An Alternate Pragmatic Sanction

So Charles VI wanted his daughter Maria Theresa to inherit all of his realms, so he made the Pragmatic Sanction, and then bribed the various powers of Europe to recognize it. Of these only the British stayed bribed, and Maria Theresa had to fight the War of Austrian Succession. So, WI, instead of bribing off all the powers (all told it involved one of the larger reductions of Hapsburg territory), Charles VI spends his reign with the assumption that his daughter will have to fight for her throne.

How much would a far less recognized Pragmatic Sanction and a far better prepared Austria effect the War of Austrian Succession?

fasquardon
 
I dont think it would change that much if he doesnt bribe the foreign powers. British still have an interest in supporting Austria because of France so they still would. The Bavarians and the Prussians didnt question the Pragmatic sanction. The bavarians based their claims on a really old treaty with Ferdinand - their interpretation of it wasnt right but thats beside point. The prussians actually offered to protect the pragmatic sanction in excange for Silesia. So officially both accepted the pragmatic sanction. France had an interest in breaking up Austria - the old enemy so they supported the anty Austrian forces even having accepted the document.

If Charles didnt make it an internal law in all of his countries that would be a lot harder question. But thats not likely.
 
Basically I am asking what happens if the Pragmatic Sanction is only an internal law to the various Hapsburg realms.

Certainly more than "nothing much", Charles VI spent alot on wars to bribe powers into recognising the Sanction, and gave up a fair amount of rich territory in bribes as well. So at the very least, Maria Theresa has more resources at the start of the war of Austrian Succession - and if her father actually prepared for the war - for example raising the 200,000 man army he was advised would be needed, then the war would go very differently.

But was all the effort winning foreign support for the Pragmatic Sanction really wasted? Certainly it seems so from a casual perusal of the history.

fasquardon
 
I can't imagine how Austria could have been MORE prepared for that war; they didn't know exactly when it was coming, to be sure, but the Austrian army had been operating under the assumption that the Pragmatic Sanction meant nothing and that the realm would have to fight for its life on Charles' death. Which is why the invaders ran into the largest system of defensive earthworks ever constructed by man - bigger than the Great Wall of China. (Although that isn't surprising in itself - earthworks that stop a cannonball have to be significantly deeper than the GWoC.)

He should raise a 200,000 man army and keep them supplied and trained indefinitely as a preparation for his death, whenever that might come? On the Habsburg's tax system? Pull the other one, it's got bells on. Rebellion would have ended Habsburg rule more quickly and completely than foreign invaders could have dreamed of.

I could agree that the diplomatic efforts to secure recognition of the Sanction failed in that they didn't really prevent anyone from declaring war - but they did saddle every invader with the problem of justifying a war of conquest for returns likely smaller than the ones they had already received, in part to a population with basically positive memories of Habsburg rule. They didn't prevent war but they may have significantly lessened its duration (which is scary in a way).

The Austrians were outnumbered 2:1 and held the enemy in check for 8 years, having to give up very little at the peace table. That is not an unprepared army, it is a fanatically well-prepared one.
 
I wonder how things might be if more of the countries had stayed bribed. Either stay out of the wars or assist Austria? Might Austria have grown even bigger?
 
So Charles VI wanted his daughter Maria Theresa to inherit all of his realms, so he made the Pragmatic Sanction, and then bribed the various powers of Europe to recognize it. Of these only the British stayed bribed, and Maria Theresa had to fight the War of Austrian Succession. So, WI, instead of bribing off all the powers (all told it involved one of the larger reductions of Hapsburg territory), Charles VI spends his reign with the assumption that his daughter will have to fight for her throne.

How much would a far less recognized Pragmatic Sanction and a far better prepared Austria effect the War of Austrian Succession?

fasquardon

IIRC that's exactly what the famous Austrian field marshal prince Eugene of Savoy suggested to Charles VI. Instead of trusting every power will keep their word, Charles VI should have made the Austrian army stronger.

I think prince Eugene of Savoy was right to point out, that Charles VI shouldn't put too much trust in the word of other nations.
Some 'bribes' did indeed turn out to be wasted.
It might have lead to Austria in a slightly better position, but as pointed there are limits to what Austrian Habsburgs can afford to spend on a larger army.

OTOH some territorial losses might occur, for instance does Austria still lose Sicily and Naples in the war of the Polish succession?
If so, then I can see Austria being able to keep the rest intact (so no loss of Silesia).
However instead of the foreign recognition, it might have been good, if all the Austrian territories (including Hungary) would accept the Pragmatic Sanction internally.
 
Basically I am asking what happens if the Pragmatic Sanction is only an internal law to the various Hapsburg realms.

Certainly more than "nothing much", Charles VI spent alot on wars to bribe powers into recognising the Sanction, and gave up a fair amount of rich territory in bribes as well. So at the very least, Maria Theresa has more resources at the start of the war of Austrian Succession - and if her father actually prepared for the war - for example raising the 200,000 man army he was advised would be needed, then the war would go very differently.

But was all the effort winning foreign support for the Pragmatic Sanction really wasted? Certainly it seems so from a casual perusal of the history.

fasquardon

I still dont think that the international recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction amounted to much even in OTL so it cant be much weaker. It simply made for those who wanted to dismember Austria a bit harder to come up with an official reason to do so but they all still did fight Austria in the end. An those who were interested in keeping Austria strong (GBR) would have still helped Austria because it was in their best interest.

Now the other part of the question is more interesting. Lets say Austria has strengtened its army. There are too questions regarding this.
1.: What would this strenghtening the army mean? Only numbers or quality too? This would be a really important question in determining how the war went. The Austrian army would be stronger either way but OTL Prussia had a huge adventige in quality.
2.: What would be the impact of a strenghtened Austrian army before the war? Could it be strong enough to scare Bavaria away from attacking? Or Prussia? The french would still try to make this guys attack Austria and i think they would still succeed in doing so. And we shouldnt forget the internal effects. Even the feudal parliaments (im basing this on Hungary) dont like giving extra founds and people for soldiers. Would the hungarians be as ready to support Maria Theresa as they were OTL if they were much more enstranged from the dinasty by a policy like this? And im not even sure that the hungarian feudal parlaiment would accept the Pragmatic Sanction in this case or what would they demand in exchange? But this is a hard question and im not sure.

In the war the question is if they could retain Silesia in the end or not. They werent prepared for a prussian attack because it was a surprise for them. I dont think that that attack being a surprise would change so lets assume that the prussians still would conquer Silesia in the first year of war. After that Austria would have a better chance retaking it during the war than in OTL but im still not sure if they would manage it.
 
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