inXVI- XVII

The struggle of Prussia with the Austrian Habsburgs. War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48

The struggle of Prussia with the Austrian Habsburgs. Seven Years' War.

Economic development of the possessions of the Habsburgs. Reforms of Maria Theresa and JosephII.

Features of the political state and development of Austria inXVI- XVIIcenturies Fight against the Ottoman Empire.

The largest state in the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" were the possessions of the Habsburgs. This state did not even have a specific name, since it was an association of lands inhabited by various peoples under the rule of the Habsburg dynasty. However, since Austria was the core of the original hereditary possessions of this house, this state is most often called that. The growth of the possessions of the Austrian archdukes of the Habsburg dynasty, who were also elected emperors of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" from 1438, was closely connected with the need to repel the Turkish invasions in the 15th - 16th centuries. So, the general danger of the Turkish conquest forced at the end of the 15th century. unite Hungary and the Czech Republic. After the death of the Hungarian king Matthew Corvinus in 1490, the Hungarian feudal lords elected the Czech king Vladislav II Jagiellon to the throne. The personal union united the Czech Republic and Hungary even under the son of Vladislav II, Louis II. However, after the defeat of the combined Czech-Hungarian army in the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, in which Louis II also died, and the capture of the troops of the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent capital of Hungary - Buda, the Czech nobility proclaimed the King of the Czech Republic, and the Hungarian King of Hungary Ferdinand I of Habsburg . Although the transfer of the Czech crown to the Habsburgs was an act of personal union (one common monarch for two states), later, after the suppression of the Czech uprising in 1547, the power of the Habsburgs in the Czech Republic was declared hereditary. In Hungary, the power of the Habsburgs was based on a marriage contract and was established after the wars with Suleiman the Magnificent in 1529 and 1532-1533. and 1540-1547. according to the peace of Adrianople, only in the western part of the country, the central part was under the rule of the Turks, became the Turkish vilayet. According to the Peace of Adrianople, the eastern part of Hungary also fell into vassal dependence on the Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, where a semi-independent principality of Transylvania was formed. For the possession of this principality again in 1566-1568. fought Suleiman the Magnificent and Ferdinand of Austria. Transylvanian princes, who considered themselves legitimate claimants to the Hungarian throne, often waged wars against the Habsburgs in alliance with the Ottoman Empire.

By the end of the XVI century. Turkish pressure on the possessions of the Habsburgs weakened: in the peace of 1568, the Habsburgs undertook to pay an annual tribute to the Sultan, after which the Turkish army left the Austrian possessions. The Habsburgs tried to restore their influence in the German lands by strengthening the imperial power, weakened by the Reformation. This explains that the struggle for the subordination of the German princes to the imperial power was a struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism.

During the Thirty Years' War, the Austrian Habsburgs were defeated, and Emperor Ferdinand III was forced to sign the Peace of Westphalia, which consolidated the political fragmentation of the German lands. True, the Austrian Habsburgs did not suffer territorial losses.

Having failed in an attempt to turn Germany into a single centralized Catholic state, the Austrian Habsburgs tried to create a centralized state based on their family possessions. Emperor Leopold I (1658-1705) takes a number of measures to strengthen the central government:

introduces uniform taxation in all its possessions,

strengthens existing and creates new central bodies: the State Council, the Military Council, the Commerce Collegium, the Collegium for Tax Collection, etc.

All these measures were a continuation of the policy of limiting the power of local feudal-estate institutions in the Czech Republic. So, back in 1528, Ferdinand I forbade the assembly of diets (congresses) of nobles and townspeople of the Czech Republic without his permission. After the suppression of the uprising of 1547, all Czech cities except for Prague and three more cities were deprived of representation in the Sejm.

These measures violated the established order of administration in the Hungarian lands of the Habsburgs. During the period of struggle with Turkey, wishing to attract the Hungarian nobility to their side, the Habsburgs retained both the State Council of Hungary and its right to issue laws. The West Hungarian lands, which were part of the possessions of the Habsburgs, were divided into committees, the power in which belonged entirely to the local nobility.

In the midst of the administrative reforms of Leopold I, the international situation worsened: Turkey again began aggressive campaigns against Austria, Venice, the Commonwealth and Russia.

In 1660, the 80,000-strong army of the Turkish sultan under the command of Grand Vizier Fazil Ahmet Kepriol Pasha invaded western Hungary and laid siege to the city of Klausenburg. The allied Austro-French army under the command of Raymond Montecuccoli, supported by the Hungarian detachments, not only liberated the city of Klausenberg, but also defeated the Turkish army in the battle of Saint Gotthard in 1664. However, having cleared all of Hungary and Transylvania from the Turks, the Austrian troops of Montecuccoli, by order Leopold stopped the fighting and concluded in 1664 the Vasvar peace, according to which all their possessions in central Hungary and Transylvania were returned to Turkey. These actions of Leopold were explained by the aggravation of contradictions in Europe, the imminent war of Louis XIV with the aim of capturing the Netherlands and Holland (1672-1678).

Dissatisfied with the conclusion of the Treaty of Vasvar, as a missed opportunity to liberate central Hungary and Transylvania from Turkish rule, indignant at the violation of the rights and privileges of self-government in connection with the reforms of Leopold I, the Hungarian nobles repeatedly tried to raise an uprising against the Habsburgs. In 1666-1667, an attempt to raise an uprising was made by Franz Vyashselena, in 1670-1671. a conspiracy and uprising was raised by P. Zrinyi, F. Nadasdy and F. Rakoczy I. These conspiracies and uprisings failed, their participants were executed. Not wanting repeated noble conspiracies, Leopold I increases the number of occupying Austrian troops and disbands the Hungarian troops (Honveds), who had previously carried out border service. To manage the western Hungarian lands, a governor system was established, at the head of which was placed the grand master of the German knightly order G. Ampringen.

Taking advantage of European contradictions, the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV in 1671 declared war on the Commonwealth. Turkish troops defeated the Polish king Mikhail Vyshnevetsky (elected king after the abdication of Jan Casimir II in 1668) and forced him to conclude in 1672 the Buchach peace, according to which Podolia retreated to Turkey, and Western Ukraine, led by hetman Petro Doroshenko , gained independence with the obligation to pay tribute to the Sultan. This peace was not approved by the Polish Sejm, and the Polish Crown Hetman Jan Sobieski continued the war. Polish troops defeated the Turks in the Battle of Khotyn, the garrison of Khotyn capitulated. In 1674, after the death of Mikhail Vyshnevetsky, Jan III Sobessky was elected king of the Commonwealth, but during the elections, the Turks again captured Khotyn and approached Lvov. Having won the battle near Lvov in 1675, Jan Sobessky liberates almost the entire territory of Poland from the Turks. After several victories in the battles of 1676 near Zoravn, Zlochev and Suceavna, in October 1676, the Treaty of Zoravna was signed: Turkey returned Western Ukraine to Poland, with the exception of Podolia and two fortresses (Kamenets-Podolsky and Khotyn).

The reason for the start of a new great war of Turkey in Central Europe in 1670-1699. was an anti-Austrian rebellion led by Count Imre Tekeli. From the end of the 16th century most of the townspeople and nobility of western Hungary accepted the Reformation. After the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Protestant churches were closed, the Jesuits entered the country, seizing most of the schools. The reforms of Leopold I were accompanied by increased tax levies, robberies of Austrian imperial mercenary troops stationed in Hungary, which prompted many Hungarian and Slovak peasants to flee to the eastern regions bordering on Transylvania. The fugitive peasants were called in memory of the peasant war of 1514 crusaders (kuruts). In the summer of 1670, an uprising broke out in Northern Hungary by Hungarian and Slovak peasants and the demoted Honvéds.

Count Imre Tekeli took advantage of this uprising of the Kurucians, who decided to recreate the Hungarian state, independent of the Austrian Habsburgs. Many Hungarian nobles, dissatisfied with the reforms of Leopold I and the Treaty of Vasvar and the reprisals against participants in the anti-Austrian conspiracies of 1666-1671. joined this uprising. Since 1678, the uprising of the peasants acquires an organized character in connection with the accession of noble detachments to it. By 1679, most of the territory of Slovakia, Northern Hungary and Transcarpathia was liberated from the Austrian troops, and Imre Tekeli proclaimed himself the prince (king) of Hungary.

