Table Of ContentJOSEPH II
PROFILES IN POWER
General Editor: Keith RDbbins
ELIZABETH I FRANCIS JOSEPH
Christopher Haigh Steven Beller
RICHELIEU ATA T URK
R.J. Knecht A L. Macfie
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS (2nd Edn)
LLOYD GEORGE
Michael Roberts
Martin Pugh
OLIVER CROMWELL
Barry Coward HITLER
Ian Kershaw
PETER THE GREAT (2nd Edn)
M. S. Anderson CHURCHILL
Keith Robbins
JOSEPH II
T. C. W. Blanning
NASSER
Peter Woodward
ALEXANDER I
Janet M. Hartley
DE GAULLE
DISRAELI Andrew Shennan
Ian Machin
FRANCO
JUAREZ Sheelagh Ellwood
Brian Hamnett
MACMILLAN
CAVOUR
H<>rrv Hearder John Turner
JOSEPH II
T.C.W. BLANNING
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ISBN 13: 978-0-582-05272-7 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this hook is
available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blanning, T. C. W
Joseph II I T.C.W. Blanning
p. em.-(Profiles in power)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-582-05273-4. - ISBN 0-582-05272-6 (pbk)
1. Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, 1741-1790. 2. Austria-Politics and
government-1740-1789. 3. Austria-Kings and rulers-Biograph): I. Title. II. Series:
Profiles in power (London, England)
DB74.3.B58 I994
943.6'03-dc20 93-295I6
CIP
Set by I3 in I 1/12 pt Bookman
CONTENTS
Preface Vll
Abbreviations lX
CHAPTER 1 Joseph II and the Habsburg Inheritance
Assets
Problems 10
CHAPTER2 Joseph II, Maria Theresa and J osephism 27
From empire to state 27
The diplomatic revolution 30
The end of the baroque 32
Haugwitz and domestic reform 34
Kaunitz and domestic reform 36
Education 39
Jansenism 40
Church and state 44
Maria Theresa 47
The co-regency 49
CHAPTER3 Joseph II and the Enlightened State 56
The first servant of the state 56
Autocracy and bureaucracy 60
Education 67
Germanisation 70
Toleration 72
The economy 76
Social reform 79
Crime and punishment 81
Enlightened absolutism 82
v
JOSEPH II
CHAPTER4 Joseph II and the Privileged Orders 92
The church 92
The nobility 101
The peasantry 103
Hungary and Belgium 112
CHAPTERS Joseph II and the Great Powers 125
The army and militarism 125
The co-regency 129
Joseph II and the Russian alliance 134
Joseph II and the Dutch 138
Bavaria again 143
The Holy Roman Empire 147
Joseph II and the Great Powers 151
CHAPTER6 Joseph II and the Crisis of the Habsburg
Monarchy 161
Censorship 161
The public sphere 163
Absolutism and enlightenment 166
Belgium 171
The war against the Turks 176
Back from the brink 183
Celebration and death 186
Conclusion 198
Further Reading 209
Chronology 216
Map 220
Index 222
VI
PREFACE
In 1970 I published a short book on Joseph II entitledjoseph II
and enlightened despotism in the 'Seminar Studies in History'
edited by the late and much lamented Patrick Richardson. It
was my first publication and was based on lectures I had given
in Cambridge when a research fellow. It concentrated on the
relationship between Joseph's reform programme and the
Enlightenment. Since its publication a great deal of distinction
has been published on the Habsburg Monarchy in general and
Joseph in particular. Although I myself worked mainly on
German, French and British history during the 1970s and
1980s, I maintained my interest in the Monarchy and contin
ued to work occasionally in the Viennese archives. So when I
discovered that my first-born had been allowed to go out of
print, it seemed appropriate to replace it.
This new book is not intended to be an 'up-date'. It is an
entirely new creature, written without reference to its prede
cessor and with a different object in mind. Nor is it in any sense
a biography- it would be both foolhardy and unnecessary to
attempt such a thing, given the existence of the first volume of
Derek Beales' magnificent and definitive work and the likeli
hood that it will be completed by a second in the near future.
Taking the title of this present series 'Profiles in Power' as its
conceptual focus, this book seeks to analyse the constraints
under which Joseph operated, his attempts to overcome them
and the reasons for his failure. A constant theme is his ill-fated
attempt to construct a modern state and the baleful effects this
misguided exercise had on the Habsburg Monarchy, the Holy
Roman Empire and Europe in general.
Vll
JOSEPH II
The debts I have incurred in writing this book are many .. It
will be readily apparent how much I rely on those historians
who have produced so much of distinction during the past
twenty years or so, especially Robert Evans, Peter Dickson,
Grete Klingenstein, Peter Hersche and Derek Beales. I have
tried the patience of archivists and librarians in many institu
tions, notably the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, the Nation
albibliothek and the Stadtbibliothek in Vienna, the
Staatsbibliothek in Munich, the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, the
British Library in London and, above all, the University
Library in Cambridge, which manages to combine wealth of
resources and ease of use to a degree which is quite unique in
my experience. The research for this book has been financed by
the Master and Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, the Uni
versity of Cambridge, the British Academy and the Lever
hulme Foundation; I am deeply grateful to all of them and
welcome the opportunity to say so. The ideas I advance in this
book have been hammered out in discussion-or more usually
in argument-with several generations of undergraduates tak
ing the course on German history I run with my colleague
Jonathan Steinberg, who has always been a constant source of
encouragement, assistance and constructive criticism. The
same can be said of Derek Beales and Hamish Scott, who
gallantly read a first draft and have saved me from many errors,
distortions and over-statements. But they could not save me
entirely from myself and are in no way responsible for those
which remain. This is the first occasion on which I have had the
opportunity to thank my wife Nicky in print for her loving
support, sound advice and occasional reprimand. I look for
ward to an early opportunity to repeat the tribute.
Tim Blanning
Cambridge
May 1993
Vlll
ABBREVIATIONS
Arneth and Flammermont Alfred Ritter von Arneth and
Jules Flammermont (eds),
Correspondance secrete du comte de
Mercy-Argenteau avec l'empereur
Joseph II et le prince de Kaunit;::,
2 vols (Paris, 1889-91)
Arneth, Joseph II. und Alfred Ritter von Arneth (ed.),
Katharina Joseph II und Katharina von
Russland. Ihr Briefwechsel
(Vienna, 1869)
Arneth, Joseph II. und Leopold Alfred Ritter von Arneth
(e d.), Joseph II und Leopold von
Toscana. Ihr Briefwechsel von
1781 his 1790, 2 vols (Vienna,
1872}
Arneth, Marie Antoinette, Alfred Ritter von Arneth
Joseph II. und Leopold II. (ed.), Marie Antoinette, joseph
II. und Leopold II. lhr
Briefwechsel (Vienna, 1866}
Arneth, Maria Theresia und Alfred Ritter von Arneth (ed.),
Joseph II. Maria Theresia und joseph II.
lhre Correspondenz sammt Briefen
Joseph's an seinen Bruder Leopold,
3 vols (Vienna, 1867-8)
Beer Adolf Beer, joseph II., Leopold
II. und Kaunit;::,. Ihr Briefwechsel
(Vienna, 1873)
IX
