00:00The War of the Bavarian Succession, from July 1778 to May 1779, was a conflict that pitted the Habsburg monarchy against the Bavarian monarchy.
00:07-Lorraine to a Prussian-Saxon alliance, aimed at preventing the Habsburg-Lorraine from acquiring the Duchy of Bavaria.
00:13The war did not see any battles beyond a few minor skirmishes, but it did cause losses.
00:18significant, including thousands of soldiers who died from disease and famine.
00:22Reflecting the frustration of soldiers searching for food, the conflict was called, in Prussia and Saxony, the war
00:28potatoes, Carthofelkrig.
00:30On December 30, 1777, Elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria, the last representative of the junior branch of the Vittelsbar family, died
00:38of smallpox, without descendants.
00:39His closest male relative was Elector Charles Theodore of Palatina, a descendant of the senior branch of the
00:45Vittelsbar claims the family connection,
00:48but having no legitimate descendants, his heir was a cousin from a junior branch, Charles II Augustus of
00:53Palatina de Pont.
00:54Beyond the southern Bavarian border, Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire, who coveted Bavarian territory,
01:00had married Maximilian Joseph's sister in 1765 to strengthen any claim he might make.
01:06However, his agreement with the heir, Charles Theodore, to divide the Bavarian territory had not taken into account the
01:12new demands from the presumptive heir, Charles Auguste.
01:15The acquisition of territory in German-speaking states was an important part of Joseph D's policy
01:20'Austria to extend the influence of his family in Central Europe.
01:24For Frederick II of Prussia, Joseph's claim threatened the Hohenzollern ascendancy in their German policy.
01:29but he hesitated on his policy aimed at maintaining the status quo through war or
01:34diplomacy.
01:35Empress Maria Theresa of Ouerrière, who co-reigned with her son, considered a conflict with the electorate of
01:41Bavaria wasn't worth it.
01:42Indeed, neither Marie-Thérèse nor Frédéric saw any point in continuing hostilities.
01:47But Joseph did not want to give up his request, despite his mother's insistence.
01:52Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, for his part, wanted to preserve the territorial integrity of the duchy for Charles Augustus.
01:58who was his brother-in-law, and had no interest in seeing the Habsburg-Lorraine family acquire
02:02additional territories on their southern and western borders.
02:05France, for its part, already involved in the American War of Independence against Great Britain, was seeking
02:12to ensure the maintenance of the balance of power.
02:14Finally, Catherine II of Russia threatened to intervene alongside Prussia with 50,000 men, thus forcing Joseph
02:20to reconsider his position.
02:22With Catherine's mediation, he and Frédéric negotiated a solution to the problem posed by the inheritance.
02:27of Bavaria with the Treaty of Techen, signed in May 1779.
02:32For some historians, the War of the Bavarian Succession was the last cabinet war, where troops maneuvered while
02:38that diplomats travelled from one capital to another to resolve their monarch's problems.
02:42Subsequently, the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars would differ in their scope, their strategies, their
02:48organizations and their tactics.
02:50Furthermore, German historians of the 19th and 20th centuries also found in this short war the roots of
02:56German dualism.