These events forced Leopold I to cancel the "governor's" rule and convene in 1681 the State Assembly of Hungary, which elected the Hungarian prince P. Esterhazy as governor. The meeting confirmed the restoration of noble privileges in the management of committees, allowed to preach the Protestant religion in some committees. In addition, Leopold I began generously distributing titles and lands to the Hungarian nobility. These measures led to the departure from the uprising of most of the Hungarian nobility. Not wanting to stop the fight, I. Tekeli turns to the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV for help, recognizing himself as his vassal. With the help of the Turkish army under the command of the Grand Vizier Kara-Mustafa, by 1683 the entire north-east of Hungary was again under the rule of I. Tekeli. Leopold I hastened to recognize I. Tekeli as the prince (king) of Hungary, but the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV decided to continue the war.

Under such conditions, Jan Sobessky, king of the Commonwealth, on March 31, 1683, concluded a defensive alliance with Leopold I.

At this time, a huge Turkish army under the command of Kara Mustafa was already moving from Adrianople to Belgrade. On the way, the army of the Transylvanian prince Michael Apofi (Mihai Apafi) joined the Turkish army, and the army of the Hungarian prince (king) I. Tekeli launched an offensive in Slovakia.

Tekeli's army, which acted separately, was defeated near Pressburg, and the Turkish-Transylvanian troops on the territory of Austria proper were divided: a 50,000-strong group began the siege of the city of Gyor, and the remaining 150,000 began the siege of Vienna. Emperor Leopold I fled from Vienna to Passau, the 30,000th Austrian army under the command of Charles of Lorraine retreated west to the city of Linz, leaving a 15,000th garrison under the command of Count Staremberg to defend Vienna. The siege of Vienna dragged on because the Turks did not have enough siege guns. Having learned about the events near Vienna, the Polish king Jan Sobessky, at the call of Pope Innocent XI, and fulfilling his allied duty, at the head of an army of 30,000 hurried to the rescue. Having overcome 320 km from Warsaw to Vienna in 15 days, the troops of J. Sobessky caught the Turks by surprise. On September 12, 1683, during the Battle of Vienna, 76,000 united troops of Charles of Lorraine (center), Jan Sobessky (right flank) and German detachments (left flank), supported by a sortie of the Vienna garrison, defeated the Turkish army. The outcome of a long battle was predetermined by the attack of the Polish cavalry to the tent of the Grand Vizier. During the battle, 6 pashas were killed, the Banner of the Prophet was captured, which was sent as a gift to the Pope.

In 1684, for the liberation of Christian lands from Turkish rule, at the call of Innocent XI, the Holy League was created: the German Empire (Austria), Poland, Venice. In 1686, Russia also joined this league, concluding an “Eternal Peace” with the Commonwealth.

During 1684-1685. Austrian and Polish troops captured the entire territory of the Hungarian Principality of I. Tekei. In the next two years, Austrian troops occupied central Hungary and the Hungarian capital Buda.

In 1687, Leopold I convened the Hungarian State Assembly (Seim) and achieved important decisions for the Habsburg dynasty:

the estates renounced the right to choose the Hungarian king, recognizing the hereditary right of the Habsburgs to the throne,

the provision of the "Golden Bull" on the right to armed resistance of the nobility to the king in case of violation of the Constitution was canceled,

The territory of Transylvania, recognized as the hereditary possession of the Habsburgs, was finally torn away from Hungary.

In 1688, the imperial troops liberated Belgrade from the Turks and invaded Serbia, which was a Turkish possession. Worried about the success of the Habsburgs and the creation of the League of Augsburg (1686), Louis XIV violated the truce with the German Empire and invaded the Palatinate. Thus began in 1688 a great European war (at the same time it was the third "Dutch" war of Louis XIV) on several fronts. French troops managed to win ground battles in the Netherlands, Italy, and Spain. Only at sea, France was defeated by the Anglo-Dutch fleet. It was at this time that the young Russian Tsar Peter was trying to use the international situation and undertook campaigns against France's ally - the Ottoman Empire - against the Turkish fortress of Azov (campaigns in 1695 and 1696). Unexpectedly for all participants in the war in 1697, France, having won so many victories, proposed peace negotiations. Under the terms of the Peace of Reswick in 1697, all the fortresses in Catalonia, Luxembourg and the fortresses of Courtrai and Mons in the Southern Netherlands were returned to Spain. The reasons for such a quick and clearly unfavorable peace for France were information about the imminent death of the childless Spanish king Charles II and the hopes of Louis XIV for the division of the Spanish inheritance (Spain - France, the Netherlands - Austria), which was also agreed by a relative of Charles II of Habsburg - Leopold I of Habsburg, the German emperor. It was at this time that the Russian Tsar Peter, as part of the Great Embassy, ​​and therefore unsuccessfully tried to persuade the German Emperor Leopold I, then England and Holland to continue the war against France's ally, the Ottoman Empire.

In 1890, in connection with the death of the Transylvanian prince Michael Apofi, I. Tekei seized his throne, but not for long. Since the war against the Turks acquired a liberating character, he lost the support of both the peasantry and the nobility, and his troops could not resist the offensive of the Austrian troops. And later, the Turkish troops, thanks to which Tekei still held power in some parts of Transylvania, were defeated. In September 1697, on the borders of Transylvania, the commander of the Austrian troops, Eugene of Savoy, in a battle on the banks of the Zenta River, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turkish army of the vizier Ilyas Mehmed. As a result, in 1699 the Peace of Karlowitz was concluded and the war with Turkey ended, which distracted the Habsburgs from the struggle for influence in the German lands and from the problems of Europe. The Peace of Karlovytsy secured the victory of the Austrian Habsburgs over the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire: the Habsburgs received central and eastern Hungary (Transylvania), Croatia and Slovenia (Slavonia).

The beginning of a new European war "War of the Spanish Succession" 1701-1713. again accompanied by serious internal upheavals in the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs. The anti-Austrian uprising was prepared by Ferenc Rakoczi II (1676-1753), whose name was a symbol of the struggle for the independence of Hungary, since his father and maternal grandfather were among the executed conspirators in 1671. His stepfather Tekeli also fought against the Austrians, and under the leadership of his mother Ilona Zrinyi defended the fortress of Mukachevo against the Austrians for three years in 1685-88. F. Rakoczy's letter, sent to Louis XIV, counting on France's support in organizing an anti-Austrian uprising, was intercepted, and Rakoczi was imprisoned in a fortress near Vienna. Rakoczy managed to escape, he found shelter in Poland, where envoys from Hungarian peasants arrived to him, dissatisfied with the increased tax burden. Rakoczy created armed detachments, and since the main forces of the Austrian army were busy on the battlefields in Western Europe, he was able to quickly liberate most of the territory of Hungary. In 1704, his army approached the borders of Austria. In 1705, Rákóczi II convened the State Assembly of Hungary (Sejm), whose deputies refused to recognize the new Emperor Joseph I (1705-1711) as the King of Hungary, since this violated the Hungarian Constitution on the election of kings (although this provision of the Constitution was repealed in 1687 G). Rakoczy's hopes for the help of France and Bavaria, allied France, were dispelled after the battle of Blenheim on August 13, 1704, where the Austrian troops of Eugene of Savoy and the English under the command of Marlborough defeated the Franco-Bavarian army of Marshal Tallard and the Duke of Baden. The French troops were forced to withdraw beyond the Rhine. Then Rakoczy II tried to carry out reforms aimed at gaining the trust of the population of Hungary:

the Senate and the Economic Council were established,

introduced its own currency,

schools were opened and a newspaper in Latin (Mercurius Verdicus) began to be published,

a resolution was adopted on the liberation from serfdom of the peasants participating in the war for independence,

those peasants who served in the army were also exempted from feudal duties,

the nobility was taxed.

