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JOSEPH H

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 515 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOSEPH H . (1741–1790), See also:Roman See also:emperor, eldest son of the empress Maria See also:Theresa and her See also:husband See also:Francis I., was See also:born on the 13th of See also:March 1741, in the first stress of the See also:War of the See also:Austrian See also:Succession. Maria Theresa gave orders that he was only to be taught as if he were amusing himself; the result was that he acquired a See also:habit of crude and superficial study. His real See also:education was given him by the writings of See also:Voltaire and the encyclopaedists, and by the example of See also:Frederick the See also:Great. His useful training was conferred by See also:government officials, who were directed to instruct him in the See also:mechanical details of the See also:administration of the numerous states composing the Austrian dominions and the See also:Empire. In 1761 he was made a member of the newly constituted See also:council of See also:state (Staatsrath) and began to draw up minutes, to which he gave the name of " reveries," for his See also:mother to read. These papers contain the germs of his later policy, and of all the disasters which finally overtook him. He was a friend to religious See also:toleration, anxious to reduce the See also:power of the See also:church, to relieve the peasantry of feudal burdens, and to remove restrictions on See also:trade and on knowledge. So far he did not differ from Frederick, See also:Catherine of See also:Russia or his own See also:brother and successor See also:Leopold II., all enlightened rulers of the 18th-See also:century See also:stamp. Where Joseph differed from great See also:con-temporary rulers, and where he was very See also:close akin to the See also:Jacobins, was in the fanatical intensity of his belief in the power of the state when directed by See also:reason, of his right to speak for the state uncontrolled by See also:laws, and of the reasonableness of his own reasons. Also he had inherited from his mother all the belief of the See also:house of See also:Austria in its " See also:august " quality, and its claim to acquire whatever it found desirable for its power or its profit. He was unable to understand that his philosophical plans for the moulding of mankind could meet with pardonable opposition.

The overweening See also:

character of the See also:man was obvious to Frederick, who, after their first interview in 1769, described him as ambitious, and as capable of setting the See also:world on See also:fire. The See also:French See also:minister See also:Vergennes, who met Joseph when he was travelling incognito in 1777, judged him to be " ambitious and despotic." Until the See also:death of his mother in 178o Joseph was never quite See also:free to follow his own instincts. After the death of his See also:father in 1765 he became emperor and was made co-See also:regent by his mother in the Austrian dominions. As emperor he had no real power, and his mother was resolved that neither husband nor son should ever deprive her of See also:sovereign See also:control in her hereditary dominions. Joseph, by threatening to resign his See also:place as co-regent, could induce his mother to abate her dislike to religious toleration. He could, and he did, place a great See also:strain on her See also:patience and See also:temper, as in the See also:case of the first See also:partition of See also:Poland and the Bavarian War of 1778, but in the last resort the empress spoke the final word. During these See also:wars Joseph travelled much. He met Frederick the Great privately at See also:Neisse in 1769, and again at Mahrisch-See also:Neustadt in 1770. On the second occasion he was accompanied by See also:Prince Kaunitz, whose conversation with Frederick may be said to See also:mark the starting-point of the first partition of Poland. To this and to every other measure which promised to extend the dominions of his house Joseph gave hearty approval. Thus he was eager to enforce its claim on See also:Bavaria upon the death of the elector See also:Maximilian Joseph in 1777. In See also:April of that See also:year he paid a visit to his See also:sister the See also:queen of See also:France (see See also:MARIE ANTOINETTE), travelling under the name of See also:Count Falkenstein.

He was well received, and much flattered by the encyclopaedists, but his observations led him to predict the approaching downfall of the French See also:

monarchy, and he was not impressed favourably by the See also:army or See also:navy. In 1778 he commanded the troops collected to oppose Frederick, who supported the See also:rival claimant to Bavaria. Real fighting was averted by the unwillingness of Frederick to embark on a new war and by Maria Theresa's determination to maintain See also:peace. In April 178o he paid a visit to Catherine of Russia, against the wish of his mother. The death of Maria Theresa on the 27th of See also:November 178o See also:left Joseph free. He immediately directed his government on a new course, full See also:speed ahead. He proceeded to See also:attempt to realize his ideal of a See also:wise despotism acting on a definite See also:system for the See also:good of all. The See also:measures of emancipation of the peasantry which his mother had begun were carried on by him with feverish activity. The spread of education, the secularization of church lands, the reduction of the religious orders and the See also:clergy in See also:general to See also:complete submission to the See also:lay state, the promotion of unity by the compulsory use of the See also:German See also:language, everything which from the point of view of 18th-century See also:philosophy appeared " reasonable " was undertaken at once. He strove for administrative unity with characteristic haste to reach results without preparation. His See also:anti-clerical innovations induced See also:Pope See also:Pius VI. to pay him a visit in See also:July 1782. Joseph received the pope politely, and showed himself a good See also:Catholic, but refused to be influenced.

