AUSTRIA 



499 



AUSTRIA 



throne during this war and, dying before its 

 close, was followed by Charles VI. The treaty 

 *t the close of the war was largely favorable 

 to Austria, which came into possession of the 

 Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Naples and Sar- 

 dinia; but in 1720 Sardinia was exchanged for 

 Sicily, and fifteen years later, after the War 

 of thr Poli.-h Succession, both Naples and 

 Sicily were lost, and more territory in Nort li- 

 lt uly gained. 



Charlrs VI tried by the Pragmatic Sanction 

 (which see) to secure the throne for his 

 daughter, Maria Theresa, but she was obliged 

 to fight for her possessions with Frederick the 



Bonaparte, lost Belgium and the region about 

 Milan, Italy, but was permitted to seize Venice, 

 hitherto independent. When Bonapan 

 absent in Egypt, Francis again attacked; 

 Bonaparte returned, defeated the Austrians, 

 and obliged them to give up Tuscany. In 

 1804, when Napoleon took the title of Emperor 

 of the French, Francis replied by calling him- 

 self Hereditary Emperor of Austria. Two 

 years later, after having been crushed at Aus- 

 terlitz with the loss of Venice, Dal mat ia and 

 Istria, and having witnessed Napoleon's 

 founding of the Confederation of the Rhine, 

 he renounced the title of Holy Roman Em- 



Austrian Line 

 Spanish Line 

 Boundary of Holy 



I Territory of 

 the Hapsburgs 



GROWTH OP THE FORMER EMPIRE 



At left: Austria and the Holy Roman Empire under Charles V, who was also king of Spain. 

 At right: Austria and the dominions of the Hapsburgs in 1740, at the accession of Maria Theresa. 



Great (which see). She lost Silesia and part 

 of Italy, and in the Seven Years' War unsuc- 

 cessfully attempted to recover the former. 

 In 1772 Maria Theresa shared in the first par- 

 tition of Poland. Her husband, Francis I, was 

 succeeded as emperor by his son Joseph II, 

 who ruled in Austria jointly with his mother, 

 and who attempted to push through many 

 reforms for which the people were not ready 

 (see MARIA THERESA). Joseph was on the 

 throne when the French Revolution broke out, 

 followed by revolt in Belgium. Leopold II, a 

 statesmanlike ruler, succeeded. As head of 

 Holy Roman Empire he planned to crush 

 radical republicanism in France, but died be- 

 fore his plans could be fully matured. His 

 son Francis, who came to the throne in 1792, 

 attempted to carry out his father's projects. 

 He also shared in the third partition of Po- 

 land. 



In the first war with the French revolution- 

 ists, Austria, defeated by the young General 



pcror. In 1809 Francis again took up arms 

 against Napoleon, % and as a result lost Trieste 

 and other Adriatic territory, the Tyrol and 

 West Galicia. In the following year, through 

 the marriage of Napoleon with Maria Louisa, 

 daughter of Francis, Austria entered into nom- 

 inal alliance with Napoleon, but deserted him 

 in 1813 to join in the campaigns which caused 

 his downfall. 



From this time till ISIS tin* dominating 

 figure in Austrian affairs, and to a large ex- 

 tent in those of all Europe, was Prince Met- 

 ternich. In the Congress of Vienna Austria 

 refused to take back Luxemburg and Belgium, 

 but in compensation received Venice and its 

 Adn 1 practical domination 



over all Italy north of Rome. Mcttcrnich's 

 policies, which mrludrd the suppression of all 

 liberal tendenm-. did not In Ip to solve the 

 three great problems of nineteenth century 

 Austria Italy, the Slavs and Hungarians, and 

 influence in Germany. 



