War of Austrian Succession
Maria Theresa's throne dispute
The War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) was a European conflict triggered when multiple powers challenged Maria Theresa's right to inherit Habsburg territories after her father's death.
Prussia, France, Spain, and Bavaria contested the succession, while Britain and the Dutch Republic backed Austria.
The war reshaped alliances and confirmed Prussia's rise as a major power, though it settled little permanently.
- Frederick the GreatEnlightened Prussian king
- imperial crownSovereign's formal headpiece
- dynastic struggleContest for hereditary power
- Holy Roman EmpireMedieval Germanic political entity
- PrussiaFormer German kingdom
Louis XV · balance of power · Age of Reason · 1700s · Enlightenment · Treaty of Westphalia · year · horse · charge · powder · sword · cannon · French Revolution · powder keg · pistol · coalition · France · muskets
- WarsWorld War I, WWI, civil war, cold war, Korean War
- 18th Century WarsSeven Years War, American Revolution, French Revolution, Great Northern War, Revolutionary War
- Early Modern WarsThirty Years War, English Civil War, Great Northern War
- Maria Theresaempress, Habsburg, Vienna
- Habsburg WarsSiege of Vienna, Battle of Lepanto, Holy Roman Empire, Seven Years War, Thirty Years War
- French HistoryNapoleon Bonaparte, French Revolution, Napoleon, Bastille, Reign of Terror
War of Austrian SuccessionThirty Years' War
1618-1648 European religious conflict
Eighty Years' War · English Civil War · Crusades · Hussite Wars
War of Austrian Successiondiplomatic settlement
Negotiated resolution between parties
Peace of Westphalia · Congress of Vienna · Concert of Europe · Treaty of Utrecht · armistice
War of Austrian SuccessionSeven Years' War
1756-1763 global military conflict
Napoleonic Wars · Franco-Prussian War · War of Spanish Succession · decisive victory · total defeat