So many interferences with old customs began to produce unrest in all parts of his dominions. Meanwhile he threw himself into a succession of See also:

foreign policies all aimed at aggrandisement, and all equally calculated to offend his neighbours—all taken up with zeal, and dropped in discouragement. He endeavoured to get rid of the Barrier Treaty, which debarred his Flemish subjects from the See also:navigation of the See also:Scheldt; when he was opposed by France he turned to other schemes of See also:alliance with Russia for the partition of See also:Turkey and See also:Venice. They also had to be given up in the See also:face of the opposition of neighbours, and in particular of France. Then he resumed his attempts to obtain Bavaria—this See also:time by exchanging it for See also:Belgium—and only provoked the formation of the Furstenbund organized by the See also:king of See also:Prussia. Finally he joined Russia in an attempt to pillage Turkey. It began on his See also:part by an unsuccessful and discreditable attempt to surprise See also:Belgrade in time of peace, and was followed by the See also:ill-managed See also:campaign of 1788. He accompanied his army, but showed no capacity for war. In November he returned to See also:Vienna with ruined See also:health, and during 1789 was a dying man. The concentration of his troops in the See also:east gave the malcontents of Belgium an opportunity to revolt. In See also:Hungary the nobles were all but in open See also:rebellion, and in his other states there were See also:peasant risings, and a revival of particularist sentiments. Joseph was left entirely alone.

His minister Kaunitz refused to visit his sick-See also:

room, and did not see him for two years. His brother Leopold remained at See also:Florence. At last Joseph, worn out and broken-hearted, recognized that his servants could not, or would not, carry out his plans. On the 3oth of See also:January 1790 he formally withdrew all his reforms, and he died on the 20th of See also:February. Joseph II. was twice married, first to See also:Isabella, daughter of See also:Philip, See also:duke of See also:Parma, to whom he was attached. After her death on the 27th of November 1763, a See also:political See also:marriage was arranged with Josepha (d. 1767), daughter of See also:Charles See also:Albert, elector of Bavaria (the emperor Charles VII.). It proved extremely unhappy. Joseph left no See also:children, and was succeeded by his brother Leopold II. Many volumes of the emperor's See also:correspondence have been published. Among them are Maria Theresia and Joseph H. Ihre Korrespondenz samt Briefen Josephs an semen Bruder Leopold (1867–1868); Joseph H. and Leopold von Toskana.

Ihr Briefwechsel 1781–1790 (1872) ; Joseph H. and Katharine von Russland. Ihr Briefwechsel (1869) ; and Maria Antoinette, Joseph H. and Leopold H. Ihr Briefwechsel (1866) ; all edited by A. See also:

Ritter von See also:Arneth. Other collections are: Joseph II., Leopold H. and Kaunitz. Ihr Briefwechsel, edited by A. See also:leer (1873); Correspondances intimes de l'empereus Joseph H. avec son anti, le See also:comte de Cobenzl et son premier ministre, le prince de Kaunitz, edited by S. See also:Brunner (1871) ; Joseph H. and See also:Graf See also:Ludwig Cobenzl. Ihr Briefwechsel, edited by A. See also:Beer and J. von Fiedler (1901); and the Geheime Korrespondenz Josephs H. See also:mat seinem Minister in den Oesterreichischen Niederlanden, See also:Ferdinand Graf Trauttmannsdorff 1787–1789, edited by H. Schlitter (1902). Among the lives of Joseph may be mentioned: A. J.

See also:

Gross-Hofinger, Geschichte Josephs H. (1847) ; C. Paganel, Histoire de Joseph H. (1843; German See also:translation by F. Kohler, 1844); H. Meynert, Kaiser Joseph H. (1862); A. Beer, Joseph H. (1882); A. See also:Jager, Kaiser Joseph H. and Leopold H. (1867); A. See also:Fournier, Joseph H.

(1885); and J. Wendrinski, Kaiser Joseph H. (,88o). There is a useful small See also:

volume on the emperor by J. See also:Franck See also:Bright (1897). Other books which may be consulted are: G. See also:Wolf, Das Unterrichtswesen in Oesterreich unter Joseph H. (188o), and Oesterreich and Preussen 1780–1790 (188o), A. Wolf and H. von Zwiedeneck-Sudenhorst, Oesterreich unter Maria Theresia, Joseph I.I. and Leopold H. (1882–1884) ; H. Schlitter, See also:Die Regierung Josephs H. in den Oesterreichischen Niederlanden (1900) ; and Pius VI. and Joseph H. 1782–1784 (1894) O.

Lorenz, Joseph H. and die Belgische Revolution (1862) ; and L. Delplace, Joseph H. et la revolution brebenconne (189o).

End of Article: JOSEPH H

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