1758, June 23. Battle of Crefeld. After the conquest of Prussia as far as the Mark the Russians advanced. Bloody

Aug. 25. Victory of Frederic (Seydlitz) at Zorndorf (not far from Küstrin) over the Russians.

Austrians advanced upon Lusatia. The king hastened to the aid of his brother Henry and was defeated in the

Oct. 14. Battle of Hochkirch (near Bautzen) by Daun. Nevertheless he maintained himself in Saxony and Silesia.

1759. Ferdinand of Brunswick defeated by the French (duke of Broglie)

April 13. In the skirmish of Bergen near Frankfort-on-the-Main. Broglie was joined by a second French army under Contades, but they were both defeated by Ferdinand in the

Aug. 1. Battle of Minden.

The Russians advanced anew and defeated general Wedell July 23. (appointed dictator by the king) at Kay. The king was unable to prevent their union with the Austrians under Laudon. Severe

Aug. 12. Defeat of Frederic at Kunersdorf (Frankforton-the-Oder) by the Austrians and Russians, who were at first defeated. Dresden captured by the imperial army.

Nov. 20. The Prussian general Fink surrounded by Daun at Maxen and captured with 13,000 men.

1760. Fouqué defeated and captured in the

June 23. Battle of Landshut, by the Austrians. Futile siege of Dresden.

Aug. 15. Victory of Frederic at Pfaffendorf (Liegnitz) over the Austrians under Laudon.

The king prevented the union of the Austrians and Russians. Oct. Berlin surprised and burnt by the Russians (Tottleben), who retreated upon the approach of the king. Bloody

Nov. 3. Victory of Frederic at Torgau (Ziethen) over the Austrians under Daun.

1761. Frederic encamped at Bunzelwitz (near Schweidnitz), opposite the united Austrians (Laudon) and Russians (Buturlin), who did not venture on a decisive battle.

Separation of the united armies. Schweidnitz captured by the Austrians, Kolberg by the Russians. Frederic, who was deprived of the English subsidies by the accession of George III. (1760), was in great distress. The

1762, Jan. 5. Death of Elizabeth of Russia was the salvation of Prussia. Her successor Peter III., an admirer of Frederic, concluded

March 16. The truce of Stargard with Prussia, and soon after the May 5. Peace of St. Petersburg: Russia restored her conquests ; both parties renounced all hostile alliances. This peace caused the

May 22. Peace of Hamburg with Sweden: status quo ante bellum. The alliance between Russia and Prussia was soon broken off

by the deposition of Peter III. (July 9). His successor, Catharine II., recalled her troops from Frederic's army; nevertheless their inactivity upon the field contributed to the

1762. Victory of Frederic at Burkersdorf (Reichenbach) over July 21. the Austrians (Daun). After Prince Henry in the

Oct. 29. Battle of Freiberg had defeated the Austrians and the imperial forces, and the preliminaries of the peace at Fontainebleau (p. 439) between England and France had made it certain that the French armies would be withdrawn from Germany, Austria and Prussia concluded the

1763. Peace of Hubert(u)sburg.

Feb. 15. 1. Ratification of the peace of Breslau and Berlin, and that of Dresden, i. e. Prussia retained Silesia. 2. Prussia promised her vote for the archduke Joseph at the election of the king of Rome. Saxony (restoration to the status quo) and the empire were included in the peace.

Frederic's endeavors to heal the wounds inflicted by the war upon his kingdom. Distribution of the magazine stores. Remission of taxes for several provinces. Establishment of district banks, of the Bank (1765) and the Maritime Company (1772) at Berlin. Afterwards, however, introduction of an oppressive financial administration; tobacco and coffee were made government monopolies.

Drainage of the marshes along the Oder, Werthe, and Netze. Canal of Plauen, Finow, and Bromberg.

Reform of the jurisdiction. Codification of the common law by grand chancellor von Carmer, a part of which was published in 1784. 1765-1790. Joseph II., emperor,

for the Austrian lands co-regent only, with his mother Maria Theresa, until 1780, and without much influence.

