The Habsburg Empire continues to expand in the east at Turkish expense, but Charles VI recognizes that defense of Austria's position in Europe requires greater economic and political centralization to foster the development of a stronger economic base.

Because he lacks a male heir, however, the continued unity of the Habsburg Empire is jeopardized.

In 1713 Charles promulgates the Pragmatic Sanction to establish the legal basis for transmission of the Habsburg lands to his daughter Maria Theresa (r. 1740-80).

The price extracted by local diets and rival European powers for approval of the Pragmatic Sanction, however, is abandonment of many centralizing reforms.

Nonetheless, Charles's concessions does not prevent the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) from breaking out on his death in 1740.

Prussia occupies Bohemia's Silesian duchies this same year.

Late in 1741, the elector-prince of Bavaria, Charles Albert, occupies Prague, the capital of Bohemia, with the aid of Saxon and French troops and is crowned king of Bohemia.

This paves the way for his election as Holy Roman Emperor in 1742, thus breaking the Habsburgs' three-hundred-year hold on the imperial crown.

Maria-Theresa's accession to the Habsburg lands is challenged by the territorial aspirations of the increasingly powerful Hohenzollern dynasty.

The Prussian king, Frederick II, joined by the dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, invades the Bohemian Kingdom in 1741.

The duke of Bavaria, Charles Albert, is proclaimed king by the Czech nobility.

Although Maria-Theresa regains most of the Bohemian Kingdom and is crowned queen in Prague in 1743, all of the highly industrialized territory of Silesia except for Tesm, Opava, and Krnov is ceded to Prussia.

In attempting to make administration more rational, Maria-Theresa embarks on a policy of centralization and bureaucratization.

What remains of the Bohemian Kingdom is now merged into the Austrian provinces of the Habsburg realm.

The two separate chancelleries are abolished and replaced by a joint Austro-Bohemian chancellery.

The Czech estates are stripped of the last remnants of their political power, and their functions are assumed by imperial civil servants appointed by the queen.

The provinces of the Czech and Austrian territories are subdivided into administrative districts.

German becomes the official language.

Further reforms introduced by Maria-Theresa and Joseph II reflect such Enlightenment principles as the dissolution of feudal social structures and the curtailment of power of the Catholic Church.

Maria-Theresa nationalizes and Germanizes the education system, eliminates Jesuit control, and shifts educational emphasis from theology to the sciences.

Serfdom is modified: robota (forced labor on the lord's land) is reduced, and serfs can marry and change domiciles without the lord's consent.

Joseph II abolishes serfdom altogether.

Joseph's Edict of Toleration extends freedom of worship to Lutherans and Calvinists in 1781 .

The Austrians, however, retake Prague, and Maria Theresa is crowned queen of Bohemia in the spring of 1743.

Aided by a British diplomatic campaign, Austria also makes important military gains in Central Europe.

Thus, when Charles Albert unexpectedly dies in January 1745, his son makes peace with Austria and agreed to support the Habsburg candidate for emperor.

This enables Maria Theresa's husband, Franz (r. 1745-65), to be elected Holy Roman emperor in October 1745.

In the west, the war with France and Spain gradually settles into a military stalemate, and negotiations finally lead to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

Although Maria Theresa emerges with most of her empire intact owing largely to the early support she receives from Hungarian nobles—Austria is obliged to permanently cede Silesia, its most economically advanced territory, to Prussia.

Recognizing that the costly war with France has done more to promote British colonial interests in North America than its own interests in Central Europe, Austria abandons its partnership with Britain in favor of closer ties with France.

This reversal of alliances is sealed by the marriage of Maria Theresa's youngest daughter, Marie Antoinette, to the future Louis XVI of France.

The Royal Military Order of Saint George for the Defense of the Faith and the Immaculate Conception had been established by Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, in 1726 to provide for a means of honoring the nobility and recognizing distinguished civil military service.

The tradition of loyalty to Saint George, the patron saint of chivalry, has been long established in Germany and the various Bavarian Princes who had made pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulcher where they were invested as knights in the fifteenth century had all made a promise to Saint George

The decision to found the order may have been in part the consequence of the failed attempt by the Wittelsbachs to acquire the Grand Magistery of the Constantinian Order of Saint George, which by decision of the Holy See in 1701 had been recognized as pertaining to the Farnese.

Karl-Albrecht, Maximilian’s son, gives the new Order its title of Order of the Holy Knight and Martyr Saint George and the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary and its statutes on March 28, 1729, as a Military Order of Chivalry for Roman Catholic noblemen.

