The Succession Crisis

On October 20, 1740, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died of mushroom poisoning in Vienna, leaving behind a 23-year-old daughter, a mountain of debts, and a document called the Pragmatic Sanction. The Sanction, painstakingly negotiated and signed by every major European power over two decades, guaranteed that the Habsburg lands would pass undivided to Maria Theresa. It was, within weeks of Charles's death, not worth the parchment it was written on.

Frederick II of Prussia had been king for less than four months. He was 28 years old, had written a philosophical treatise attacking Machiavelli, and had never commanded troops in battle. He also had 80,000 of the finest disciplined infantry in Europe, a full treasury, and an eye on Silesia — the wealthy, largely Protestant province that jutted into Prussian territory and that Prussia had long coveted.

His reasoning was stark and he recorded it honestly: 'Ambition, interest, the desire of making people talk about me, carried the day, and I decided for war.' He sent a note to Vienna offering Austrian acceptance of his occupation of Silesia in exchange for military support against other enemies. Maria Theresa refused. Frederick invaded in December 1740 without a formal declaration of war.

He was not alone. Bavaria's Elector Charles Albert rejected the Pragmatic Sanction entirely, claiming the Habsburg inheritance for himself. France — always alert to Habsburg weakness — backed him. Spain saw a chance to reclaim Italian territories. Saxony joined the feeding frenzy. Within six months of Charles VI's death, Maria Theresa faced the dissolution of everything her father had spent his reign protecting.

She was pregnant. Her treasury was empty. Her army was unprepared. And yet she did not capitulate. 'A few acres of land,' she wrote, 'are not worth the peace of my conscience.' She would fight.