4.31 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 6/28)

Map taken from Reference 97

Bavaria

Bavaria continued to be ruled by the Wittelsbach family. In 1777 the Elector of Bavaria, Joseph Maximilian, died childless and the nearest heir, another Wittelbach concluded a pact with Emperor Joseph of the Habsburgs whereby most of Palatinate and northern Bavaria went to Austria. Other Wittelbachs, along with Frederick II of Prussia, anxious to keep things in balance, protested Austria's aggrandizements and opened the War of the Bavarian Succession. In a year Bavaria had regained her territory. At the end of the century, however, Bavaria became the chief battlef ield of the Spanish War of Succession and Austrian troops devastated the land. In 1799 Elector Maximilian I united all Wittelsbach lands and allied himself with Napoleon, as a protection against Austria.

It is interesting that in spite of some food shortages, the potato was slow to be adopted in middle Europe. In 1795 the poor of Munich refused to eat a supposedly scientific soup containing potatoes. (Ref. 211 ) At the end of the century there was one market in Bavaria for every 7,300 inhabitants. (Ref. 292 )

Saxony

The young Elector of Saxony, Augustus II, had also been elected King of Poland in 1697. In August of 1706, as part of the Great Northern War, the Swedish army crossed the Silesian frontier to march on Saxony itself, to permanently dispose of the Elector Augustus. The Saxon governing council, having already sacrificed 36,000 troops, 800 cannon and 8,000,000 lives in an effort to keep Augustus on the throne of Poland, wanted no more trouble and signed the Treaty of Altranstadt, which disavowed Augustus and agreed to supply the Swedish army during the coming winter and to turn over all Swedish "traitors" harbored in Saxony, a feature which finally resulted in the horrible death of the Livonian patriot, Patkul - first tortured on the wheel, then beheaded and quartered. While resting in Saxony in 1707 the Swedish King Karl XII was visited by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, who already had Louis XIV more or less "on the ropes" and then wanted to scout the Swedish king's intentions and get a look at his troops.

Elector Augustus II eventually did return to his people and then he and Karl XII got along well. Actually they were first cousins, as their mothers were sisters as Danish princesses. (Ref. 131 )

In spite of all the warfare, Elector Augustus II continued the policies of his predecessors and collected fabulous works of art, so that Dresden eventually became known as Florence on the Elbe. His son and successor Augustus III carried on the same tradition. (Ref. 47 ) Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz specialized in porcelain, silk, armaments and textiles, but the first cotton spinning mill was not started until 1794. Only 5 of Saxony's 200 towns had over 10,000 people. The Swiss Albrecht von Haller, a disciple of the Dutch Boerhaaves settled in Saxony and helped to create the University of Goettingen. He became a great physician, physiologist, botanist and neurologist. (Ref. 8 , 125 )