The Habsburg Dynasty - The Decline of the Greatest Monarchical House in Europe - See U in History

in the beginning the great concern of the habsburgs in the christian world was to guarantee their dominion and status before other families of the holy roman empire after the coronation of frederick iii in 1452 they managed to maintain the title of holy roman emperor practically continuously until the dissolution of this institution in 1806 with their position secured they accomplished greater achievements with the creation of the spanish dynastic line the concerns became to fight france and to reconvert the protestant princes of northern germany the dream of a universal monarchy aligned with the family spirit of predestination died in the face of the connection between these two rivals the 30 years war 1618-1648 the last religious conflict in central europe also marked the limitation of the family's ambitions which would only fight to maintain his possessions until the beginning of the 19th century but the peace of esthalia the end of the war established the limits of imperial power the empire was increasingly dominated by territorial princes and the efforts of the habsburgs to turn it into a structured monarchy failed in the 17th century the hasbroks found an opponent capable of facing the universal monarchy louis xiv the sun king and the dynasty at their height the bourbons to face this rival leopold the first holy roman emperor at the time emphasized in each of his images the royal symbols such as insignia crowns coat of arms and scepters usually positioning himself in the middle of his ancestors this emphasized the image of continuity tradition and above all the splendor and glory of his reign around his family leopold fought three times against france the franco-dutch war the nine-year war and the war of the spanish succession in the latter leopold wanted to give his youngest son all of spain's heritage ignoring the will of the late charles ii who wanted louis xiv's grandson to take the throne in the end he assumed the crown as prince philip v leopold started a war that ravaged much of europe the first years of the war were reasonably good for austria but it lasted until 1714 nine years after leopold's death something that had little effect on nations at war when peace returned it was not clear that austria could emerge as triumphant as in the war against the turks with the death of leopold the first in 1705 his eldest son assumed the throne as joseph the first joseph continued the war of the spanish succession which had been done in his father's reign against king louis xiv of france he tried unsuccessfully to place his brother archduke charles as the king of spain even so he succeeded in establishing austrian rule over the italian peninsula thanks to the military victories of prince eugene a savoy his only male son died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday the dynastic succession was threatened because he had only two daughters and his wife became sterile after contracting syphilis from her husband her father who was still alive during these events had joseph and his brother charles sign the mutual pact of succession ensuring that joseph's daughters would have absolute precedence over charles's daughters none of whom were born at the time and that mary josepha would inherit the kingdom joseph the first died suddenly in 1711 his brother assumed the throne as charles vi having only two daughters and no male heirs he carefully prepared the pragmatic sanction of 1713 declaring that his kingdom could not be divided and the female daughters could also inherit the paternal throne his death triggered the austrian war of succession finally the pragmatic sanction prevailed and his daughter maria theresa succeeded him as queen of hungary bohemia and archduke of austria but being a woman she was not elected to the holy roman empire a position that was assumed by charles vii after charles vii maria theresa's husband francis iii duke of lorraine was elected emperor as francis the first ensuring the continuation of the hasberg line the dynasty flourished again under the command of maria theresa 1717-1780 it was the time of the cultural apogee of the austrian monarchy her rule corresponded to the flourishing of central european culture with italian slavic and magiar contributions the unity of the empire was ensured by the german language and centralization of power the marriage of archduke maria teresa to francis of lorraine gave rise to the new habsburg lorraine dynasty maria theresa elected her husband as holy roman emperor in 1745 as francis the first her reign was one of the most brilliant she strengthened the central administration delegating the management of finances to a central directory she created a state council ministerial departments and a unified chancellery for austria and bohemia reform of the continent's rightberg prince in 1761 1762 maria theresa centralizing policy advocates the seven years war shook the habsburg empire again in 1756 austria reconciled with its hereditary enemy france and together they fought the power of prussia over silesia the alliance was the beginning of the seven years war 1756-1763 a coalition was established between austria france poland sweden and russia against prussia but the victories of king frederick ii and the defection of the russians would force maria theresa to sign the hubertsburg peace in 1763. prussia with one third of the wealth and one-sixth of the population of austria won two major victories the double shock led to two sudden outbreaks of reform in the habsburg state during maria teresa's reign to modernize and renew the entire government apparatus for the first time the aristocracy and clergy had to pay taxes the empress had 16 children she prepared her eldest son to rule and govern by his side as far as possible she married her daughters to european monarchs the eldest son was joseph an enlightened absolutist who like his mother wanted to transform the dispersed territories of the habsburg monarchy into a properly administered state the youngest daughter was marie antoinette when maria theresa and her daughter to marry the crown prince of the french crown in 1773 this was considered a typical example of hatzburg marital diplomacy it was the union of two dynastic families that have been rivals in the past maria theresa ruled for 40 years dying in 1780 at the age of 63. she was the first and only woman to rule the habsburg domains and the last head of the house of habsburg from her marriage the royal house was renamed the house of habsburg lorraine the throne was assumed by the empress eldest son joseph ii under his leadership the reforms in the empire were deeper the enlightenment ideas were the dominant ones at the time he implemented religious freedom dissolved the lands that were church property and took control of the universities an advanced penal code was introduced courts were reformed and