between tw o social classes. In no sense were the enlightened despots dem ocratic; they did not consider lord and peasant equals. A utocratic by conviction, they w ere determ ined that the g o v ernment should be controlled by themselves o r their representatives. T h ey were firm upholders o f the principle o f everything fo r the people, but n oth ing by the people.
R eform s w ere carried out both during the joint regency o f M aria Theresa and Joseph and w hen Joseph reigned alone, although the aims and m ethods o f the tw o rulers differed. H er experiences at the beginning o f her reign had shown the em press that reform was a political necessity; the em pire had to be strengthened so that it could meet the Prussian challenge. T h e military establishment had to be made stronger and its tax base w idened and made more secure. T h e reform s were also directed at shifting the real pow er in the state from the local aristocracy to the central governm ent and at creating a situation in which the agents o f the monarch, an appointed bureaucracy, would be in effective control o f local governm ent. Representatives o f the central governm ent w ould thus replace agents o f the provincial estates and diets. T he nobility as a class w ould still have a special position in the state, but the nobles w ou ld serve the central governm ent rather than local institutions rep resenting their o w n caste. O n this basis, they could also join the bureaucracy.
T he reform s covered m any aspects o f national life: administration, justice, religion, education, econom ic policy, and the relationship o f lord and peas ant. F o r the C roats, Rom anians, Serbs, and Slovenes o f the em pire, the m ea sures concerning the peasantry, the regulation o f the churches, and the steps taken to im prove education w ere to have the m ost significance. These re forms are discussed here, first, as they applied to the entire em pire (see M ap •3), and second, as they affected the areas w ith which w e are principally con cerned.
The difficult situation o f the peasantry was bound to be the first concern ° f a reform ing governm ent aim ing at an increase o f state power. T h e peas- antry was the main source o f tax income and o f recruits for the army. T he
The eighteenth century
Map 13. The Habsburg Empire in 1780