Since further battles of 1705-1707. were also in favor of the allied Austro-British troops, Rakoczy II turned to Russia for support. In 1707, Peter I signed an alliance agreement with Rakoczy, but Russia, connected with the war with Sweden, could not provide effective assistance. In 1708, the reinforced Austrian troops inflicted a series of defeats on Rakoczy's army. The Pope, under the threat of excommunication, demanded that the Catholics submit to the lawful sovereign - Emperor Joseph I. All this, together with dissatisfaction with the latest measures related to the situation of the peasants and tax policy, caused fluctuations in the mood of the Hungarian nobility. When Rakoczy II left for Warsaw to meet with Peter I, entrusting Count S. Karolyi with the command of the army and negotiating with the Austrians in order to “gain time”, Karolyi signed the Peace of Satmar with the Habsburgs (1711). The terms of the peace were mild: a guarantee of respect for the Hungarian Constitution, a guarantee of freedom of religion, and an amnesty for participants in the war of independence. The amnesty also extended to Rakoczy, but he preferred exile: he left for France and then for Turkey.

As a result of the war for the "Spanish Succession" (1701-1713), by agreement with France, the Spanish Netherlands and Spain's extensive possessions in Italy: Lombardy with Milan, Mantua, Naples and Sardinia ceded to the Austrian Habsburgs. However, this war and especially The Satmar peace prevented the centralization of the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs.

During the new Austro-Turkish war of 1716-1718. E. Savoysky, who received the rank of Generalissimo, using the tactics of a “night attack” and having significantly smaller forces, managed to defeat the Turkish army of Darnad Ali Pasha on August 10, 1716 in the battle of Petervaideine. The Austrians, under the command of Savoy, inflicted a new defeat on the Turks under the walls of Belgrade. Shortly after this battle, a peace treaty was signed, according to which the rest of Hungary (Banat), part of Serbia with Belgrade and part of Bosnia and Wallachia retreated to the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs.

Thus, the hereditary possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs by the beginning of the 18th century. despite reform attempts, for various reasons, they were not centralized, did not have common legislation, a common management system. Many parts of the empire were governed by their estate institutions.

The ruling circles of Austria were especially concerned about the fact that Emperor Charles VI (1711-1740) did not have male heirs, which, under the “dynastic” union that held together the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs, threatened the collapse of the state.

The struggle of Prussia with the Austrian Habsburgs. War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48 Seven Years' War.

Charles VI, who became emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" in 1711 during the war for the "Spanish Succession", tried to link the conditions of the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 with the problem of the Habsburg dynasty's succession to the throne. In the same 1713, the “Pragmatic Sanction” was issued, according to which the hereditary lands of the House of Habsburg were declared indivisible and could be inherited by the eldest daughter, in the absence of sons. Charles VI made every effort to recognize this sanction by all representative-estate institutions in his lands and neighboring European powers. In 1723 this sanction was approved by the State Council of Hungary, by 1740 this sanction was recognized by most European countries, including England, Prussia, Russia and France.

War of the Austrian Succession 1740-48

In 1740, when Emperor Charles VI died and his daughter Maria Theresa (1740-1780) came to the throne, the imperial princes of Germany and King Frederick II of Prussia (1740-1786) began to make territorial claims in exchange for recognition of her rights to throne. Despite the recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction by his father, upon becoming king, Frederick II demanded that Silesia be given to Prussia. Frederick acted on the basis of the military unpreparedness of Austria and the abundance of enemies: the Bavarian elector Charles Albert, France and Spain (where Bourbon Philip V ruled). Having attacked Austria in 1740, the Prussian king Frederick assured the French ambassador that he would “share it with France if he remains a winner”. As a result, an agreement was concluded between Prussia and France, Spain, Bavaria on the division of the “Austrian inheritance”. In the very first year of the war, Frederick defeated the Austrian army and captured Silesia, and the allied Franco-Bavarian army captured Prague. The Bavarian Elector Charles Albert was elected King of Bohemia and Emperor of Germany under the name of Charles VII (1742-1745). However, further the position of the opponents of Austria became more complicated. Maria Theresa was able to rely on the support of the Hungarian nobility by issuing in 1741 a law on the exemption of noble lands from taxation and the expansion of the rights of comitate assemblies. Replenishing forces with Hungarian detachments, the Austrian army launched a counteroffensive. Seeing the change in the situation, Frederick II concluded a separate peace with Maria Theresa in 1742, on the condition that Silesia be transferred to him. By 1743-44. Austria's allies were Saxony, England, Sardinia, Holland and Russia. In 1744, Frederick again entered the war against Austria and defeated the Austrian army of Charles of Lorraine at Hohenfriedberg in June, at Sorgau in September and at Hennesdorf in November 1745. As a result of the defeats, the Austrian army was forced to retreat to Bohemia.

The fighting on the territory of the Austrian Netherlands unfolded in Flanders in 1745. The allied Anglo-Dutch-Austrian troops under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, the son of the English king, also suffered a number of defeats from the French army under the command of Moritz of Saxony.

As a result, French troops occupied most of Flanders and such important cities as Tournai, Ghent, Bruges, Oudenarde, Ostend and Brussels. In October 1746, at Roku, near Liège, Moritz of Saxony inflicted a new defeat on the Austrian army, commanded by Duke Charles of Lorraine. In July 1747, under Laufeld, the French army of Moritz of Saxony also defeated the allied Anglo-Austrian army under the command of the Duke of Cumberland, who had returned from Scotland.

Yet the War of the Austrian Succession was lost by the French coalition. This was facilitated by the defeat inflicted by the British in a naval battle on June 14, 1747 to the French fleet, and the re-cessation of the war by the Prussian king Frederick II in 1745, on the condition that Silesia be recognized by Maria Theresa. In addition, the negotiations that began between Spain and Austria and England led to the withdrawal of Spain from the War of the Austrian Succession. Spain was satisfied with the promises of keeping the borders in North America from England and the transfer of Parma and Piacenza in Italy by Austria to Philip, the brother of Ferdinand VI, who entered the Spanish throne in 1746.

The Peace of Aachen in 1748 finally secured Silesia as part of Prussia.

Seven Years' War 1756-63

The new war was preceded by a diplomatic realignment of the powers. A. Kaunitz, the new chancellor of Maria Theresa, who did not leave hope for the return of Silesia, proposed the idea of ​​creating an anti-Prussian coalition based on an alliance with France. France, fearing the strengthening of Prussia, and especially in the event of a possible alliance with England, went to rapprochement with the former enemy - Austria, signing the Treaty of Versailles, which was joined by Russia, Saxony and Sweden. England, seeing the emergence of a hostile coalition, indeed concluded in 1756 the Treaty of Westminster with Prussia.

May 18, 1756 England officially declared war on France. In August of the same year, Prussia entered the war, attacking Saxony, an ally of Austria. The Seven Years' War began, splitting Europe into two blocs. Frederick II planned to capture Saxony in the future to exchange it for the Czech Republic, and, having captured Russian Courland, put his brother Henry of Hohenzollern on the throne of this duchy. The fighting during the Seven Years' War in Europe took place between the allied forces of France, Austria, Russia, Sweden on the one hand and the Prussian armies on the other. England, as an ally of Prussia, provided her with only huge cash subsidies, and concentrated all her troops in North America, trying to oust the French from Canada. This explains the originality of the course of the Seven Years' War in Europe, when Frederick's army was transferred from one end of Europe to the other. Frederick II tried to prevent the unification of the allied forces, to defeat the allied forces one by one.

On October 4, 1756, the 18,000 Saxon army surrounded by 95,000 Prussians was forced to capitulate. In April 1757, the French army under the command of Marshal d'Estre (70 thousand), having defeated the Hanoverian army, occupied Hesse-Kassel and then, moving north, occupied Hanover itself.

