The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) reshaped the political balance of Europe after the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (reign 1711–1740) and the contested accession of Maria Theresa (reign 1740–1780) to the Habsburg lands. Although the Pragmatic Sanction (1713) had been intended to secure her inheritance, rival powers challenged Habsburg claims, turning a dynastic dispute into a continental war involving Austria, Prussia, France, Britain, Spain, Sardinia, and others. The conflict revealed the fragility of the European balance-of-power system: dynastic legitimacy mattered, but so did strategic opportunity. Above all, Prussia under Frederick II (“the Great,” reign 1740–1786) emerged as a major power through its seizure of most of Silesia, while the Habsburg monarchy, though battered, survived as a central force in European politics.