Its status as a Catholic order had been confirmed in a Papal Bull of 15 March, 1728, specifically comparing the Order with the Teutonic Order, which had likewise been transformed from a crusading order to an exclusive chivalric religious institution for the nobility.

Mediterranean Southwest Europe (1732–1743 CE): Consolidation and Enlightened Despotism

The era 1732–1743 CE in Mediterranean Southwest Europe marks a period of continuing political consolidation, administrative centralization, and the early adoption of Enlightenment-inspired governance.

Spain: Strengthening Centralized Power

In Spain, King Philip V continues implementing centralization and modernization policies initiated in the previous era. His administration expands fiscal reforms to streamline taxation and enhance the monarchy's financial stability. French and Italian advisors, particularly influential under Philip's wife, Elisabeth Farnese, play pivotal roles in reshaping administrative policies. Spain witnesses an increase in cultural and intellectual activity, notably with the establishment of the Royal Academy of History (Real Academia de la Historia) in 1738, reflecting Enlightenment ideals and a renewed focus on Spain’s historical heritage.

Italy: Habsburg and Bourbon Influences

Italy experiences continued Habsburg consolidation, particularly in Naples, where Charles of Bourbon ascends the throne in 1734 as King Charles VII, shifting the kingdom from Austrian to Bourbon rule. Charles initiates significant administrative and economic reforms aimed at modernizing the Kingdom of Naples, introducing Enlightenment-inspired policies that foster economic growth, education reform, and judicial efficiency. His patronage notably promotes the arts, resulting in the flourishing of Neapolitan opera and Baroque architecture.

In Milan and Lombardy, Austrian administrators intensify efforts to rationalize governance and taxation. Austrian rule promotes economic productivity, enhanced infrastructure, and administrative efficiency, laying the groundwork for subsequent modernization in Northern Italy.

Malta: Military Fortification and Cultural Growth

The Knights Hospitaller in Malta further bolster their strategic maritime and military importance through expanded fortifications around Valletta and the Grand Harbour. Efforts to maintain robust defenses against Barbary pirates and Ottoman naval threats continue, reaffirming Malta’s vital role in Mediterranean geopolitics. Maltese society experiences relative stability, with growth in cultural institutions and continued excellence in medical practice, particularly at the renowned Sacra Infermeria.

Broader Regional Context

Throughout Mediterranean Southwest Europe, the early eighteenth-century political landscape remains shaped by Enlightenment ideals influencing governance, economics, and intellectual life. The embrace of enlightened absolutism in regions like Naples and reforms in Spain reflect broader European trends, emphasizing rational governance, increased state efficiency, and cultural flourishing.

Conclusion: Enlightenment Foundations

The era 1732–1743 CE sees sustained centralization and the early adoption of enlightened despotism, significantly impacting administrative practices and cultural life in Mediterranean Southwest Europe. These developments set the stage for further Enlightenment-driven transformations and cultural advancements across the region.

Frederick ascends the throne in 1740 as "King in Prussia", which consists of scattered territories, including Cleves, Mark, and Ravensberg in the west of the Holy Roman Empire; Brandenburg, Hither Pomerania, and Farther Pomerania in the east of the Empire; and the former Duchy of Prussia, outside of the Empire bordering the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, when 

He is titled King in Prussia because this is only part of historic Prussia.

Frederick's goal is to modernize and unite his vulnerably disconnected lands; toward this end, he will fight wars mainly against Austria, whose Habsburg dynasty has reigned as Holy Roman Emperors almost continuously from the fifteenth century.

Frederick will establish Prussia as the fifth and smallest European great power by using the resources his frugal father had cultivated.

Frederick, who desires the prosperous Austrian province of Silesia, declines to endorse the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, a legal mechanism to ensure the inheritance of the Habsburg domains by Maria Theresa of Austria.

He is also worried that Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, will seek to connect his own disparate lands through Silesia.

The Prussian king thus invades Silesia the same year he takes power, using as justification an obscure treaty from 1537 between the Hohenzollern and the Piast dynasty of Brieg (Brzeg).

The ensuing First Silesian War (1740–1742), part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748), will result in Frederick conquering the province (with the exception of Austrian Silesia).

The First Silesian War, which inaugurates, and is generally seen in the context of, the wider ranging War of the Austrian Succession, owes its origins to the Pragmatic Sanction of April 19, 1713 whereby the Emperor Charles VI had decreed the imperial succession arrangements as set out in his will, according precedence to his own daughters over the daughters of his (by now deceased) elder brother Joseph I.

