GERMANY: AUSTRIA,
PRUSSIA, AND THE
ENLIGHTENED
DESPOTS
BACKGROUND
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Germany, from the beginning of the 1700s - for a little
more than 200 hundred years was dominated by 2
families, the Hapsburgs and the Hohenzollerns. They
ruled Austria and Prussia respectively.
Throughout the 1700s they vied with each other to
control northern and eastern Europe.
 The Hapsburgs began the period as emperors of the
Holy Roman Empire.
 The Hohenzollerns began as one of the 7 electors of
that Emperor (Elector of Brandenburg).
PRUSSIA’S RISE TO POWER
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In the late 1600s, Austria, Poland, and Russia were at
war with the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish forces had over-run most of the Balkans
and controlled large swaths of territory to the North
side of the Black Sea.
The high-water mark of Ottoman power came when
they marched an army into Austria and laid the Siege
of Vienna in 1683.
TO THE FUTURE:
OTTO VON BISMARCK
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By the time of Otto von
Bismarck, who became
leader of Prussia in the
1870s, the Prussians
would unify Germany
and briefly become a
world power.
EARLY
AUSTRIAN EMPIRE
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Things looked grim for the Austrians until the Siege of
Vienna was broken by the flamboyant King of Poland,
Jan Sobieski.
Sobieski led an army into Austria and drove the Turks
out. The ruler of Austria at the time was Leopold I, a
Holy Roman Emperor.
The Austrians took advantage of the situation, pushing
the Turks back into the mountains. Over the course of a
few years, they took over territories these including
Bohemia, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, and Hungary.
From this source, the Austrians would acquire an
empire separate from Germany.
WAR OF THE SPANISH
SUCCESSION
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Hapsburg power came from great family connections.
Descended from a long line of dukes as well as from
Ferdinand and Isabella through Charles V, the
family had possessions and connections scattered all
over Europe.
While trying to maintain their elevated position they
had to contend with Louis XIV of France.
When Charles II (a Hapsburg) of Spain died, Louis
claimed the throne of Spain for his Grandson (a
Bourbon), sparking the War of the Spanish
Succession.
LOUIS XIV
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Through a series of battles in which the Austrians,
under Prince Eugene of Savoy, were allied with the
British, led by the Duke of Marlborough (a direct
ancestor of Winston Churchill), were fought to a
standstill.
Though his grandson still became King of Spain, it was
agreed that the crowns of Spain and France
could never be united.
Austria was given the Spanish Netherlands as well as
territories in Italy as compensation.
PRUSSIA BECOMES
A KINGDOM
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While the Hapsburgs were compiling a multilingual &
diverse population spread over various areas of Europe,
the Hohenzollerns were turning the relatively small
Electorate of Brandenburg in north eastern Germany
into a power to be reckoned with.
Frederick William, the Great Elector had definite
ideas about how to create a modern state. His objective
was to concentrate power in his own hands and run the
state efficiently.
He created a civil service with various departments,
recruited the Junkers, the nobility, to help run the
departments. Meanwhile the peasants were ruthlessly
repressed to help pay for the advancement of the
state.
FREDERICK WILLIAM I
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The son of the Great Elector, Frederick I, continued
the process of German consolidation, acquiring the
title, King in Prussia.
The frugal Frederick William I took over Prussia
from his father in 1713. He was a noted militarist and
loved his army.
He was called the “Sergeant King.” Frederick
William doubled the size of the Prussian Army from
40,000 to 80,000.
PRUSSIAN POWER
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This huge structure, for such a small country, proved
to be a strain on the state. The peasants continued to
foot the bill for Prussian power.
No country wished to tangle with Prussia, and during
his reign Frederick William I never fought a war.
His son, however, would have no scruples about
employing the Prussian army.
THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION
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Charles VI became Holy Roman Emperor and
Duke of Austria upon his brother's death in 1711.
Austria was now composed of many pieces including
the Kingdom of Hungary and the Crown of Bohemia.
Charles wanted to be sure that all these pieces
remained unified for his heirs.
The problem was that he did not have a son, yet he
would have a capable daughter, Maria Theresa.
His solution was to develop the Pragmatic Sanction.
MARIA THERESA
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By the Pragmatic Sanction document,
Austria and its dominions could be
inherited by his daughter Maria
Theresa.
He spent much of the rest of his reign
convincing his nobles as well as foreign
governments to respect his wishes.
Maria Theresa became Arch-Duchess
of Austria and assumed an
impressive array of crowns in 1740.
The Electors refused to make her
Empress. Her husband, Francis I was
elected instead.
THE WAR OF THE
AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
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Barely a half year into his reign Frederick II decided
to wield the powerful force his father, Frederick
William I had put together.
Charles VI had died, and a young Maria Theresa
had just taken power in Austria. Frederick decided
the time was ripe to swipe Silesia from Austria, on the
excuse that Maria Theresa should not have inherited
in Austria.
Maria Theresa's forces successfully fended off the
antagonist as the War of the Austrian Succession
ended with the Pragmatic Sanction fully justified.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
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At this time the Enlightenment was gripping Europe.
The idea that scientific ideas could be applied to politics
and societies intrigued the leaders of the day.
Peter the Great of Russia, Frederick II, and Maria
Theresa were called “Enlightened Despots” because
they used enlightened ideas to help them rule their
nations.
The enlightened rulers advanced infrastructure,
education of the population, tax structures,
judicial structures, and economies.
THE ENLIGHTENED DESPOTS
THREE PARTITIONS
OF POLAND
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Yet these rulers were also quite practical,
and yet greedy, when faced with political
opportunity.
The Seven Years War, was an attempt by
Austria to regain Silesia, spread into a
world-wide struggle that would include
France, Russia, Spain, and Austria on one
side, with Britain and Prussia on the other.
There was also the notorious
Three Partitions of Poland, by which
the nation was divided between Prussia,
Russia, and Austria.
Poland, was totally unable to resist the
combined force of the autocratic states that
surrounded her. She was not to re-emerge
until after World War I.
CONCLUSION
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The two leading states in Germany took divergent
paths to power.
The Austrian Hapsburgs faced outward,
snapping up territories here and there around
Europe. In spite of internal reforms they could
never completely consolidate their gains.
In Prussia, however, the growth was Germanic for
the most part. The Brandenburg-Prussian
Hohenzollerns unified their territories and
created an efficient kingdom where the best and
brightest were recruited into the military and
government.
LEGACY
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These 2 powerful families would fight over the soul
of Germany, with tremendous repercussions for later
history.
The Hapsburgs would long have the upper hand, but
eventually the Hohenzollerns would provide the nucleus
for a state that would one day, briefly, conquer nearly all
of Europe.
END OF PRESENTATION