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A Saxon–Prussian alliance fought the War of the Bavarian Succession (July 1778 – 21 May 1779) against the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy to prevent the Habsburgs from acquiring the Electorate of Bavaria. Although the war consisted of only a few minor skirmishes, thousands of soldiers died from disease and starvation, earning the conflict the name ''Kartoffelkrieg'' (Potato War) in Prussia and Saxony; in Habsburg Austria, it was sometimes called the ''Zwetschgenrummel'' (Plum Fuss). On 30 December 1777, Maximilian Joseph, the last of the junior line of Wittelsbach, died of smallpox, leaving no children. Charles IV Theodore, a scion of a senior branch of the House of Wittelsbach, held the closest claim of kinship, but he also had no legitimate children to succeed him. His cousin, Charles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken, therefore had a legitimate legal claim as Charles Theodore's heir presumptive. Across Bavaria's southern border, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II coveted the Bavarian territory and had married Maximilian Joseph's sister Maria Josepha in 1765 to strengthen any claim he could extend. His agreement with the heir, Charles Theodore, to partition the territory neglected any claims of the heir presumptive, Charles August. Acquiring territory in the German-speaking states was an essential part of Joseph's policy to expand his family's influence in Central Europe. For Frederick the Great, Joseph's claim threatened the Prussian ascendancy in German politics, but he questioned whether he should preserve the status quo through war or through diplomacy. Empress Maria Theresa, who co-ruled with Joseph, considered any conflict over the Bavarian electorate not worth bloodshed, and neither Maria Theresa nor Frederick saw any point in pursuing hostilities. Joseph would not drop his claim despite his mother's contrary insistence. Frederick August III, Elector of Saxony, wanted to preserve the territorial integrity of the Duchy for his brother-in-law, Charles August, and had no interest in seeing the Habsburgs acquire additional territory on his southern and western borders. Despite his dislike of Prussia, which had been Saxony's enemy in two previous wars, Charles August sought the support of Frederick, who was happy to challenge the Habsburgs. France became involved to maintain the balance of power. Finally, Catherine the Great's threat to intervene on the side of Prussia with fifty thousand Russian troops forced Joseph to reconsider his position. With Catherine's assistance, he and Frederick negotiated a solution to the problem of the Bavarian succession with the Treaty of Teschen, signed on 13 May 1779. For some historians, the War of the Bavarian Succession was the last of the old-style Cabinet Wars (''Kabinettskriege'') of the ''Ancien Régime'' in which troops maneuvered while diplomats traveled between capitals to resolve their monarchs' complaints. The subsequent French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars differed in scope, strategy, organization and tactics. ==Background== In 1713, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI established a line of succession that gave precedence to his own daughters over the daughters of his brother. To protect the Habsburg inheritance, he coerced, cajoled, and persuaded the crowned heads of Europe to accept the Pragmatic Sanction. In this agreement, they acknowledged any of his legitimate daughters as the rightful Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, and Archduchess of Austria – a break from the tradition of male succession.〔Michael Hochedlinger. ''Austria's Wars of Emergence, 1683–1799.'' London: Longman, 2003, p. 246.〕 Holy Roman Emperors had been elected from the House of Habsburg for most of the previous three centuries. Charles VI arranged a marriage of his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, to Francis of Lorraine. Francis relinquished the Duchy of Lorraine near France in exchange for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany near Austria to make himself a more appealing candidate for eventual election as Emperor.〔Marshall Dill. ''Germany: A Modern History.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1970, pp. 49–50.〕 On paper, many heads of state and, most importantly, the rulers of the German states of the Holy Roman Empire, accepted the Pragmatic Sanction and the idea of Francis as the next Emperor. Two key exceptions, the Duchy of Bavaria and Saxony, held important electoral votes and could impede or even block Francis's election.〔Hochedlinger, p. 246.〕 When Charles died in 1740, Maria Theresa had to fight for her family's entitlements in Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, and her husband faced competition in his election as the Holy Roman Emperor.〔 Charles, Prince Elector and Duke of Bavaria, claimed the German territories of the Habsburg dynasty as a son-in-law of Joseph I, and furthermore presented himself as Charles VI's legitimate Imperial successor. If women were going to inherit, he claimed, then he should be first in line: his wife, Maria Amalia, was the daughter of Joseph I. Both Charles VI and his predecessor Joseph I had died without sons. Charles of Bavaria suggested that the legitimate succession pass to Joseph's female children, rather than to the daughters of the younger brother, Charles VI.〔Dill, pp. 49–50; Hajo Holborn. ''A History of Modern Germany, The Reformation'', Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press, 1959, pp. 191–247.〕 For different reasons, Prussia, France, Spain and the Polish-Saxon monarchy supported Charles of Bavaria's claim to the Habsburg territory and the Imperial title and reneged on the Pragmatic Sanction.〔Alfred Benians. ''Cambridge Modern History''. volume 6, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1901–1912, pp. 230–233; Dill, pp. 49–50; Holborn, pp. 191–247.〕 Charles of Bavaria needed military assistance to take the Imperial title by force, which he secured the treaty of Nymphenburg (July 1741). During the subsequent War of the Austrian Succession, he successfully captured Prague, where he was crowned King of Bohemia. He invaded Upper Austria, planning to capture Vienna, but diplomatic exigencies complicated his plans. His French allies redirected their troops into Bohemia, where Frederick the Great, himself newly king of Prussia, had taken advantage of the chaos in Austria and Bavaria to annex Silesia.〔Benians, pp. 230–233; Dill, pp. 49–50; Holborn, pp. 191–247.〕 Charles's military options disappeared with the French. Adopting a new plan, he subverted the Imperial election. He sold the County of Glatz to Prussia for a reduced price in exchange for Frederick's electoral vote. Charles's brother, Klemens August of Bavaria, archbishop and prince-elector of the Electorate of Cologne, voted for him in the Imperial election and personally crowned him on 12 February 1742 in the traditional ceremony in Frankfurt am Main. The next day, Charles's Bavarian capital of Munich capitulated to the Austrians to avoid being plundered by Maria Theresa's troops. In the following weeks, her army overran most of Charles's territories, occupied Bavaria, and barred him from his ancestral lands and from Bohemia.〔 Charles VII spent most of his three-year reign as Emperor residing in Frankfurt while Maria Theresa battled Prussia for her patrimony in Bohemia and Hungary. Frederick could not secure Bohemia for Charles, but he did manage to push the Austrians out of Bavaria. For the last three months of his short reign, the gout-ridden Charles lived in Munich, where he died in January 1745. His son, Maximilian III Joseph (known as Max Joseph) inherited his father's Electoral dignities but not his Imperial ambition. With the Peace of Füssen (22 April 1745), Max Joseph promised to vote for Francis of Lorraine, Maria Theresa's husband, in the pending Imperial election. He also acknowledged the Pragmatic Sanction. In return, he obtained the restitution of his family's Electoral position and territories.〔Hochedlinger, p. 258.〕 For his subjects, his negotiations ended five years of warfare and brought a generation of peace and relative prosperity that began with his father's death in 1745 and ended with his own in 1777.〔Charles Ingrao. "Review of Alois Schmid, ''Max III Joseph und die europaische Macht.''" ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 93, No. 5 (Dec., 1988), p. 1351.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「War of the Bavarian Succession」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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