32.3 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 8/28)

When Karl VI's daughter became Empress Maria Theresa, the Austro-Hungarian Empire included all of present day Austria except Salzburg, Hungary, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia

Austria, itself, with 6,000,000 people was prosperous. All land was owned by nobles or clergy and tilled by serfs. The nobles were not particularly religious, but worked to promote the Catholicism, which helped their serfs to accept their earthly lot. Industry was initiated as Maria Theresa founded a woolen manufactory in Linz, employing no less than 15,600 workers (26,000 by 1775) although about 2/3 were spinners and weavers working at home. (Ref. 292 ) The empress was a great patron of Mozart and he played for her at Schoenbrunn Castle. The Dutchman Gerhard van Swieten, another pupil of Boerhaave, was called to Vienna by the empress to be her personal physician and he started a medical school which drew flocks of students from all over Europe. Incident to this was the building of the famous Allgemeines Krankenhaus in 1784 as a hospital for teaching and caring for the underprivileged. (Ref. 125 )

After 1765 Maria Theresa

Although a part of the great empire, Hungary did not lie quietly. The Rakoczi rebellion from 1703 until 1711 was a Hungarian revolt against the Imperial Crown of Austria. In the end it only resulted in more disunion among the people. By that time Karl (Charles)VI was emperor and he sincerely wanted the Hungarians to be treated generously. The reign of Maria Theresa is considered by some Hungarian historians as a period of rest and recuperation, but by others as one of stagnation. Population and immigration both increased rapidly during the period of peace. The wealth of the Catholic Church and the size of the mansions and estates of the great nobles also increased, while the economy was still agricultural and industry was kept down by the Austrian rulers. The Protestant Church was suppressed and no Protestant could enter public service. By the end of the century only half of the magnate class was Hungarian and even they spent much time in Vienna and Paris, intermarried with German-Austrian and Bohemian aristocracy and often forgot or didn't even learn their Magyar language. The middle nobles were the ones who remained home and kept the national spirit and the language alive. The immigrants were from all the surrounding states but the greatest number were from south Germany and, in general, classed together as "Swabians". In the 1760s and 1770s there were 50,000 German immigrants and another 25,000 in the 1780s. (Ref. 8 ) By the end of Maria Theresa's reign the 3,350,000 Magyars made up 35% of the total population and were chiefly in the central part of the country. There were 1,500,000 Romanians, 1,250,000 Slovaks, 1,000,000 Germans and 750,000 each of Croats and Serbs. The latter were always a thorn in the Hungarians' flesh. Although Joseph II replaced Latin with German as the language of administration and schools, when his brother Leopold II became emperor in 1790 he reversed this decree.