In the first part (here) a start was made to a short history of the Habsburg dynasty. The first part covered a period from the 13th century to the end of the Eighty Years War (1648). I will cover the next century in this article. Same as last article, I use two books as a guide for this article; one is 'Een familie dient Europa' (A family serves Europe) by JJ Mostard (1963) and the other is 'The Habsburg Monarchy 1809-1918' by AJP Taylor (1947).
Revolt in Bohemia
Dutch independence from the Spanish Habsburgs after eighty years of conflict made for quite a dent in the prestige and power of the Spanish Habsburgs. But the Austrian/German part of the dynasty didn't fare much better at this point. The Peace of Augsburg (1555) would not lead to a lasting peace between Catholics and Protestants. Conflict between the many Catholic and Protestant leaders in the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) came back in 1618, in what became known as the Thirty Years War.
The Czech had an elective monarchy back then, and weren't prepared to pick the logical choice in Ferdinand II (a Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor 1619-1637). Instead of him they chose Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate (south-west Germany). Frederick V was a Calvinist, more to the liking of the Czech nobles. This choice, however, was in essence a declaration of war against the Catholic Habsburg dynasty.
Czech hopes were that they could count on help (partly through the marriage ties of Frederick V) from other Protestant leaders in Europe in the coming conflict. These powers would include both the Netherlands and England. A powerful coalition, if it would come to fruition. It did not, however: the Dutch were at this point still in the fight for their independence, and couldn't spare an army to fight in central Europe. The English king, James I, was notorious for his careful and almost pacifist ways, and did not intervene on the side of the Czech. So, against their expectations, the Czech were alone in what appeared to be a very lopsided fight in favour of the Habsburgs at this point, since they could count on Catholic allies within the HRE. The decision took place with the battle of White Mountain (a short distance west from Prague) on the 8th of november 1620, where the Habsburg won definitively.
For a long while this defeat would mean the end of Bohemia as a semi-independent entity within the Habsburg empire. Privileges that they enjoyed before - like choosing their own kings - were lost as the Habsburgs restored (their) order. The Hussite (i.e. Protestant) part of the population received a rough treatment by the now incoming Counter-Reformation, and a large part of the nobility was driven into exile. On the whole it was a victory for Habsburg absolutism: from now on Vienna, and not Prague, would decide what was happening in Bohemia.
Protestant visit from the north
The victory against the Czech didn't bring a lasting peace for the Habsburgs. Christian IV, king of Denmark, had made a Protestant alliance with both the Dutch and the English. Egged on by (remarkably) Catholic France, it went to battle in 1625. As duke of Holstein (northern Germany), Christian IV had a say in the goings-on of the Holy Roman Empire. His attack failed, however: he was beaten in the battle at Lutter in 1626 by the Catholic League.
The next visitor from the north wouldn't be beaten back as easily, if at all. Gustav II Adolf, king of Sweden and a convinced Luteran, would invade the north of Germany in 1630 to safeguard Protestantism in the HRE. The Swedes were not as easily stopped as the Danes. Where the Swedes were able to march as far south as Munich, their king died on the battlefield in 1632. The death of Gustav Adolf took a lot of wind out of the Swedish sails, until France joined the Protestant coalition against the Habsburgs in 1635. The combination of the French presence in the south of Germany and the Swedes in the north brought the Habsburgs to the negotiating table.
Peace of Westphalia and an ascendant France
Mostar called the Peace of Westphalia 'a low point in German history, akin to Versailles and 1945'. He doesn't say this because of the loss of territory, though the Netherlands, Switzerland, the Alsace and Vorpommern are now definitively ruled by others. The main reason for this bleak verdict is the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire after 1648. Every small (city-)state is now able to make its own foreign policy, which often tends to contradict that of their neighbours. It damages any form of German solidarity that was there. It also reduced the power of the (Habsburg) Holy Roman Emperor over his German territories. The German/Austrian line of the Habsburg dynasty would see its focus shifted to the countries surrounding the Danube (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, etc.).
Not all damage was done to the Spanish Habsburgs in the conflict with France, however. In 1661 Louis XIV would start his adult rule over France. His sight quickly fixed on the Spanish Netherlands and its southernmost cities. In 1673 an alliance was formed between the Spanish and Austrian/German Habsburgs against France and its Sun-king. Victories and defeats would follow another until the French victory at Kassel (French-Flanders) in 1677. At the Peace of Nijmegen, signed the next year, the Habsburgs would lose what is known today as French-Flanders.