This had proved prescient: the Emperor’s own eldest daughter was born in May 1717, and on his death in 1740, she duly succeeds to the thrones of lands within the Habsburg Monarchy (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium) as the Queen Maria Theresa.

However, her succession to the Holy Roman Empire is contested widely because she is a woman.

Charles had ignored the advice of Prince Eugene of Savoy, who had urged him to concentrate on filling the treasury and equipping the army rather than on acquiring signatures of fellow monarchs.

During the emperor’s lifetime, the Pragmatic Sanction had been generally acknowledged by the German states: following his death on October 20, 1740, probably of mushroom poisoning, the agreement is promptly contested both by Frederick II, the new king of Prussia, and by Bavaria's king Charles Albert.

The Bavarian king launches a claim to the imperial throne and to the Habsburg territories, while Prussia demands Silesia and a part of the Habsburg territories for itself.

Frederick II of Prussia bases his demands on a breach of the 1537 Treaty of Schwiebus, whereby the Silesian princedoms of Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg were to pass to Brandenburg on the extinction of the Piast dynasty.

With the death in 1675, of George William of Legnica, the Piast line had died out: at that time no attempt had been made to implement these old treaty provisions, and the Prussian Elector (ruler) had been persuaded to renounce the claim in return for a payment.

An extensive alliance has formed sixty-five years on in support of Prussia’s newly asserted claims on Silesia.

Prussia is supported by France, Bavaria, and Sweden along with various smaller European powers.

The shared objective within the alliance is the destruction or at least the diminution of the Habsburg Monarchy and of its dominant influence over the other German states.

The Habsburgs find themselves supported by the Russians along with the maritime powers, the Dutch and the British/Hanoverians whose imperial aspirations beyond Europe always incline them to join available eighteenth century European wars on the anti-French side.

Britain and Austria are bound by the Anglo-Austrian Alliance, which has existed since 1731.

Maria Theresa finds herself in a difficult situation.

Unschooled in matters of state and unaware of the weakness of her late father's ministers, she decides to rely on her father's advice to retain his councilors and defer to her husband, whom she considers to be more experienced, on other matters.

Both decisions, though natural, will prove to be unfortunate.

The Emperor, who had spent his entire reign securing the Pragmatic Sanction, has left Austria in an impoverished state, bankrupted by the recent Turkish war and the War of the Polish Succession; the treasury contains only one hundred thousand florins, which are claimed by his widow.

The army numbers only eighty thousand men, most of whom have not been paid in months; they are nevertheless remarkably loyal and devoted to their new sovereign.

Ten years later, Maria Theresa is to bitterly recall in her Political Testament the circumstances under which she had ascended: "I found myself without money, without credit, without army, without experience and knowledge of my own and finally, also without any counsel because each one of them at first wanted to wait and see how things would develop." (Browning, Reed: The War of the Austrian Succession p. 37. Palgrave Macmillan 1995).

She dismisses the possibility that other countries might try to seize her territories and immediately starts ensuring the imperial dignity for herself; since a woman cannot be elected Holy Roman Empress, Maria Theresa wants to secure the imperial office for her husband.

However, Francis Stephen does not possess enough land or rank within the Holy Roman Empire.

In order to make him eligible for the imperial throne and to enable to him to vote in the imperial elections as elector of Bohemia (which she can't due to her gender), Maria Theresa on November 21, 1740, makes Francis Stephen co-ruler of the Austrian and Bohemian lands. (It will take more than a year for the Diet of Hungary to accept Francis Stephen as co-ruler.)

Despite her love for him and his position as co-ruler, Maria Theresa will never allow her husband to decide about matters of state, often dismissing him from council meetings when they disagree.

The first display of the new queen's authority is the formal act of homage of the Lower Austrian Estates to her on November 22, 1740.

It is an elaborate public event that serves as a formal recognition and legitimization of her accession.

The oath of fealty to Maria Theresa is taken on the same day in Hofburg.

Immediately after her accession, a number of European sovereigns who had recognized Maria Theresa as heiress break their promises; Queen Elisabeth of Spain and Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, married to Maria Theresa's deprived cousin Maria Amalia and supported by Empress Wilhelmine Amalia, want portions of her inheritance.

Maria Theresa secures the recognition of King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, who hadn't accepted the Pragmatic Sanction during her father's lifetime, in November 1740.

Prussian forces occupy the Duchy of Silesia, which belongs to the Bohemian Crown of the Habsburg possessions, after a two-month campaign.

King Frederick II of Prussia requests that Maria Theresa cede it, threatening to join her enemies if she refuses.