censorship was abolished mandatory conscription was inaugurated and the army expanded to approximately 300 000 soldiers servitude was formally abolished in 1781 among other comprehensive reforms but externally joseph ii was a failure he tried to conquer bavaria but was barred by russia he tried to conquer the balkans but was barred by the ottoman turks the reign of joseph ii ended in failure and disappointment with the death of joseph ii and the rise of leopold ii much of the implemented reforms were eventually repealed and with the french revolution the dynasty and aristocracy came together to implement conservative measures even censorship returned the french revolution with the beheading of king louis xvi and his austrian wife proved to be a much more serious enemy than the splendor of the sun king the avalanche produced by the motto liberte igalite and fratenite and the victories the napoleon bonaparte almost destroyed the habsburgs at that time the commander of the empire was francis the first as the leader of the great and multi-ethnic hasberg empire francis known as francis ii in the holy roman empire felt threatened by napoleon bonaparte's social and political reforms which were being exported all over europe with the expansion of the first french empire francis had a fragile relationship with france his aunt marie antoinette wife of louis xvi was guillotined by the revolutionaries at the beginning of his reign francis in general was indifferent she was not very close to her father leopold and although francis had known her he was too young at the time to have any recollection of her george d'atton tried to negotiate the emperor the liberation of marie antoinette but francis was not willing to make concessions later he led austria in the french revolutionary wars he briefly commanded the allied forces during the flanders campaign of 1794 before handing over the command to his brother charles ducation later he was defeated by napoleon it was the beginning of a parish once again he fought against france during the second and third coalitions was defeated the lacerated and humiliated at the battle of austerlitz thus he signed the treaty of pressberg weakening the austrian empire and reorganizing germany under the confederation of the rhine headed by napoleon after this he believed that his position as holy roman emperor had become untenable on august the 6 1806 he abdicated from the throne he was the last emperor of the holy roman empire and the first emperor of the austrian empire in 1809 francis attacked france again hoping to take advantage of the peninsular war he was defeated once more he was forced to ally himself with napoleon gave a territory of his empire joined the continental blockade and accepted that his daughter marie louise married bonaparte the napoleonic wars drastically weakened austria and threaten its domination among the states of germany a position that it would end up yielding to the kingdom of prussia however with napoleon's defeat in leipzig and waterloo and the congress of vienna the emperor of austria again emerged as one of the most powerful in europe in recognition of this francis represented by metternich presided over the congress of vienna helping to redesign the political map of europe ushering in a conservative era the german confederation a weak association of central european states was created by the congress of vienna in 1815 to organize the surviving states of the holy roman empire the congress was a personal triumph for francis with the death of francis his eldest son ferdinand ascended to the throne in 1835 ferdinand had a mental illness since childhood and was unable to govern his empire a residential council was established after his ascension as a consequence of the 1848 revolutions ferdinand abdicated in december of that year in favor of his nephew franz joseph the first ferdinand moved to the prague castle until his death at the age of 82 in 1875 franz joseph the first restored order to the empire and austria's dominance in the germanic confederation his reign which lasted 68 years is the fourth longest in european history after louis xiv of france johan ii of liechtenstein and elizabeth ii of the united kingdom it is the second most famous monarch in the 19th century europe only behind napoleon his wife was the famous elizabeth of bavaria better known as empress sisi during his reign the focus of tensions changed instead of the nearly 300 year rivalry with france the 19th century was marked by the dispute with prussia for supremacy in the rest of germany more industrialized culturally unified and with a much better equipped and trained army prussia defeated any austrian ambition austria lost its territories in northern italy to piedmont which would unify the region a few years later gave up its influence in the rest of germany and capitulated before the hungarians who claimed more autonomy this gave rise to the dual monarchy the austro-hungarian empire the powerful empire became a secondary power the balkans was his only route of expansion and it was precisely in that region that the first world war broke out franz joseph's heir was archduke franz ferdinand on june the 22nd of 1914 the archduke was killed in an attack in sarajevo in the newly annexed bosnia-herzegovina persuaded by one of his ministers franz josef the first gave an ultimatum to the kingdom of serbia although serbia agreed to most of the points of the ultimatum war was declared on serbia in 1914 triggering the first world war the first world war put an end to any restructuring project without withstanding the internal pressures of the most varied underrepresented ethnic groups slavs czechs and italians for example and the technologically backward the empire collapsed in the conflict and was torn apart by the victorious powers after the war ended the creation of the democratic republic of hungary and the germanic republic of austria led to the formal deposition of the habsburgs after some failed attempts to regain the throne the family went into exile in switzerland charles the first the last emperor never formally abdicated however the habsburg law passed by the austrian parliament confiscated the family's property and political rights when we look at the past this family stands out for its great matrimonial agreements it came to form an empire where the sun never set it was the central character of some of the greatest events in history and kept his family dynasty cohesive the dream of a universal christian monarchy did not come true but the hasberg empire is in history you

Channel: See U in History / Mythology

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Keywords: history, The Habsburg Dynasty, Greatest Monarchical House, habsburg, medieval, modern history, Later Habsburgs, leopold, joseph, ferdinand, holy roman empire, empire of austria, austria, see u in history

Id: e0s33B-jEqQ

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 07 2021