With his death (Oct. 20, 1740) the male lino of the Hapsburgs was extinct, and Maria Theresa, who was married to Franz Stephan, duke of Lorraine, assumed the govern ment. But counter-claims were raised on all sides, and a violent war arose, in which England alone sided with Maria. Frederic II. of Prussia conquered Silesia. The elec tor of Bavaria took the title of archduke of A. was crowned king of Bohemia at Linz and Prague, and elected emperor as Karl VII. 4742). The Hungarians alone stood by their heroic queen; who, at the peace of Breslau (1742) was forced to yield Silesia to Prussia. Frederic renewed the war by coming to the assistance of the emperor; but Karl dying (1745), Maria Theresa's husband was elected German emperor as Franz I. A second treaty of peace (1745) secured Silesia anew to Prussia; and at the peace of Aix la-Chapelle (1748), A. had to cede Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla to Don Philip of Spain, and several districts of Milan to Sardinia. These sacrifices secured the existence of the Austrian monarchy; but Maria Theresa wished to recover Silesia, and with this view, entered into alliance with France, Russia, Saxony, and Sweden; but after a bloody seven years' war (q.v.), Prussia retained Silesia, and A. had spent her blood and treasure in vain. At this time, paper-money first appeared in A., under the name of state-bonds. At Franz's death (1765), his son, Joseph II., became German emperor, and joint-regent with his mother of the hereditary states. Collateral branches of the house of A. were planted by the younger sons of Maria Theresa, the archduke Leopold of Tuscany, and the archduke Ferdinand. who married the heiress of Este (see MonENA). In the first partition of Poland (1772), A. acquired Galicia and Lodomeria, and the Bukowina was ceded by the porte in 1777. At the death of the empress. iu 1780, the monarchy had an extent of 234,000 sq.m., with a pop. of 24,000,000, and a debt of 160,000,000 florins. The administration of Maria Theresa was diStinguished by unwonted unity and vigor both in home and foreign relations.
Her successor, Joseph II., was an active reformer in the spirit of the enlightened despotism of the times, though often rash and violent in his mode of proceeding. Be introduced economy into every' department, remodeled the censorship of the press, granted liberties and rights to Protestants, abolished 900 convents, and revised the school-system. Ills protective system of duties, though exhibiting his narrowness as a statesman, gave a start to native manufactures. But his reforming zeal and passion for uniformity excited opposition; the Netherlands rose in insurrection, and other disturb ances broke out, which hastened his end (1790). He was succeeded in the government by his brother, the grand duke of Tuscany—as German emperor, Leopold II.—who suc ceeded in pacifying the Netherlands and Hungary. Peace was concluded with Prussia and Turkey (1790). The fate of his sister, Marie Antoinette, and her husband. Louis XVI., led Leopold to an alliance with Prussia; but he d. (Mar. 1, 1792) before the war with France broke out. The war was declared by France on his son Franz II., the same year (see FRANCE). By the treaty of Campo Formic) (q.v.), 1797, A. lost Lombardy and
the Netherlands, receiving in lieu the Venetian territory; two years later, at the second partition of Poland, it was augmented by West Galicia. Franz, in alliance with Russia, renewed the war with France in 1799, which was ended by the peace of Luneville. It is needless to follow all the alterations of boundary that the Austrian dominions underwent during these wars. The most serious was at the peace of Vienna (1809), which cost A. 42,000 sq.m. of territory, and 11,000,000 florins of her revenue. It was in 1804, when Napoleon had been proclaimed emperor of France, that Franz declared himself heredi tary emperor of Austria, uniting all his dominions in one empire. On the establishment of the confederation of the Rhine, he laid down the dignity of German emperor, which his family had held for nearly 500 years. and now took the title of Franz I., emperor of Austria.
The humiliating peace of Vienna was followed (1809) by the marriage of Napoleon with the archduchess Maria Louisa; and in Mar., 1812, Napoleon and Franz entered into alliance against Russia. But when the Russian campaign of 1812 had broken time power of the French emperor, his father-in-law declared war on him (Aug., 1313), and joined the alliance of England, Russia, Prussia, and Sweden. The active part which the emperor Franz now took in the downfall of Napoleon, his consenting to the banish ment of his son-in-law to Elba, and the firmness with which he signed the declaration of outlawry against him on his return to France, and contributed to his final overthrow, thus deciding time fortunes of his own daughter and her son—all furnished grounds of claim to that full indemnityfor her losses which A. obtained at the close of the war. In the remodeling of the map of Europe that took place at the congress of Vienna (1815), 32,000 sq.m. were added to the 253,000 possessed by A. after the last partition of Poland, besides the advantages she gained in point of compactness, and facilities for trade, especially by tho acquisition of Venice and Dalmatia. Ferdinand, the emperor's uncle, was also restored to the grand duchyof Tuscany, of which he had been dispossessed by Napoleon.
After that time, A. exerted a powerful influence in European politics generally, and more especially in the German confederation; and that influence was uniformly hostile to constitutionalism (see METTER:NICE). When the Polish revolution broke out, a strict neutrality was assumed; but a Polish corps that was driven into the Austrian territories was disarmed, and sent into Hungary, while a Russian division that had taken refuge on Austrian soil was let go, and equipped with the Polish weapons.
The death of Franz I. (Mar. 2, 1832) made little alteration in the policy of A.; Fer dinan,d I. trod in his father's footsteps. The political alliance with Russia and Prussia was drawn closer by a personal conference of time emperor with Nicolas I. and Frederic William III. at Teplitz, Oct., 1833. The wonted calm was interrupted in 1840 by the war against Ibrahim Paella in Syria, in which A. took part in union with England. Au attempt at insurrection in Italy- in 1844 was a complete failure.