War of the Bavarian Succession
The War of the Bavarian Succession was a dispute between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and an alliance of Saxony and Prussia over succession to the Electorate of Bavaria after the extinction of the Bavarian branch of the House of Wittelsbach. The Habsburgs sought to acquire Bavaria, and the alliance opposed them, favoring another branch of the Wittelsbachs. Both sides mobilized large armies, but the only fighting in the war was a few minor skirmishes. However, thousands of soldiers died from disease and starvation, earning the conflict the name Kartoffelkrieg in Prussia and Saxony; in Habsburg Austria, it was sometimes called the Zwetschgenrummel.
Friedrich der Grosse und der Feldscher, Bernhard Rode
Max Joseph prince-elector and Duke of Bavaria
Charles IV Theodore
Archduke Joseph (portrait by Georg Decker)
The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm, was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is also referred to as the Danubian monarchy or the Austrian monarchy.
Silver medallion depicting King Rudolf I with his sons Albert and Rudolf II at the Diet of Augsburg, which laid the foundation of the House of Habsburg. Work by Anton Scharff for the 600th anniversary of the constitution of the Erblande, 1882.
Growth of the Habsburg monarchy in central Europe
Coronation of Maria Theresa in Pressburg, Kingdom of Hungary, 1741
Europa regina, symbolizing a Habsburg-dominated Europe