Leaving the French troops to capture Hanover, Frederick decided to defeat the Austrian army and, having gathered huge forces (192 thousand), launched an offensive against Prague from four directions, where Brown's Austrian army (60 thousand) was located, on April 25 it was defeated, and its remnants blocked in Prague. Only the approach of another Austrian army under the command of Laudon (50 thousand) and the ensuing second unsuccessful battle for Frederick under the walls of Prague forced him to leave the Czech Republic for Saxony. The withdrawal was also facilitated by the news received in May about the beginning of the movement of the Russian army from the banks of the Neman. During the summer months, 1757, the Russian army under the command of S.F. Apraksin, moving very slowly, although not meeting much resistance, captured Memel in June and entered the territory of East Prussia in July. Suddenly, near the village of Gross-Egersdorf, the Russian army (70 thousand), which was in march formation, was attacked by the Prussian army of Field Marshal Lewald (25 thousand). After the first attack was repelled by the Moscow Grenadier Regiment, the Prussian battalions began to enter the rear. The inevitable defeat was prevented by a blow to the flank of the advancing Prussian troops of the brigade of General Rumyantsev, he did not make his way through the road clogged with convoys and retreating crowds of soldiers, but led the brigade through the forest. The encirclement of the Russian army was stopped, and soon, realizing that the Russian army had received time to deploy, Lewald ordered a retreat. Field Marshal Apraksin did not pursue the retreating Prussian troops, and refused to move further to Koenigsberg: the Russian army turned back and retreated again to Memel. For inaction, by order of Empress Elizabeth, Apraksin was removed from his post, later arrested and died during the investigation.

At the same time, the second grouping of the French army under the command of Prince C. de "Subise (57 thousand), without meeting resistance, approached the city of Eisenach and began to wait for a connection with the Austrian army. Frederick II, thinking to prevent this unification of forces, transfers his army from the borders of Bohemia and Saxony to the west. On November 5, 1757, faced with the allies who had managed to unite, Frederick withdrew, choosing a place for battle. retreat for retreat, they decided to go around and block the path to further retreat of Frederick's troops. Taking advantage of the enemy's oversight, Frederick attacked the allied forces and inflicted a serious defeat on them. 11 generals were taken prisoner, the entire convoy, the total losses exceeded 8 thousand. This victory not only prevented the further advance of the French deep into Germany, but also allowed Frederick to again transfer his army east to Silesia, where the Austrian army of Laudon, taking advantage of the absence of the main forces of the Prussian army, captured Breslau (Wroclaw) and laid siege to the Schweidnitz fortress. Here, near the city of Leiden, was the main Austrian army under the command of Charles of Lorraine. Frederick and his army overcame a 300 km path very quickly, in 15 days, and, catching the Austrians by surprise, having half the force (33 thousand against 60 thousand), on December 5, 1757, defeated them. The significance of the victory consisted both in the huge losses of the Austrians (27 thousand losses and 20 thousand prisoners), and in the subsequent surrender of the 16 thousandth Breslau garrison.

Meanwhile, the new commander-in-chief of the Russian army V.V. Fermor again entered the borders of East Prussia, occupied Tilsit and on January 11, 1758, taking advantage of the departure of Lewald's army to counter the Swedish troops in Pomerania, after a short battle he captured Koenigsberg. All of East Prussia was transformed into a Russian general government, and the population was sworn in to Empress Elisabeth.

In the summer of 1758, Fermor's army (42 thousand) moved towards Berlin. Already on August 3, they approached the Oder, and then they began to fire from the cannons of the city of Kustrin. Upon learning of this, Frederick, having the same army in size (32 thousand), hastened from Silesia to meet the Russian army. Having lifted the siege of Kustrin, Fermor withdrew to the hills near the village of Zorndorf, where the general battle took place on August 14, 1758. Despite the use of the “oblique attack” tactics, as in the battle against Charles of Lorraine, success was not achieved. The counterattack of the Russian infantry overturned the advancing Prussians. It was not immediately possible to break through the Russian front with an attack by the famous Prussian hussar cavalry: the grenadiers took them with hostility. Only a repeated attack by the Prussian cavalry on the left flank brought success. But the center of the Russian army survived, despite the inaction during the battle of the commander-in-chief Fermor, and by the evening Frederick's army retreated. It was not clear who won this battle: the losses of the Russian army were twice as large (22 against 11 thousand), but Frederick did not dare to attack anymore. The retreating Friedrich and Fermor did not pursue, on his orders the Russian army went north to Pomerania, where they began to unsuccessfully besiege the Kolberg fortress on the Baltic coast. Without taking Kolberg, Fermor led the army to "winter quarters" back east to the lower Vistula. As a result, Fermor was removed and the army was headed by the new commander-in-chief, General-in-Chief P.S. Saltykov.

In 1759, the first disagreements emerged among the Russian and Austrian command. The Russian army was assigned a supporting role, it was supposed to unite with the Austrians. Saltykov, fulfilling the plan, again led the Russian army to the Oder and defeated the Prussian corps of Wedel at Palzig. Having crossed the Oder, Saltykov captured Frankfurt on the Oder, creating a threat to Berlin. However, instead of approaching the main forces of the Austrian army, only the 18,000th corps of Laudon joined Saltykov's army. Fearing for his capital, Frederick imposed a battle near the village of Kunersdorf on the Russian-Austrian army. On August 1, 1759, Saltykov entrenched himself on the heights and repulsed several attacks of the Prussian army, and then overturned Frederick's army in a bayonet charge. After this battle, Friedrich wrote to Count Finkenstein: “Unfortunately, I am still alive. Our losses are very significant. From the 48,000th army, I have 3,000 people left. In Berlin, they will do well if they think about their safety. This is a terrible defeat, I will not survive it. The consequences of the battle will be even worse than the battle itself. I no longer have the means to wage war; in truth, I consider all lost. I will not survive the death of my fatherland. Goodbye forever".

However, Saltykov did not dare to go to Berlin with the forces of only one Russian army: the losses were too great (13 thousand). help from Austria still did not come. The Austrians and French demanded the continuation of the Russian offensive in the direction of Silesia. In protest, Saltykov withdraws the Russian army in September back to the Warta River, and he himself resigns. Field Marshal A.B. becomes the new commander-in-chief. Buturlin.

Having received an unexpected respite, Frederick again gathered his forces and, at the beginning of 1760, fettered the actions of the Austrian troops with his maneuvers. Taking advantage of this, the Russian corps Z.G. Chernysheva and the cavalry of Count Totleben, contrary to the orders of the Austrian command, to join the main forces of the Austrian army on September 28, 1760 occupied Berlin. However, the approach of the main forces of Frederick and the lack of help from the Austrian troops forced Chernyshev to leave the capital. The idea of ​​the Austrian command was to encircle Frederick's army, and this almost succeeded in 1761, when Frederick's 70,000th army was surrounded by allied troops in Silesia (121,000), but the inconsistency of actions allowed Frederick to get out of the encirclement. After the success of the Russian corps P.A. Rumyantsev, who finally took Kolberg on December 5, 1761 after a 4-month siege, the threat of capturing Berlin arose again. The position of Frederick's army became critical; there were not enough forces to counter the Allied forces. However, the unexpected death of Empress Elizabeth on December 25, 1761 dramatically changed the situation.

The new emperor Peter III, who idolized Frederick, made peace with Frederick on April 24, 1762, returning to him all the conquered lands (including East Prussia), broke off the alliance with Austria and France and gave Chernyshev's corps to Frederick to help against the Austrians. And although on June 28, 1762, Peter III was overthrown, the new Empress Catherine, breaking the alliance with Frederick, did not resume the war with Prussia.

After Russia's withdrawal from the Seven Years' War in November 1762, the parties, exhausted by the war, signed an armistice: first Prussia with France, and then Austria with Prussia. Officially, the Seven Years' War ended in 1763 with the signing of two peace treaties: the Treaty of Paris (February 10), which ended the war between England and France, and the Treaty of Hubertsburg, which secured peace between Prussia on the one hand and Austria and France on the other.

France lost Canada, the valley of the river. Ohio and the entire left bank of the river. Mississippi (excluding New Orleans). Spanish Florida also passed to England, for the loss of which France, as compensation, transferred to Spain its last possessions in North America - lands west of the Mississippi River (Louisiana). France also lost its colonies in Hindustan, with the exception of 5 cities. Austria lost Silesia forever. Thus, the Seven Years' War undermined the colonial power of France in the west, ensured the complete hegemony of England on the seas, and in the east Prussia took the first step to gain primacy in German affairs, weakening the influence of Austria. Russia, due to the premature withdrawal from the war and the controversial policies of Peter III and Catherine II, failed to take advantage of the fruits of their victories in the Seven Years' War.

Economic development of the possessions of the Habsburgs. Reforms of Maria Theresa and JosephII.

