Global InformationWar of the Bavarian Succession information
| War of the Bavarian Succession | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Austro-Prussian rivalry | |||||||||
 Friedrich der Grosse und der Feldscher, Bernhard Rode | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Habsburg monarchy |
 Prussia  Saxony  Bavaria | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Joseph II Franz von Lacy Ernst von Laudon |
Frederick II Frederick Louis Duke of Brunswick Johann Yorck | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 180,000–190,000[1] | 160,000[1] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~10,000 killed, wounded, captured, missing, sick or dead from disease[1] | ~10,000 killed, wounded, captured, missing, sick or dead from disease[1] | ||||||||
The War of the Bavarian Succession (German: Bayerischer Erbfolgekrieg; 3 July 1778 – 13 May 1779) was a dispute between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and an alliance of Saxony and Prussia over succession to the Electorate of Bavaria after the extinction of the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The Habsburgs sought to acquire Bavaria, and the alliance opposed them, favoring another branch of the Wittelsbachs. Both sides mobilized large armies, but the only fighting in the war was a few minor skirmishes. However, thousands of soldiers died from disease and starvation, earning the conflict the name Kartoffelkrieg (Potato War) in Prussia and Saxony; in Habsburg Austria, it was sometimes called the Zwetschgenrummel (Plum Fuss).
On 30 December 1777, Maximilian III Joseph, the last of the junior Wittelsbach line, died of smallpox, leaving no children. Charles Theodore, a scion of a senior branch of the House of Wittelsbach, held the closest claim of kinship, but he also had no legitimate children to succeed him. His cousin, Charles II August, Duke of Zweibrücken, therefore had a legitimate legal claim as Charles Theodore's heir presumptive. Across Bavaria's southern border, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor coveted the Bavarian territory and had married Maximilian Joseph's sister Maria Josepha in 1765 to strengthen any claim he could extend. His agreement with the heir, Charles Theodore, to partition the territory neglected any claims of the heir presumptive, Charles August.
Acquiring territory in the German-speaking states was an essential part of Joseph's policy to expand his family's influence in Central Europe. For King Frederick II of Prussia, Joseph's claim threatened Prussian's influence in German politics, but he questioned whether he should preserve the status quo through war, diplomacy, or trade. Empress Maria Theresa, who co-ruled with Joseph, considered any conflict over the Bavarian electorate not worth bloodshed, and neither she nor Frederick saw any point in pursuing hostilities. Joseph would not drop his claim despite his mother's contrary insistence. Frederick August III, Elector of Saxony, wanted to preserve the territorial integrity of Bavaria for his brother-in-law, Charles August, and had no interest in seeing the Habsburgs acquire additional territory on his southern and western borders. Despite his dislike of Prussia, which had been Saxony's enemy in two previous wars, Charles August sought the support of Frederick, who was happy to challenge the Habsburgs. France became involved to maintain the balance of power. Finally, Empress Catherine II of Russia's threat to intervene on the side of Prussia with fifty thousand Russian troops forced Joseph to reconsider his position. With Catherine's assistance, he and Frederick negotiated a solution to the problem of the Bavarian succession with the Treaty of Teschen, signed on 13 May 1779.
For some historians, the War of the Bavarian Succession was the last of the old-style cabinet wars of the Ancien Régime era, in which troops maneuvered while diplomats traveled between capitals to resolve their monarchs' complaints. The subsequent French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars differed in scope, strategy, organization, and tactics.
- ^ a b c d Gaston Bodart. Losses of life in modern wars, Austria-Hungary and France. Vernon Lyman Kellogg, trans. Oxford: Clarendon Press; London & New York: H. Milford, 1916, p. 37.