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Article: Austrian Succession, War of the (1740–1748)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE (1740
–
1748)
AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION, WAR OF THE (1740
–
1748).
On 20 October 1740 the death of the last male Habsburg, the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI (ruled 1711
–
1740), precipitated a major European war for the succession both to his territories and to the elected position of emperor. The lands over which Charles had ruled consisted of the Austrian duchies, the kingdom of Bohemia (including Silesia and Moravia), the kingdom of Hungary, the duchy of Milan, and the ten provinces of the southern Netherlands. Over the course of his reign he had sought political guarantees from the territorial princes of the empire and the other great ...