THE WAR OF TILE BAVARIAN SUCCESSION. The Elector Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria died without issue on December 30, 1777. The natural heir was Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine, head of the elder line of the House of Wittelsbach.
This prince had no legitimate heirs, and with a view of furthering the interests of his illegiti mate children, he had, in January, 1778, entered into a convention with the Emperor Joseph II. (the son of Maria Theresa, sovereign of Austria and Queen of Hungary) by which lie agreed to transfer Lower Bavaria to Austria, which put forward an antiquated claim to a part of the Bavarian dominions. Frederick the Great would not consent to such an aggrandizement of Aus tria in South Germany, the more so as he felt that it might interfere with the claim of Prussia to the succession in the principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth. As Austria refused to withdraw her pretensions. Frederick proceeded to make
war on her, and in the summer of 1778 he in vaded Bohemia. He was joined by the Elector of Saxony, who, as the husband of the only daugh ter of Maximilian Joseph, claimed a portion of the Bavarian inheritance. Maria Theresa and Joseph II. were in no haste to plunge into a war with Prussia, and the Austrian forces confronted the enemy without coming to an en gagement. The. hostile attitude of Catharine 11. of Russia toward Austria induced her to give way, and in the Treaty of Teschen, signed on May 13, 1770. she had to content herself with the acquisition of the hinviertel, a district on the east side of the Inn, with the exception of which the whole of the Bavarian inheritance passed to Charles Theodore. The Elector of Saxony re ceived a money indemnity.