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Czechoslovakia Enlightened Absolutism
The reigns of Maria-Theresa (1740-80) and her son Joseph II
(1780-90), Holy Roman Emperor and coregent from 1765, were
characterized by enlightened rule. Influenced by the ideas of
eighteenth-century Enlightenment philosophers, Maria-Theresa and
Joseph worked toward rational and efficient administration of the
Bohemian Kingdom. In this respect, they opposed regional
privilege and the rights of the estates and preferred to rule
through a centrally controlled imperial bureaucracy. At the same
time, they instituted reforms to eliminate the repressive
features of the Counter-Reformation and to permit secular social
progress.
Maria-Theresa's accession to the Hapsburg lands was
challenged by the territorial aspirations of the increasingly
powerful Hohenzollern dynasty. The Prussian king, Frederick II,
joined by the dukes of Bavaria and Saxony, invaded the Bohemian
Kingdom in 1741. The duke of Bavaria, Charles Albert, was
proclaimed king by the Czech nobility. Although Maria-Theresa
regained most of the Bohemian Kingdom and was crowned queen in
Prague in 1743, all of the highly industrialized territory of
Silesia except for Tesin, Opava, and Krnov was ceded to Prussia.
In attempting to make administration more rational,
Maria-Theresa embarked on a policy of centralization and
bureaucratization. What remained of the Bohemian Kingdom was now
merged into the Austrian provinces of the Hapsburg realm. The two
separate chancelleries were abolished and replaced by a joint
Austro-Bohemian chancellery. The Czech estates were stripped of
the last remnants of their political power, and their functions
were assumed by imperial civil servants appointed by the queen.
The provinces of the Czech and Austrian territories were
subdivided into administrative districts. German became the
official language.
Further reforms introduced by Maria-Theresa and Joseph II
reflected such Enlightenment principles as the dissolution of
feudal social structures and the curtailment of power of the
Catholic Church. Maria-Theresa nationalized and Germanized the
education system, eliminated Jesuit control, and shifted
educational emphasis from theology to the sciences. Serfdom was
modified: robota (forced labor on the lord's land) was
reduced, and serfs could marry and change domiciles without the
lord's consent. Joseph II abolished serfdom altogether. In 1781
Joseph's Edict of Toleration extended freedom of worship to
Lutherans and Calvinists.
The enlightened rule of Maria-Theresa and Joseph II played a
leading role in the development of a modern Czech nation, but one
that was full of contradictions. On the one hand, the policy of
centralization whittled down further any vestiges of a separate
Bohemian Kingdom and resulted in the Germanization of the
imperial administration and nobility. On the other hand, by
removing the worst features of the Counter-Reformation and by
introducing social and education reforms, these rulers provided
the basis for economic progress and the opportunity for social
mobility. The consequences for Bohemia were of widespread
significance. The nobility turned its attention to industrial
enterprise. Many of the nobles sublet their lands and invested
their profits in the development of textile, coal, and glass
manufacture. Czech peasants, free to leave the land, moved to
cities and manufacturing centers. Urban areas, formerly populated
by Germans, became increasingly Czech in character. The sons of
Czech peasants were sent to school; some attended the university,
and a new Czech intellectual elite emerged. During this same
period the population of Bohemia nearly quadrupled, and a similar
increase occurred in Moravia.
But in response to pressures from the nobility, Joseph's
successor, Leopold II (1790-92), abrogated many of Joseph's
edicts and restored certain feudal obligations. (Serfdom was not
completely abolished until 1848.) Under Francis II (1792-1835),
the aristocratic and clerical reaction gathered strength. The war
against revolutionary France and the subsequent Napoleonic wars
caused a temporary interruption of the reactionary movement. In
1804 Francis II transferred his imperial title to the Austrian
domains (Austria, Bohemian Kingdom, Hungary, Galicia, and parts
of Italy), and two years later the Holy Roman Empire was formally
dissolved. The Austrian Empire came into existence and was to
play a leading role in the newly established German Confederation
(see
fig. 5). From 1815, after the conclusive defeat of Napoleon,
the policy of reaction devised by Austria's foreign minister,
Prince Metternich, dominated European affairs.
Enlightened rule destroyed the few remaining vestiges of the
Bohemian Kingdom. The dismantling of Bohemian institutions and
the dominance of the German language seemed to threaten the very
existence of the Czech nation. Yet, enlightened rule also
provided new educational and economic opportunities for the Czech
people. Inadvertently, the enlightened monarchs helped set the
stage for a Czech national revival.
Data as of August 1987
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