Imperial Civics: Three Emperors and the “Pursuit of Happiness”

Abstract

The Habsburg Monarchy that emerged from the crisis caused by the War of the Austrian Succession was on its way to being funda- mentallyideologically transformed. drawing on the reformist impulse of the enlightenment the post-1740 Habsburg Monarchy became a embodiment of the philosopher king, rule for the general good, and Rechtsstaat theories of thinkers such as Pufendorf, Wolff, Martini, and Sonnenfels. Although this reorientation toward the spirit of the enlightenment had been accepted only reluctantly by Maria Theresia, her sons Joseph II and leopold II, and her grandson Franz II/I saw its utility and its humane spirit as positive factors that the Monarchy needed to adopt for the benefit of the state and its people. From the reforms of Joseph II to the promulga- tion of the Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch in 1811 the Habsburg Monarchy constructed a foundation as a modern state that would allow it to survive the Revolution of 1848 and the subsequent crises until WW I.