Ancient history

Austrian Netherlands | historical province, Europe

Austrian Netherlands (1713–95), provinces in the southern part of the Netherlands (roughly consisting of the today's Belgium and Luxembourg) covering most of the Spanish Netherlands made out .

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After the death of the Habsburg Charles II of Spain (1700), Spain and the Spanish territories were to the Bourbon grandson Louis XIV , Philippe d'Anjou (Philip V), overridden . None of the other great powers in Europe - the Habsburg Dutch Republic and the English - would accept the French successor: War of Spanish Succession followed. When the Spanish possessions were divided into Treaties of Utrecht In 1713, the Spanish Netherlands fell to Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. It was known as the Austrian Netherlands until 1795.

The The Treaty of Antwerp (also known as the Barrier Treaty of 1715) also provided that the Austrian administration of the southern Netherlands should Spanish rule would remain essentially unchanged. The official organ of the region was simply moved from Madrid to Vienna. As the natural prince of the Austrian Netherlands Charles VI Was subject to the same agreements as its predecessors. The Autonomy of cities and states and the rise of Roman Catholic Church should be preserved. The only exception to this continuation of the terms was the billeting of Dutch troops against the French invasion.

Charles' first attempt to improve the region's economy - starting a trading company - was supported by the Dutch and the English blocked. Eventually he dissolved the company and turned to the problem of the Habsburg succession. Despite his efforts on behalf of his daughter, Maria Theresa was challenged as soon as she took up the scepter in 1740. During the following War of the Austrian Succession the French took advantage of the Prussian challenge to Maria Theresa and invaded Flanders in 1744. Soon all Austrian Netherlands except Limburg and Luxembourg fell to the French. You were 1748 after Austria restored .

During the reign of Maria Theresa, the Austrian Netherlands began to prosper again, as it had in the first half of the Spanish regime of the case was. However, the Austrians were not accustomed to the republican spirit of the southern provinces. when Joseph II. Succeeding his mother to the throne in 1780, he attempted to impose his Enlightenment ideas on the people. In 1783 he abolished contemplative commands and declared them useless. In 1786 individual religious brotherhoods were combined into one entity. The seminars have been disbanded and replaced by state schools. In 1787 Joseph negated the centuries-old privileges he had sworn to uphold and eliminated the governmental councils and judicial bodies on which the people had come to depend. People were outraged by his interference. Your objection caused some of his edicts to be suspended, but the spirit of the deeds remained. As certain rebel leaders flagellated , a revolution broke out in the province of Brabant (1789–90).

The The Brabant Revolution has been successful for a while. A republic was proclaimed by the rebels but failed to withstand internal conflicts and external pressures. Regardless of the revolutions, the peasants continued to support the emperor. The Republic fell within a year. 1790 Joseph and the new emperor died, Leopold II . Offered to restore all rights. When his offer was rejected for various reasons, the Austrian resorted to military action. The French revolutionaries fell into this confusion in 1792, and they were hailed as liberators. Austrian rule reigned between 1792 and 1793, but the French were determined to stay. On October 1, 1795, the Austrian Netherlands were annexed to France after a period of arbitrary rule. After the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, it was merged with the Dutch provinces to become the Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815). An independent Belgium was established in 1831.