The economic condition of the possessions of the Habsburgs was different. Natural wealth and diversity of natural conditions, the abundance of rivers that could become transport arteries: all these objective conditions were not used due to both national and political characteristics.

Trade relations between individual areas of the Habsburg possessions were episodic and undeveloped: the poor condition of the roads and the weak development of the manufacturing industry led to the fact that export abroad prevailed. Exported mainly raw materials and "semi-finished products": wool, linen, yarn, leather, ore.

In terms of economic development, the possessions of the Habsburgs (Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary) lagged behind not only England and France, but also Prussia and some other German lands.

The most economically developed of the possessions of the Habsburgs were the lands of Austria, especially Lower. An objective prerequisite for this was both the fact that the peasantry was no longer in personal serfdom, and proximity to other German lands.

The peasants in their mass were free holders of noble lands and paid a fixed cash rent for use (chinsh), the corvée, limited to 10-12 days a year, was also preserved, and the peasants paid state taxes.

Austrian nobles set up breweries and vodka factories, spinning and weaving factories on their estates, developed mines and salt mines. Wherein used a combination of hired and forced labor, counting this work as corvée.

At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries the peasants of the Austrian lands gradually began to be drawn into market relations: a “home industry” (dressing of wool, leather) was developing, the products of which were purchased by buyers for subsequent resale abroad.

In the cities, guild craft dominated. Under such conditions, the needs of the country led to the rapid development of trade and commercial capital. This was facilitated by the creation in 1703 of the State Bank in Vienna and the construction of roads that connected Vienna with the Adriatic Sea, the construction of sea harbors in Trieste and Fiume. Even the Austrian East India Campaign was founded, although it did not last long.

Constantly in need of funds for the needs of foreign policy, for fiscal (tax) purposes, the Habsburgs began to resort to a well-known method: the sale of monopoly rights to trade in certain types of goods. However, a number of senior officials close to the Habsburg court, especially I. Becher and W. Schroeder, who were also economists, who in their works promoted the ideas of “mercantilism”, then advanced in Europe, defended the idea of ​​the need to encourage domestic manufacturing production. Becher, with the support of the government, created the Eastern Trading Company, which traded in the goods of its own manufactories. These were centralized manufactories, using the labor and peasants of "homeworkers" to produce: silk threads, stockings, ribbons, woolen fabrics, linen, velvet, shoes, mirrors. The campaign included both the state and private individuals as shareholders. The campaign did not last long due to both insufficient state support and the low purchasing power of the population.

In the Czech lands of the Habsburgs, similar processes were observed, however, with one, but significant difference. Here, the expansion of the ties of noble land ownership took place on the basis of strengthening the serfdom of the Czech peasantry. The restriction of corvee in 1680 by Emperor Leopold I to three days a week was not respected. Moreover, judicial and administrative functions were again concentrated in the hands of the nobility: the imposition of fines and corporal punishment for violation of numerous noble privileges and prohibitions for peasants. Peasants were forbidden to leave the estate, enter into marriage without permission, send their children to learn a craft. The peasants were obliged to grind grain at the master's mill, bake bread in the master's bakery, buy beer only in the master's tavern, sell agricultural products not in cities, but at fairs held in the possessions of individual nobles, etc.

In addition, the ruin and religious persecution after the Thirty Years' War most of all affected the Czech lands from the possessions of the Habsburgs, which led to an increase in the already predominant German population among artisans and merchants in cities and the acquisition of land, primarily by the German (Austrian) nobility.

As a result of long and devastating wars with Turkey, the Hungarian lands were devastated, the cities were especially affected. In addition, the political interests of the Habsburgs pushed them to make concessions in relation to the Hungarian nobility, who demanded the preservation of estate privileges. Under these conditions, the Hungarian economy began to be dominated by agricultural production based on feudal serfdom.

Failures in the War of the Austrian Succession and in the Seven Years' War prompted Maria Theresa (1740-1780) and her son Joseph II (1780-1790) to carry out a series of interrelated reforms.

After the end of the War of the Austrian Succession, in 1748 a military reform was carried out:

a new recruitment procedure was introduced - recruiting, based on mobilization lists, for the preparation of which the country was divided into military districts, recruits had to serve for life.

The nobility, clergy, teachers, doctors, officials, merchants and artisans were exempted from recruitment. The peasants were given the right to hire a "hunter" instead of themselves,

For the training of officers, the Military Academy ("Teresianum") was established.

As a result, both the number (up to 278 thousand) and the level of military training of the Austrian army increased.

A financial and economic reform was also carried out:

the first census was carried out

introduced accounting of land, livestock and property, on the basis of which

introduced a general poll tax, including both noble and church lands,

internal customs duties have been abolished and duties on foreign-made goods and low on imported raw materials have been increased,

the export of industrial raw materials abroad is prohibited: flax, wool, metals,

exempted from paying taxes (up to 10 years) new industrial manufactories,

the Mining Academy, the Trade Academy, technical and agricultural schools and trade schools were established,

At the end of the 60s. judicial reform began.

developed and introduced a new criminal code (1768),

judicial torture was abolished, the use of the death penalty was limited, and forced labor was allowed in prison manufactories (1776)

At the same time, education reform was also carried out:

schools of various levels were introduced (village - “trivial”, where they taught to read, write and count, city - “Normal school”, for teacher training),

the university in Vienna was transformed, where the natural sciences received preference over the theological ones.

The course of reforms was continued first by the co-ruler, and from 1780 by Emperor Joseph II.

A number of decrees concerned the church and religious relations:

The “Patent on Tolerance” (religious tolerance) abolished discrimination against the Orthodox religion and Protestantism, allowing their adherents to hold public and state positions, build their churches and schools.

Monasteries that were not engaged in “useful activities” (treatment of the sick, education of children, who did not have shelters, etc.) were closed, and their lands were seized in favor of the state.

The order of the Jesuits was banned and expelled from the country.

Decrees were also issued regarding the situation of the peasants:

in 1781, a “patent” was issued on the abolition of serfdom (for the Czech Republic) and for Hungary (1785), after the uprising of the peasants in the Czech Republic and Hungary, according to which the peasants received the right to move to the lands of another landowner or to cities.

In an effort to centralize the administration of the empire, Joseph II declared German the language of office work (official, state language) in all provinces, abolished the existing local courts, estate institutions that were in charge of collecting local taxes, local self-government of cities and committees. All these measures to strengthen centralization, together with previous progressive reforms in the field of economy and education, again caused an aggravation of national contradictions in the possessions of the Habsburgs towards the end XVIIIin.

The section consists of separate essays:

Germany in antiquity

Formation of the first German states

East Frankish kingdom

Holy Roman Empire

Late Middle Ages

Reformation and Thirty Years' War

Germany after the Peace of Westphalia

Kingdom of Prussia

Napoleonic Wars and the end of the empire

Unification of the German states

German Empire

Weimar Republic

Third Reich and World War II

Germany after World War II

Ludwig 2. Biography

Füssen

Neuschwanstein

Castle halls

Hohenschwangau

Linderhof

Palace halls

Park and park pavilions

History of Germany

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History of Germany in the period 58 BC - 16th century.

And now we will continue the story of the history of Germany. Let us dwell, of course, only on the main events that determined the fate of Germany. A detailed presentation of German history cannot be part of our task, because even the electronic memory of a powerful computer may not be enough for material of such a volume.

The Germanic tribes were neighbors of the slave-owning Roman Empire and were in constant economic relations with it. This contributed to the decomposition of the tribal layer and the gradual social differentiation of the ancient Germans.

In 58 BC Caesar conquered Gaul, which was owned by the Suevian tribal union of the Germans. Later, under Emperor Augustus, the Romans conquered the lands between the Rhine and the Weser. But in 9 A.D. The German tribe of the Cherusci, under the leadership of their leader Arminus, defeated the Roman troops in the Teutoburg Forest, and the Romans went over to the defense of the northern and western borders of the empire. The "Roman Wall" was built - a chain of fortifications between the upper reaches of the Rhine and Danube. A period of peaceful relations began between the Germans and Rome. There was a lively trade with the border tribes. Leaders with squads, and sometimes entire Germanic tribes settled in Roman territory as warriors. Many Germans penetrated into the Roman army and partly into the state apparatus. There were many Germans among the slaves in the Roman Empire.

