The Impact of This Era on Austria/Hungary

By the end of the Thirty Years War, the Hapsburg's were weak and tired of fighting. Their efforts to "root out" Protestantism and to make the HRE into a state had failed. The real power from the HRE laid in the 300 independent "political jurisdictions." The Hapsburg's defeat in the Thirty Years War made them move their look onto the East for a hopeful new Empire State. An important move for this was when Ferdinand II, the Hapsburg King, reduced the power of the "Bohemian Estates" and gave it to Catholic nobles. By 1650, most of the nobility in Bohemia was foreign and was absolutely controlled by the Hapsburgs. Because of this, The Hapsburgs had complete control over Bohemia, which would be the first of three main countries to fall under the title of the "Hapsburg State."

By the end of the Thirty Years War, Ferdinand III had centralized the government of German-speaking provinces including Austria. Now the Hapsburgs had an army large enough to defeat any that opposed it. Luckily for the Hapsburgs, the Ottoman Empire under a sultan attacked the Hapsburgs in a two month siege at Vienna. The siege ended in the retreat if the Ottomans and the conquering of almost all of Hungary and Transylvania. These wars helped promote a sense of unity among the Hapsburg's controlled lands and while each area had its own laws and political interests, all the areas had the Hapsburg monarch as a tying factor.

Although the Hungarian Empire was weak, they still made several attempts to revolt against Hapsburg rule. Since the Hapsburgs were Catholic and the Hungarians were Protestant, there was a lot of fighting between them. Therefore the Hungarians and their Turkish allies attacked the Hapsburgs under the command of Prince Francis Rakoczy. This attack was after the Hapsburg's defeat from the War of Spanish Succession. After they were defeated, Charles VI compromised and restored the Hungarian aristocracy and other traditions indigenous to them. In return for this compromise, Charles VI made the Hungarians accept Hapsburg rule over them and the rest of what is known as the "Hapsburg State."

Mckay, Hill, and Buckler. A History of Western Society. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.