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Article: Austria
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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AUSTRIA
The Habsburgs were the princely family that provided the dukes and archdukes of Austria starting in 1282, the kings of Hungary and Bohemia from 1526 onward, and the emperors of Austria from 1804 to 1918. From 1438 to 1806 (with one interruption, 1742
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1745) the Habsburgs were emperors of the Holy Roman Empire and from 1516 to 1700 kings of Spain. All dynastic politics hinge on fertile marriages. Without legitimate heirs, dynasties regularly fall into civil war or foreign conquest. While this was true for all the early modern monarchies, the House of Habsburg seemed for a time to have perfected dynastic practice. Emperor Maximilian I (ruled 1493
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1519) cultivated the ...