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History >1918 - From the Dawn of History to a Border Province |
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600 Years of Habsburg Rule
From the end of the 13th century to the middle of the 15th century the Habsburgs expanded their territory by gaining the Duchy of Carinthia (1335), the Earldom of Tyrol and the "Windische Mark" (1365). Losses of territory in Switzerland were offset by the acquisition of parts of today's province of Vorarlberg. The gifted Rudolf IV referred to as "The Founder", not only founded the University of Vienna but succeeded in strengthening the position of this family for future generations by forging a document known as the "Privilegium maius."
His capable successor, Duke Albrecht V, was married to Emperor Sigismund's daughter, thus becoming King of Bohemia and Hungary. After the death of his father-in-law he became the first Habsburg to again be elected German king of the Holy Roman Empire. Following his untimely death during a battle against the Turks in 1439, Friedrich V (as emperor, Friedrich III) from the Tyrolean line of the Habsburgs began to rule in Austria and in the Holy Roman Empire.
Through his prudent policy of alliances he laid the foundations for the Habsburg Empire. He married his son Maximilian to the Burgundian heiress Maria. Maximilian used a shrewd marital policy to secure the hereditary succession in Bohemia, Hungary and Spain for his grandsons Ferdinand and Karl. The Habsburg dynasty sub-sequently divided into the Austro-German and the Spanish-Dutch lines. In 1526, after the death of the last Jagellonian king Ludwig II in the Battle of Mohács, Bohemia and Hungary were united with Austria.
Emperor Leopold I
The Ottoman Empire, which had been encroaching on Europe ever since the 14th century, posed an ever-greater threat to the continent. Following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the Turks advanced even further west-wards and became a permanent danger for the Habsburg lands. Twice, the Ottoman armies reached the gates of Vienna before they were driven back (in 1529 and 1683 - First and Second Turkish Sieges). It took several campaigns with heavy losses to banish the Turks and to re-conquer Hungary. Austria's emergence as a major power was mainly due to the brilliant military leader Prince Eugene of Savoy, who served under three emperors (Leopold I, Josef I and Karl VI) and proved to be not only an outstanding military commander but also a fine statesman.
In 1700 the Spanish line of the Habsburgs died out. In the "War of the Spanish Succession", fought in Europe, the House of Austria (casa d´Austria) did not succeed in winning back the Spanish possessions but managed to maintain its rule over Italy and the Netherlands.
Empress Maria Theresia
With the death of Emperor Karl VI in 1740, the male line of the Habsburgs came to anend. Karl's daughter Maria Theresa succeeded her father as empress of the patrimonial lands, since the "Pragmatic Sanction", which had been issued in 1713-mainly to ensure the indivisibility of the lands-allowed for female succession. The empress, who married Franz Stephan of Lorraine, found herself faced with a host of enemies who were seeking to seize the Habsburg lands. The Prussian king, Friedrich II, was particularly eager to gain possession of this heritage. Maria Theresa had to fight two arduous wars (the Silesian War, 1740-1748, and the Seven Years War, 1756-1763) in order to keep her lands intact, with the exception of the rich province of Silesia, which she lost to Prussia.
Maria Theresa's husband, who was elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1745 as Franz I, was over-shadowed by his wife throughout his lifetime. The great empress implemented a program of important reforms in her lands. Her son Joseph II abolished serfdom, issued the Toleration Edict and secularized monasteries and church property, thus paving the way for consistent centralism.
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