1778-1779. War of the Bavarian Succession.1

Cause: Extinction of the electoral house of Bavaria with Maximilian Joseph (1777). Charles Theodore, elector palatine, the legal heir of the Bavarian lands, as head of the house of Wittelsbach, and in consequence of various treaties, was persuaded by Joseph II. to recognize certain old claims of Austria to lower Bavaria, and a part of the upper Palatinate. Treaty of Vienna (1778, Jan.). Occupation of lower Bavaria by Austrian troops. Charles Theodore was childless; his heir presumptive was Charles Augustus Christian, duke of the palatinate of Zweibrücken (Deux-ponts). Frederic II. opened secret negotiations with this wavering and irresolute prince through count Eustachius von Görz and encouraged him, under promise of assistance, to make a formal declaration of his rights against the Austrian claims. Saxony and Mecklenburg, also incited by Frederic, protested as heirs presumptive of a part of the Bavarian inheritance. As direct negotiations between Austria and Prussia were without result, Joseph and Frederic joined their armies, which were already drawn up face to face on the boundary of Bohemia and Silesia.

Saxony allied with Prussia. No battle in this short war.

Frederic

1 Cf. Manso, Gesch. d. preuss. Staats seit dem Hubertsb. Frieden.

and prince Henry invaded Bohemia (July, 1778). Impossibility of forcing Joseph from his strong position along the upper Elbe, or of getting around it. The armies maintained their positions of observation so long that want began to make itself felt. In the autumn prince Henry retired to Saxony, Frederic to Silesia. Unimportant skirmishes along the frontier. A personal correspondence between Maria Theresa and Frederic, commenced by the former, led in the following spring, with the help of Russian and French mediation, to a truce and a congress, and soon after to the

1779, May. Peace of Teschen.

1. The treaty of Vienna with Charles Theodore was abrogated. Austria retained only the district of the Inn, in Bavaria, i. e. the part of lower Bavaria between the Inn, Salza, and Danube. 2. Austria agreed to the future union of the margravates of Ansbach and Baireuth, with the Prussian monarchy. 3. Saxony obtained some hitherto disputed rights of sovereignty and nine million rix dollars; Mecklenburg the privilegium de non appellando.

1780-1790. Joseph II. Period of his reign alone and of his attempts at reform.1

The peaceable and prudent government of Maria Theresa († 1780), with its carefully matured scheme of reform, was succeeded by the essentially revolutionary reign of Joseph II., whereby the ancient forms were shaken to their foundations, and their substance, reluctant and stiff from lack of change, forcibly subjected to experiments made in sympathy with the enlightenment of the century. Joseph II. is the best representative of the contradictions of the eighteenth century, of its philanthropy and its devotion to right, and again of its severity and lack of consideration, where there was question of executing some favorite theory. Filled with dislike of the clergy and the nobility, and entertaining the ideal of a strong, centralized, united state, Joseph pursued his reforms with the purpose of breaking the power of the privileged classes mentioned above, of destroying all provincial independence, and of establishing unity in the administration (centralization). Despite of all his failures, despite of the fact that, with the exception of the abolition of serfdom and the edict of tolerance, not one of his reforms outlived him, Joseph's reign regenerated the Austrian monarchy, lending it mobility and vitality.

Edict of tolerance (1781). Within eight years 700 monasteries were closed and 36,000 members of orders released. There still remained, however, 1,324 monasteries with 27,000 monks and nuns. For those which remained a new organization was prescribed. The connection of the ecclesiastical order with Rome was weakened, schools were established with the property of the churches, innovations in the form of worship were introduced, nor did the interior organization of the church escape alteration. Futile journey of Pope Pius VI. to Vienna (1782) undertaken to prevent these changes. Reform of the jurisdiction. The feudal burdens were reduced to fixed norms, and attempts were made to completely abolish personal servitude among the peasants.

1 Häusser, Deutsche Geschichte vom Tode Friedrichs d. Grossen.

Disputes between Joseph and the Dutch; the emperor arbitrarily annulled the barrier treaties (p. 393) (1781). He demanded that the Schelde, which had been closed by the Treaty of Westphalia to the Spanish Netherlands, in favor of the Dutch, should be opened. Finally, after four years of quarreling, French mediation brought about the Peace of Versailles (1785). Joseph withdrew his demands in consideration of ten million florins.

