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History of the Habsburg Dynasty in Austria

The Netherlands was historically a Spanish colony, but earlier it was ruled by the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. The Habsburg Dynasty (English: House of Habsburg, 6th century AD – 1918), the most powerful and most extensive royal family in European history, once ruled the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Spain, the Grand Duchy of Austria, the Austrian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Habsburg family is also known as the Austrian family.

The Austrian Habsburg Dynasty refers to the family that ruled Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and some Italian duchies from 1556 to 1740. Its ruling center is Vienna, Austria, with the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, Maria Theresa , Franz I was replaced by the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty after the marriage. The Habsburg-Lorraine Dynasty successively sat on the thrones of the Holy Roman Empire, the Austrian Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In 1556, the Holy Roman Emperor Karl V ceded the position of Archduke of Austria to his brother Ferdinand I of Hungary and Bohemia, and established Ferdinand as the heir to the Holy Roman throne. But according to Charlie’s will, Ferdinand and his descendants lost the right to inherit as king of Spain. This move made Ferdinand the first monarch of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty.

In 1517, the German Catholic priest Martin Luther initiated the Reformation because of dissatisfaction with the Holy See’s policy of indulgences. Since Maximilian I at that time, successive Habsburg monarchs have adopted a policy of tolerance towards Protestantism, so Protestantism was broadcast in Germany and spread to Bohemia under the Austrian Habsburg dynasty. But because of the monarch’s tolerance of Protestantism, the Habsburg monarch was always elected king of Bohemia.

The situation in the Empire took a turn for the worse in 1617, when Ferdinand II, a fanatical Catholic, succeeded his cousin as Archduke of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor. But his zero-tolerance policy toward Protestantism led to his defeat as King of Bohemia. In order to regain the throne, Ferdinand decided to conquer Bohemia, but instead prompted the Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire to form an alliance to aid Bohemia, which led to the invasion of the Habsburg family territory by the Protestant countries around the empire, Denmark and Sweden. The intensified anti-Spanish independence movement in the Netherlands who converted to Protestantism, and the joining of the anti-Habsburg coalition in France, which converted to Catholicism in the later period, made the situation of the dynasty worse.

Although the Bohemian rebels and the Danish Royal Army were defeated by the Habsburg Imperial Army, the war with Sweden and France remained deadlocked. Therefore, Ferdinand II abdicated the throne of Bohemia to his son Ferdinand III to ease the local anger. When Ferdinand II died (1637), Ferdinand III immediately made peace with the countries, and finally signed the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Although the Thirty Years’ War weakened the dynasty’s control over the states of the Holy Roman Empire and made the empire fall into a state of independent vassal independence; however, during the war, Protestants in Austria and Bohemia were purged and “probated” into a state of independence. Catholic.

After the war, the Habsburgs strengthened their control over their territories, maintained a standing army of 50,000 people, and established absolute monarchies (absolute monarchies) in regions such as Austria, Bohemia, and Silesia. Therefore, the Thirty Years War only caused the decline and disintegration of the Holy Roman Empire, but actually strengthened the actual strength of the Habsburg emperor. Therefore, after 1648, the Habsburg Dynasty can only say that its plan to expand the imperial power has been frustrated, and it cannot be said that it has declined because of it.