4.31 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 9/28)

Bohemia's fate was similar to Hungary's. Subject to the Habsburg autocratic rule the life of both Bohemian and Moravian peasants was hard, with compulsory labor accepted. Persecution of Jews began in 1744, with some fleeing to England. (Ref. 260 ) Near the end of the century the Czechs began to feel a spirit of national unity and started ideas of freedom. Leopold II tried to conciliate them, but he was the last Austrian ruler to be crowned King of Bohemia.

To complete our story of the 18th century Habsburg Empire, we must relate that upon Joseph II's death, his brother, who had succeeded their father as grand duke of Tuscany, became Emperor Leopold II. The state was in some disarray and he had to repeal most of Joseph's radical reforms. After reaching an agreement with Frederick William II of Prussia, he negated the old alliance with Catherine of Russia and concluded a separate peace treaty with Turkey at Sistova in 1791. He also marched troops into the Austrian Netherlands and suppressed the Belgian Republic. He was succeeded in 1792 by his son, Francis II, who was soon confronted by the French Revolution. His armies were defeated by Napoleon and by the Treaty of Campo Formio of 1797 he ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France, but obtained Venetia and Dalmatia. In 1798 he joined the Second Coalition against France and was defeated again.

Switzerland

In 1715 the Swiss Federation was made up of 13 Cantons, a complex of three peoples, four languages and two faiths. Most of the Cantons were oligarchies, with very limited suffrage, but serfdom had almost completely disappeared. Bern was the largest canton, embracing approximately 1/3 of Switzerland. Religion was half the government and half the strife. (Ref. 54 ) The two rival religions - Calvinist and Catholic – exuded hatred and shackled the mind. Some Cantons prohibited any but Catholic worship and some forbade any but Protestant. Geneva was not a Canton, but a separate republic with French speech and Calvinist faith. The emigration of Huguenots to this city was a great boon.

Map taken from Reference 97

In 1789 Switzerland was overrun by the armies of Napoleon and he set up a centralized Helvettic Republic, which was in close alliance with France and all the old liberties of the Cantons were wiped out. The most famous Swiss of the century were Jean Jacques Rousseau, philosopher, author and political theorist, who developed a persecution mania, living some in Switzerland, some in England and some in France and Albrecht von Haller, who did most of his medical work in Saxony.

Western europe

In Western Europe this was a century of warfare, at first involving Spain, France and England primarily and then the latter two especially near the end of the century.

The War of the Spanish Succession lasted from 1701 to 1714, beginning with the death of the last Spanish Habsburg, when Leopold of the Austrian branch of the family opened the struggle trying to get the Spanish inheritance of Carlos II, by invading Italy. The idea was to keep Louis XIV's grandson Philip off the Spanish throne and in his effort he was encouraged by England and the Dutch Republic. The Holy Roman Empire, Portugal and Savoy also declared war on France, while Spain, itself and France were backed by the Electors of Bavaria and Cologne. The antagonists fought most of the battles in the beautiful countryside of Bavaria. At the end, the compromise Peace of Utrecht allowed Spain to keep Philip, but the Spanish Netherlands went to the Austrian Habsburgs and Spain's previous Italian territories went to Savoy. (Ref. 8 )