Joseph II: Foreign Problems

Joseph's plan to annex Bavaria to Austria and thus to consolidate his state was frustrated in the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778–79); his project to exchange the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria was thwarted (1785) by King Frederick II of Prussia, who formed the Fürstenbund [princes' league] for that purpose. Joseph allied himself with Czarina Catherine II of Russia (whom he accompanied incognito on her Crimean journey), hoping to share in the spoils of the Ottoman Empire. Austria joined Russia in the war of 1787–92 against the Ottoman Empire, but was unsuccessful.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Assessment
• Foreign Problems
• Opposition and Failure
• Reforms
• Early Reign
• Bibliography

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