Peace wouldn't remain for long between the French and the Habsburgs. Louis XIV made use of the Turkish threat in the south-east to gain more territory. The biggest win for him was the occupation of Strasbourg, which was definitively awarded to him in the Treaty of Regensburg (1684). During the Nine Years War (1688-1697) William III of the Netherlands (and also king of England) and his coalition would try and regain territory lost to the French. In some ways they succeeded, but Strasbourg would remain in French hands until today.
The loss of Spain
But the Habsburgs got into trouble much further due to a simple dynastic issue. Carlos II, king of Spain, is the last man of his lineage, and remained childless. When this ruler, somewhat known for his weak health, died in 1700, it caused a crisis of succession. The most logical succession would be to go through his eldest sister, who was married to the arch-rival of the Habsburgs, the French king Louis XIV. This would mean that Spain, and with it the Southern Netherlands and parts of Italy, would fall in the hands of the French Bourbon dynasty.
This was an unacceptable outcome for the Habsburgs. They had a winfall in this dynastic issue: the younger sister of Carlos II was married to the Austrian Habsburg Leopold I, and through this the Habsburgs made a claim to the Spanish throne. They did this with force, which was the start of the Spanish Succession-War. Both England and the Netherlands would also take up arms against the French, and most of the battles were fought in the Southern Netherlands once again. It would not work out the way they wanted: at the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 the throne of Spain was granted to the grandson of Louis XIV. The only concession was that the French and Spanish thrones would stay apart, and never converge into one grand empire. The loss of Spain was a big hit to the power of the Habsburgs, even though the Southern Netherlands and parts of Italy were now ruled by the Austrian/German branch of the dynasty.
Good news on the eastern front
Louis XIV was able to occupy Strasbourg in 1683 because the Austrian emperor was dealing with the Turks at the time. These were at the gates of Vienna, the capital of the Austrian Empire, in 1683. On the 12th of September 1683, they were beat back with the (not asked for) help of Jan Sobieski and the Poles.
The south-eastbound march through what used to be Turkish lands quickly followed for the Habsburgs: Budapest was liberated in 1686, and the whole of Hungary was back in Austrian hands in 1697. The kingdom of Hungary also ceased to be an elective monarchy at this point, and became a hereditary title for the Habsburg dynasty. Further history would prove the Hungarians to be a stubborn people striving for (semi-)independence for the remainder of the days of the Habsburg as rulers, which we will come to later. The 18th century would see more wars between the Habsburgs and the Turks, with different outcomes. But it should be accentuated that Turkish power over south-eastern Europe became significantly weakened due to their loss at Vienna in 1683; they would never threaten Hungarian territories again.
The Pragmatic Sanction
Where the Spanish Habsburgs would have a large crisis of succession, the Austrian/German branch would also have one at the start of the 18th century, albeit a smaller one. Karl VI (Emperor from 1711 to 1740) only had daughters, and these could not inherit at the time. It became his mission to avoid the fate of the Spanish Habsburgs, and to have his eldest daughter, Maria Teresia, succeed him as ruler. He declared his territories to be 'unteilbar und untrennbar'. But this declaration still had to be found acceptable to surrounding rulers.
Most of this was done through negotiation, but it came to a fight with France between 1733 and 1735. They fought with Austria to get the father-in-law of Louis XV on the throne of Poland. During the peace negotiations, the Pragmatic Sanction (the new form of inheritance through a female line) became part of the included deals. There was also an exchange of Italian lands between the Bourbon-Spanish and Austrians during these negotiations.
The most remarkable country that had to give its consent was part of the Habsburg Empire, which was Hungary. They asked for local self-rule and other privileges for the nobles in return for their consent to the Pragmatic Sanction. Taylor describes the contradiction caused by this:
‘Thus the Pragmatic Sanction contained a contradiction, the fundamental contradiction of the Habsburg Empire. For the Habsburgs it was the legal basis of the unity of their empire; for the Hungarians it was the legal confirmation of their privileges, that is, of the separate existence of Hungary and so of the disunity of the empire.’
How exchangeable are peoples?
Hungary would become the self-aware and nationalistic thorn in the side of the Habsburgs for a long time. The Habsburg way of cosmopolitan absolutism, ruled centrally from Vienna, was becoming more and more out of touch (and out of time) compared to its surrounding neighbours. The state of Prussia, for example, was a real German state, and was able to take Silesia (south-western Poland today) from its much larger enemy. They would carry on the German nationalist idea into the next century.
This concept, that of the nation-state as a unit, is wholly alien to the Habsburgs at this point in time. The way they traded pieces of Italy with the Spanish Bourbons like they were trading cards in a game, is very exemplary of their view. Are peoples really this exchangeable? The second half of the 18th century would become an era of both nationalism and liberalism. Would the Habsburgs be able to maintain their position. The answers to that question will be given in a next article in this series. Until the next one,
-Pieter