Although nothing is known about Arminus other than his name and the fact of fighting in the Teutoburg Forest, he is considered the first German national hero. Arminus in the period in 1838 - 1875. a monument was erected near the city of Detmold (North Rhine-Westphalia). As the productive forces of the Germans grew, their onslaught on the Roman Empire intensified. The invasion of the Quads, Marcomanni and other Germanic tribes (the Marcomannic War of 165-180), and then the invasion in the 3rd century of a number of Germanic tribes (Goths, Franks, Burgundians, Alemanni) became one of the reasons for the so-called migration of peoples in 4-6 centuries. The subsequent campaigns of the Germans, Slavs and other tribes and the simultaneous uprisings of slaves and columns contributed to the fact that in the 5th century the slave system of the Roman Empire collapsed. German kingdoms appeared on the territory of Western Europe, in which a new, more progressive social mode of production, feudalism, gradually took shape.

Beginning of German history

9 AD conventionally considered the beginning of German history. The formation of the German people began, which lasted for many centuries. The word "deutsch" ("Deutsch") appeared, apparently, only in the eighth century. At first, this word denoted the language spoken in the eastern part of the Frankish Empire, which in the 6th century included the duchies of the Germanic tribes of the Alemanni, Thuringians, Bavarians and some others conquered by the Franks. Later than other tribes, by the beginning of the 9th century, the Saxons were subjugated and included in the Frankish Empire. Soon, however, after the death of the founder of the Frankish Empire, Charlemagne (814), this empire began to disintegrate and ceased to exist by the end of the 9th century. From the eastern part of the collapsed Frankish Empire arose the kingdom of Germany, which later became an empire. The formal date of the emergence of the German kingdom is usually considered the year 911, when, after the death of the last representative of the Carolingians, Louis the Child, Duke of the Franks Conrad I was elected king. He is considered the first German king.

Gradually, the Germanic tribes developed a sense of identity, and then the word "deutsch" began to mean not only the language, but also those who spoke it, and then the territory of their residence - Germany. The Germanic western frontier was fixed early, around the middle of the 10th century, and remained quite stable. The eastern frontier changed as German territory expanded to the east. The eastern border was fixed in the middle of the 14th century and remained until the outbreak of World War II.

Officially, the title of the King of Germany was first called "Frankish King", later - "Roman King". The empire was called the "Roman Empire" from the 11th century, the "Holy Roman Empire" from the 13th century, and the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" in the 15th century. The king was elected by the highest nobility, along with this, the "right of consanguinity" ("Geblütsrecht"), i.e. the king had to be related to his predecessor. There was no capital in the medieval empire. The king ruled the country by constantly visiting different areas. There were no state taxes in the empire. Treasury revenues came from public property, which the king managed through proxies. It was not easy for the king to earn the authority and respect from the powerful dukes of the tribes: military strength and skillful politics were required. Only the successor of Conrad I, the Saxon duke Henry I (919 - 936), succeeded in this. And to an even greater extent to the son of the latter, Otto I (936 - 973) - in German Otto I, who became the real ruler of the empire. In 962, Otto I was crowned in Rome and became Kaiser (emperor). According to the plan, the imperial power was universal and gave the right to its bearer to dominate all of Western Europe. It is known, however, that such a plan could never be realized.

By the beginning of the 10th century, the kingdom of Germany included the duchies of Swabia, Bavaria, Franconia, Saxony and Thuringia. In the first half of the 10th century, Otto I added Lorraine to them, and in 962 Otto I added Northern Italy. In this way, an empire was created, which later became known as the "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation". Conrad II (the first king of the Frankish dynasty) annexed the kingdom of Burgundy to the empire in 1032.

The created empire fought for a long time and to no avail with the power of the Pope. Under Henry V, a compromise agreement was concluded - the Concordat of Worms in 1122.

11th - 12th century

In the 70s of the 11th century in Germany, a powerful movement of Saxon peasants was noted against the increase in corvee in the Crown Lands (i.e., on the lands of the king). The onslaught of large landowners in Germany was vigorously resisted by the peasant community - the mark. This was the main reason why the feudal system in Germany developed slowly. It was only in the twelfth century that the formation of feudal relations in Germany was basically completed. This was the period of formation of the so-called princely territories. Let's explain what these areas are. There is a rapid growth of cities, but the weak imperial power is not able to use for its own purposes the new source of funds that has opened up - income from urban crafts and trade - and create support for itself in the growing social stratum of the townspeople, as was the case in England, France and other countries . The owners of independent principalities (or duchies), having subjugated the cities of their regions and seizing the income from crafts and trade, sought to obtain the rights of sovereign sovereigns over the territories subject to them. This was the process of formation of princely territories.

In the twelfth century, the hierarchy of the class of feudal lords was formed, representing by the end of this century three groups: princes, counts and knights. The dominating position was gradually occupied by the princes. The exploitation of the peasants intensified as commodity-money relations developed. In 1138, the century of the Staufen dynasty began, one of whose representatives was Frederick I Barbarossa (1152 - 1190). This king fought against the Pope, as well as against his main rival in Germany - the Saxon Duke Henry the Lion. In search of material resources, Frederick I turned his eyes to the flourishing cities of Northern Italy. Formally subject to the German emperor, these cities were in fact completely independent of him. Relying on knighthood and on the former servants of the king and on major lords who had political influence and created a mercenary army, Frederick I decided to turn fictitious imperial rights (collection of taxes and duties, judicial law) into real ones. Barbarossa moved to northern Italy. Having met the resistance of individual cities, he took them by storm. It is known that his troops in 1162 during the assault almost completely destroyed Milan. To repel the German invasion, the northern Italian cities in 1167 united in the Lombard League. Pope Alexander III entered into an alliance with the Lombard League. At the Battle of Legnano in 1176, Barbarossa's troops were completely defeated. Barbarossa capitulated to the papacy, and then, according to the peace concluded in Constance in 1183, he was forced to renounce the rights to the Lombard cities.

13th - 15th century

Neither Frederick I Barbarossa nor his heirs from the Staufen dynasty, which ended in 1268, were able to achieve the establishment of an effective centralized imperial power. By the 13th century, Germany had not yet become a single nation-state, but consisted of a number of separate principalities, economically and politically separate. Moreover, the political and economic fragmentation of Germany intensified, and by the end of the 13th century, the territorial princes acquired the rights of supreme jurisdiction over the principalities subject to them, close to the rights of royal power: the right to tax, mint coins, control the troops of the principality, etc. And under the emperor Charles IV, the princes in 1356 achieved the publication of the so-called Golden Bull, which recognized the right of the princes to elect the emperor. For this, a board of seven princes-electors was approved. These princes were called Electors. All princes received confirmation of all the rights they acquired as a sovereign sovereign, with the exception of the right to independently wage war with foreign states and conclude peace. At the same time, a central authority was established - the Reichstag (Imperial Diet), which was a congress of imperial princes and some imperial cities. But the Reichstag did not have an apparatus of executive power and therefore was not and could not be to any extent an organ for the unification of Germany. In some principalities, the estate-representative bodies were landtags (land diets). By the beginning of the 16th century, Germany was a collection of many virtually independent states.

In connection with the later, in comparison with England, France and other states, the unification of Germany into one centralized national state, the term "belated nation" pertaining to the Germans. This term seems to us not entirely successful if we take into account the contribution of the German nation to world science and culture, as well as the results achieved in the socio-economic development of modern Germany.

Speaking about the events of the German history of the 13th century, it is impossible not to mention Battle on the Ice. So in history they call the battle that took place in April 1242 on the ice of Lake Peipsi between the knights of the Teutonic Order and the army of the Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky and ended in the complete defeat of the German knights. The Teutonic Order was forced to withdraw its troops from the borders of the Russian lands. The further fate of this order was deplorable for him. In the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, the combined Polish-Lithuanian-Russian troops defeated the Teutonic Order, after which he recognized his vassal dependence on Poland.