Joseph attempted to improve the legal system of the empire. His encroachments in the empire. Violent proceedings in the case of the bishop of Passau (1783).

The endeavors of Frederic the Great to conclude a union of German princes (1783), which should resist the encroachments of the emperor, and to strengthen Prussia in her political isolation by a "combination within the empire," were at first but coldly supported by his own ministers and the German princes. Frederic's plan was not taken into favor until news was received of

1785. Joseph II.'s plan of an exchange of territory, according to which Charles Theodore was to cede the whole of Bavaria to Austria, and accept in exchange the Austrian Netherlands (Belgium), excepting Luxemburg and Namur, as the kingdom of Burgundy. France maintained an attitude of indifference. Russia supported the project and endeavored by persuasion and threats to induce the heir of Bavaria, the count palatine of Zweibrücken (Deuxponts) to consent to the scheme. The latter sought help from Frederic the Great, who, a year before his death († 1786, Aug. 17), succeeded in forming the

1785, July. League of the German Princes

between Prussia, the electorate of Saxony, and Hanover, which was afterward joined by Brunswick, Mainz, Hesse-Cassel, Baden, Mecklenburg, Anhalt, and the Thuringian lands.

Opposition to Joseph's reforms in the Austrian Netherlands and in Hungary. The removal of the crown of Hungary to Vienna produced so great a disturbance that the emperor yielded and permitted its return. The revocation of the constitution of Brabant caused a revolt in the Belgian provinces (1789). War with the Turks (p. 414). Death of Joseph II. (1790).

1790-1792. Leopold II., emperor.

Joseph's brother and successor. He suppressed the Belgian insurrection, but restored the old constitution and the old privileges. A conference at Reichenbach prevented a war with Prussia, which (Jan. 31, 1790) had concluded a treaty with the Turks, in order to procure more favorable conditions for the latter from Austria and Russia (p. 414).

§ 4. DENMARK, SWEDEN, RUSSIA, POLAND.

Denmark (and Norway).

Since the close of the northern war, Denmark held complete possession of Schleswig and enjoyed under Frederic IV., Christian VI., Frederic V., Christian VII. (count Bernstorff, minister), a long interval of peace at home and abroad. Under the weak Christian VII. revolutionary attempts at reform after the manner of Joseph II. by the German Struensee (born in Halle, physician in Altona, traveling companion of the king, instructor of the crown prince, favorite of the queen, Caroline Matilda, first minister, count, who was overthrown in 1772 by a conspiracy (queen dowager Juliana Maria) and beheaded along with his friend Brandt. The disputes with the line of Holstein-Gottorp were brought to an end in 1773 by the cession of Oldenburg to the younger line in exchange for their share of Holstein, which was in consequence entirely incorporated with the Danish monarchy.

Sweden.

Until 1751 Sweden was under the rule of Frederic of Hesse-Cassel (p. 397). Decline of the royal power in the midst of the dissensions of two parties of the nobility, Hüte, "hats;" (French) and Mutzen "caps; (Russian). Unsuccessful war with Russia (1741–1743), ended by the disgraceful

1743. Peace of Åbo.

2.

1. The Cymen made the boundary between Sweden and Russia, whereby the position of St. Petersburg was made more secure. The succession to the crown of Sweden was guaranteed to Adolf Frederic of Holstein-Gottorp.

1751-1818. The house of Holstein-Gottorp in Sweden.

Under Adolf Frederic (1751-1771) the royal power underwent such reductions at the hands of the royal council that Sweden was rather an aristocracy than a monarchy. Inglorious participation in the Seven Years' War. Adolf Frederic's son, Gustavus III. (1771– 1792), crushed the power of the royal council of nobles by a bloodless revolution (1772), and reduced it in the new constitution from a co-regent to a simple council; the estates, however, retained the right of veto against an offensive war.

1788-1790. War with Russia. Drawn battle at the island of Hogland (1788). Gustavus invaded Russian Finland, where the officers of his army refused him further obedience. He found support among the people (Stockholm and Dalecarlia). The estates granted him (against the will of the nobles) the right to declare even an offensive war. In spite of brilliant deeds of arms Gustavus concluded the war by a peace (at Werela) which was without advantage to Sweden.

1792, March. Gustavus III. murdered by James of Ankarström.