Österreichischer Erbfolgekrieg

Österreichischer Erbfolgekrieg, the War of the Austrian Succession, ensued after Maria Theresia succeeded her father Karl VI on the Habsburg throne in accordance with the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction (see Pragmatische Sanktion). Several sovereigns withdrew their assent to the Sanction, and Karl Albert of Bavaria (see Karl VII) and Friedrich August III of Saxony (see August III) renewed their claims to the imperial throne since they were married to the daughters of the Emperor Joseph I. None exploited the crisis more bluntly than Friedrich II, who succeeded to the Prussian throne in 1740, the year of Maria Theresia's accession. Resurrecting the superannuated claims of his forebears to Silesia, he informed the Viennese court that he would support the Pragmatic Sanction if Austria yielded Lower Silesia to Prussia. Maria Theresia rejected the King's proposal in spite of the superior military power which Friedrich Wilhelm I had bequeathed to his son. Friedrich was quick to employ it (16 December 1740), and the first Silesian War (see Schlesische Kriege) gave him Silesia.

The rape of Silesia, however, became the cause of a wider armed conflict involving the European powers in the War of the Austrian Succession as well as, in 1756, the Seven Years War (see Siebenjähriger Krieg). For France, aiming at the fall of the House of Habsburg, invaded Austria with a combined French and Bavarian army. Deserted by all, Maria Theresia, as queen of Hungary, rallied the Hungarian Diet to her cause. Hungarian troops occupied Munich, ironically on the same day on which Karl of Bavaria was crowned as the Emperor Karl VII, having been elected on 24 January 1742. Maria Theresia was fortunate in that England, under Walpole's successor Carteret, decided actively to support the Pragmatic Sanction by the formation of the Pragmatic Army (see Pragmatische Armee), commanded by George II of England, who was also Elector of Hanover, which defeated the French at Dettingen (June 1743). This success encouraged Maria Theresia to persist in her cause; but it did not entirely resolve her problem. With France now officially at war with Great Britain, a French alliance was not in sight. But two events furthered her aims. Early in 1745 Great Britain, the Netherlands, August III (as Elector of Saxony and King of Poland), and Austria concluded the Treaty of Warsaw in which the Pragmatic Sanction was recognized. Moreover, the death of Karl of Bavaria removed the rival emperor, and his young son Maximilian II formally renounced all rights to the imperial title in the Treaty of Füssen (April 1745). In September 1745 Maria Theresia's husband Franz of Lorraine/Tuscany was elected emperor as Franz I. In the spring of that year Maria Theresia had tried once more, with the help of Saxony, to recover Silesia from Prussia, but without success.

In the Treaty of Dresden (December 1745) Austria and Saxony concluded peace with Prussia, in which Friedrich II recognized Franz I as emperor. There remained the task of reconciling Great Britain, France, and Austria, which was accomplished by George II in the Peace of Aachen (or Aix-la-Chapelle) of October 1748. The treaty put an end to the War of the Austrian Succession. In effect, however, it was a truce rather than a peace as none of the signatories was truly satisfied with its terms, which included evacuation by France of the Austrian Netherlands and Austrian acquiescence in the loss of Silesia and Glatz. Nor was Maria Theresia happy about the conciliatory attitude of George II towards Prussia. The years between the Peace of Aachen and the beginning of the Seven Years War were spent in active diplomacy effecting a reversal of alliances, which is known as the Diplomatic Revolution (see Diplomatische Revolution).