Late 15th - 16th century

The end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th centuries entered the history of Germany as period of the Reformation and the Peasants' War. The Reformation was a broad social movement against the Catholic Church. It all started with a speech by Professor Luther of Wittenberg University on October 31, 1517 with theses against the trade in indulgences. Luther denounced the abuses of the Catholic clergy and spoke out against the all-powerful papal authority. He put forward a whole program of church reform. Each opposition class interpreted this program in accordance with its aspirations and interests. The burghers wanted the church to become "cheap", the princes and knights wanted to seize church lands, and the oppressed masses understood the reformation as a call to fight against feudal oppression. The leader of the plebeian-peasant masses was Thomas Müntzer. He openly called for the overthrow of the feudal system and its replacement by a system based on social equality and community of property. Luther, as a representative of the burghers, could not share such radical views and opposed the revolutionary understanding of his teaching. Although the ideas of the Reformation to some extent pushed the Peasants' War of 1525, Luther's movement nevertheless took on a one-sided character in Germany: purely religious struggle, questions of religion overshadowed the broader tasks of transforming social life and culture for many years. After the suppression of peasant uprisings, the Reformation reveals ever greater narrowness and, no less than the Catholic Counter-Reformation, intolerance for free thought, for reason, which Luther declared "the harlot of the devil." In the words of Erasmus of Rotterdam, the sciences died wherever Lutheranism was established.

Luther's reform eventually became an instrument of princely absolutism, which manifested itself, in particular, in the alienation of church lands in favor of secular princes, carried out in some principalities.

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"Knowledge is power"

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Germany remained fragmented and was more of a geographical concept than a political one. In 1618, Germany found itself in a difficult situation - the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648 began. The war began with an attempt by the Czech Republic to free itself from the power of the Habsburgs. The Czechs justified their desire by the fact that the senior line of the Habsburgs was cut short. They refused to accept Ferdinand II and invited Frederick V of the Palatinate to the throne. He received the nickname "king of one winter", since already in 1619 he was defeated and fled to the Palatinate. The emperor expelled him from there, he fled to England. Mercenary troops roamed the territory of Germany, ruining the country. The Swedish army under the command of King Gustav II Adolf invaded Germany, where he was stopped by the Austrian Field Marshal Albrecht Wallenstein, who did not take into account the opinion of the emperor. The war was of a religious nature. It ended with the signing of a set of peace treaties. Most of them form the basis of the Westphalian system of international relations. The Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648, the rest of the documents were signed in Münster. From now on, the state was recognized as the only subject of international relations. The basic unit was state sovereignty. The state has the right to non-interference in its internal affairs.

The German states became sovereign. The Counter-Reformation began in the Catholic states. Emperor Ferdinand III, who ruled from 1637 to 1657, was especially active in the policy of counter-reforms. He was succeeded by Leopold I, who ruled until 1705. He took an active interest in affairs in Turkey, Austria and Italy. In 1683, after the invasion of the Turks, the siege of Vienna was organized by the army of Sultan Mehmet IV. The Polish king helped to lift the siege and defeat the Turks.

In economic terms, Germany was one of the backward states of Europe, since there was no stability and peace in the area. Various epidemics severely undermined economic development. There was no unified policy in any of the directions.

In the 17th century, the strengthening of the Brandenburg-Prussian state took place. A special role was played by Elector Friedrich Wilhelm, who ruled from 1640 to 1688. He turned the state into the strongest after Austria in the region.

In 1664, Frederick I became king of Prussia, having achieved this title from Leopold I. Having become king, he became a completely independent sovereign. Competition begins between the Habsburgs, the Hohenzollerns and the Elector of Bavaria. Dynastic difficulties began after the death of Leopold I, he was replaced by his son Joseph, who ruled from 1705 to 1711. Joseph was succeeded by Leopold's youngest son, Charles VI. Karl had no sons, and after his death there were no male representatives of the Habsburg dynasty. In 1713, the Pragmatic Sanction was introduced, according to which the Habsburg estate complex must remain indivisible, regardless of whether it was inherited through the female or male line. The daughter of Charles VI, Maria Theresa of Habsburg, became the heir. All subsequent policy of Charles was reduced to attempts to achieve recognition of this document. In 1733-1735 the War of the Polish Succession broke out. Border redrawing has begun. Austria transferred part of its lands to Prussia, other states recognized the Pragmatic Sanction. Maria Theresa married Duke Franz I Stephen of Lorraine. Lorraine passed to France, and the duke received Tuscany. In 1740, Charles VI died. In 1740-1748, the War of the Austrian Succession unfolded. The elector of Bavaria, Charles VII, who was on the throne from 1742 to 1745, was declared emperor. He did not belong to the House of Habsburg. He was replaced by the husband of Maria Theresa - Franz I, who ruled until 1765. Under Frederick II the Great, who ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1788, the successful Seven Years' War of 1746-1753 was fought. As a result, Silesia went to Prussia. Emperor Franz I died in 1765. The Empress placed her eldest son Joseph II on the throne. He ruled until 1790. Until the death of Maria Theresa in 1780, the emperor performed purely formal functions. All power was concentrated in the hands of the Empress. Joseph was one of the most prominent representatives of the era of Enlightened absolutism. He carried out a series of reforms as a result of which serfdom was finally abolished, the rights of the trade and craft population were expanded, new educational institutions were opened, and an attempt was made to create a unified monetary system based on the thaler. In general, he continued his mother's policy aimed at maintaining the European balance. In carrying out such a policy, he was assisted by the Federal Chancellor Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz-Rietberg, who held his position under Maria Theresa. In domestic policy, Joseph II did not take into account the opinion of Kaunitz and carried out his own reforms. Frederick II of Prussia was also an absolutist. He was succeeded by Friedrich Wilhelm II. Divided into many states, Germany came to a state of stability. Wars were rare.

In 1777, the War of the Bavarian Succession broke out. By the end of the 18th century, there were two main rival forces in Germany - the House of Hohenzollern and the House of Habsburg.

New history of the countries of Europe and America of the XVI-XIX centuries. Part 3: textbook for universities Team of authors

The political system of the German states: princely absolutism and republics

The rise of Brandenburg is often seen in the context of the formation of a rigid model of absolutism there. Meanwhile, recent research in the field of theory and practice of absolutism forces us to recognize the model of growing princely power, far from the classical one. On the one hand, Friedrich Wilhelm, unlike his father, in the first decade of his reign regularly convened the Landtag and restored the activities of the Privy Council. In all the possessions of the Hohenzollerns, the position of the Landtag was strong, he voted the main tax "indemnity". During the Thirty Years' War, the army swore allegiance not only to the elector, but also to the estates. However, shortly after the war, the Brandenburg Junkers expressed dissatisfaction with the Elector's foreign policy ambitions.

In 1652, Friedrich Wilhelm convened a "large Landtag" (it had not been convened since 1615) and proposed a plan to introduce an excise tax on the trade in basic goods, which would apply to all classes. Representatives of the nobility strongly opposed, but stated that they agreed to vote the traditional "indemnities" by the Landtag if the elector confirmed all noble privileges. But such a policy seriously worsened the situation of the urban population. The burghers demanded a reduction in the total amount of "indemnities" levied from the cities. The elector took advantage of these sentiments and in 1660 announced the introduction of an excise tax without the approval of the Landtag.

However, this excise tax applied only to cities, while in the villages they continued to levy the old "indemnity". As a result, the composition of the Landtag also changed: in view of the fact that the Landtag continued to vote "indemnity", representatives of the cities were not invited there. Subsequently, the Landtag continued to convene, but its role was reduced.

In parallel, military and civilian bureaucratic structures arose. So, in 1660, the post of General-Kriegscommissar appeared: he was engaged in supplying the army, was actually independent of the Privy Council. Under his command were the provincial commissariats with their own staff of excise collectors. Since 1682, a single military treasury for the whole country has arisen. In the civil sphere, there was a decrease in the role of the Privy Council. Various specialized committees emerged from it (financial, foreign policy, etc.), which turned into independent administrative bodies. The Privy Council evolved into an appellate tribunal and from 1724 became known as the State Council of Justice. From the beginning of the XVIII century. the role of the secretaries of the monarch's own office increased. The estates in Brandenburg and then in the Prussian kingdom were not finally removed from government. But the strengthening of the role of military and civilian bureaucratic structures has become a constant trend.

Elector Frederick III (1688–1713) did not possess the business qualities and will of Friedrich Wilhelm, but it was he who received the royal crown from the emperor in 1701 and became known as King Frederick I. Brandenburg became the Prussian kingdom, which was not part of the Holy Roman Empire and gained the status of an independent European state. Frederick I continued to receive the Protestant population from Switzerland, the Palatinate. It was then that the Mennonites moved to Prussia.

The next Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm I (1713-1740) was a practical, active, hardworking man, but not very educated, and at times rude. The motto of his reign: "Do not argue." Friedrich Wilhelm I was very fond of army drill and received the nickname "King Sergeant". His recruiters from everywhere brought tall and strong young men to serve in the army. They captured even the Mennonites, although they refused to serve in the army. Friedrich Wilhelm I resigned himself to the presence of the Mennonites in his territory so as not to lose the taxes they paid. At the same time, he continued to receive immigrants from all over Germany. Friedrich Wilhelm I even issued a special "Code of Rights and Duties of the Colonists", designed to protect the interests of the settlers.

In 1733 in Prussia there was a legislative registration of the military service of the serfs (the introduction of cantonal regulations). Military accounting covered the bulk of the male population of the village. But the immigrants-colonists and their descendants were exempted from military service. The cantonal regulations stipulated that after military service, the peasant remained assigned to a certain canton and annually passed military training. The cantonists made up two-thirds of the army of Frederick William I, the rest were mercenary contingents. The total number of the Prussian army by 1740 reached 80 thousand people, which was equal to 3.7% of the total population (the population of the Prussian kingdom then reached about 2 million people). The prestige of military service has grown tremendously. An officer's career provided good opportunities for the arrangement of younger sons from noble families. The nobility understood all the benefits of maintaining a large standing army, although they were obliged to submit to strict state discipline. All the social privileges of the landlords remained inviolable, the political ones were reduced, but did not completely disappear.

In other German states, absolutism found an even more modest incarnation than in the Prussian-Brandenburg state. In the state of the Habsburgs, the state system was characterized by a bizarre combination of bureaucratic administration and the activity of class-representative bodies. It is possible to designate such a system of power as absolutist with a rather large degree of conventionality.

The structure of the power of the Habsburgs included various state entities, united by a personal union. The Austrian duchies were their hereditary possessions, in the Czech Republic they became hereditary monarchs after the suppression of the uprising of 1627, the Hungarian crown was elected until 1687. The Habsburgs occupied the throne of the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation, but they really strengthen the power of the emperor in connection with the conditions of the Peace of Westphalia could not. However, the imperial dignity gave high international prestige, as well as certain opportunities for obtaining financial and military assistance.

The Austrian and some Czech lands had influential class-representative bodies that met almost annually. These assemblies were dominated by the nobility. In the 17th century there was a process of loss by them of some ancient prerogatives. So, they could no longer claim a monopoly in the field of legislation. The Czech Diets lost the right to initiate legislation altogether, the Austrian Landtags still retained this right, but their decisions were increasingly replaced by patents and mandates of the emperor. But the class-representative bodies retained two most important prerogatives: the right to vote taxes and the right to recruit military contingents. These rights were interconnected: the collected taxes went to the maintenance of the troops, and were executed by local nobles. Assemblies of estates voted a direct tax ("indemnity"), indirect taxes (excises) and extraordinary direct fees, for example, "Turkish money". Their consent was also required for the introduction of new taxes, and they will actively oppose taxes that infringe on their estate privileges.

In the second half of the XVII century. The system of class bodies was opposed by an already extensive bureaucratic apparatus, which included various councils and offices. Previously, the only body that led the general policy was the Privy Council, but from the second half of the 17th century. the Secret Conference stood out, which soon divided into commissions. The central body of financial management was the corrugated chamber. Sometimes it intruded into the competence of class assemblies, for example, the Czech excise tax on drinks was approved by the Sejm, but collected by the gofkamera officials. The court military council (gofkriegsrat) controlled the army, but only the imperial troops were subordinate to it, the sejm contingents were subordinate to officers appointed by the estates. However, by the end of the XVII century. the importance of the Sejm contingents began to decline, and the imperial army in 1703 amounted to 129 thousand soldiers.

The central bureaucratic apparatus of the Habsburg monarchy also consisted of state offices: each part of the state had its own office: the Reich Chancellery for the Holy Roman Empire, the Hof Chancellery for the Austrian lands, respectively, the Czech and Hungarian chancelleries. These offices dealt with a wide variety of issues and had a large staff of performers. The appearance of such bodies is a symptom of the increasing bureaucratization of management.

A special role in the management system was played by the court aristocracy, which was cosmopolitan, which was important, given the multinational nature of the Habsburg power. By the middle of the XVII century. the German and the renewed Czech aristocracy constituted a single social stratum. As an extension of the prerogative of the monarch, the formation by the emperor of certain local government bodies (central administrative-judicial councils, Czech vicegerency, etc.) should be assessed.

In general, the Habsburg monarchy could not govern without class assemblies: its repeated attempts to levy new taxes ran into constant opposition, and it was not possible to actively introduce excise taxes in most parts of the state. Absolutist tendencies were certainly observed in the Habsburg monarchy, but did not dominate.

prominent role in the 17th century. played Saxony. It was ahead of all other principalities in economic development. Its population was 0.5 million more than in Brandenburg, which surpassed it in territory. Leipzig was a major commercial and cultural center. In 1657, Germany's first newspaper began to appear here. The natives of Saxony were Leibniz, Pufendorf, Thomasius, Gellert, Klopstock, Lessing. Dresden is an exemplary example of the Baroque style (the Zwinger palace ensemble). This state gained its greatest importance under King August II the Strong (1694–1733), who was also the Polish king. But in Saxony, the monarch did not occupy a priority position: the Landtag continued to exist here, retaining the right to vote taxes until the 19th century.

A very specific absolutism existed in the spiritual principalities: the monarch was chosen in them. The heads of the spiritual principalities were, as a rule, the offspring of the noble families that ruled the secular principalities, therefore, they also perceived certain absolutist tendencies inherent in the secular principalities. These tendencies were most conspicuous in Mainz, whose head was the chairman of the college of electors.

There were also German states that were not affected by absolutist tendencies at all. The estates retained their independence in Mecklenburg: a noble republic developed here, the republican system is characteristic of the Hanseatic cities.

The political situation in the duchy of Württemberg was very conflicting. There was almost no tribal nobility here. The patriciate made up the social and political elite. During the second half of the XVII - the first half of the XVIII century. the opposition of ducal power and estates remained. Extensive construction and attempts to increase the size of the army required the introduction of new taxes and raised the question of reorganizing the entire system of state administration. The declaration of the estates about the need to observe the established political order was often hidden by selfish interests and the fear of deputies that any innovations could weaken their influence.

The unwillingness of Duke Eberhard III to go into conflict with the estates and the latter's refusal of any transformations led to the fact that the supreme power in Württemberg lost its centralizing energy, and the government increasingly sought to share political responsibility with the estates. But even under these conditions, the state institutions of the duchy underwent serious changes. So, the monopoly position in the Landtag of city magistrates meant securing the status of a privileged social stratum for the patriciate. The expansion of the powers of the Privy Council contributed to the development of a system of family ties among the highest officials. But the estates still wielded considerable power. Local law secured important rights for them and ensured their wide participation in government. The estates also enjoyed the support of imperial legislation.

The diverse political structure of the German states and their interaction with the Empire allow us to speak rather conditionally about the formation of an integral system of princely absolutism in Germany.

CITY-STATE SYSTEM We constantly talk about Etruria as a single and cohesive geographical and political whole, as if about a state in the full sense of the word. Indeed, the Etruscans, especially when it comes to their language and religion, felt their belonging

B) On the Comparative History of the Germanic States in the Mediterranean Region On every page of history it is felt that the states founded by the Goths, Vandals and, to a lesser extent, Burgundians, belong to a completely different type than Merovingian Gaul,

The political system in the 16th century Historian I.A. Fridericia dubbed the period from 1536 to 1660 the period of "nobility". At a later time, specialists avoided this term, preferring to emphasize that although the nobility was at that time an influential factor in the life of

European state system