page_title: History of Austria
section_title: Reform
hierarchical_section_title: History of Austria / Maria Theresa and reform (1740–1780) / Reform
context_page_description: The history of Austria covers the history of Austria and its predecessor states, from the early Stone Age to the present state. The name Ostarrîchi has been in use since 996 AD when it was a margravate of the Duchy of Bavaria and from 1156 an independent duchy of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.
  Austria was dominated by the House of Habsburg and House of Habsburg-Lorraine from 1273 to 1918. In 1808, when Emperor Francis II of Austria dissolved the Holy Roman Empire, Austria became the Austrian Empire, and was also part of the German Confederation until the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. In 1867, Austria formed a dual monarchy with Hungary: the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When this empire collapsed after the end of World War I in 1918, Austria was reduced to the main, mostly German-speaking areas of the empire, and adopted the name The Republic of German-Austria. However, union with Germany and the chosen country name were forbidden by the Allies at the Treaty of Versailles. This led to the creation of the First Austrian Republic.
  Following the First Republic, Austrofascism tried to keep Austria independent from the German Reich.
context_section_description: Although Maria Theresa and her consort were Baroque absolutist conservatives, this was tempered by a pragmatic sense and they implemented a number of overdue reforms. Thus these reforms were pragmatic responses to the challenges faced by archduchy and empire, not ideologically framed in the Age of Enlightenment as seen by her successor. Indeed, Christian Wolff, the architect of German Enlightenment, though born a Habsburg subject, had to leave due to active discouragement of such ideals.
  The collision with other theories of nation states and modernity obliged Austria to perform a delicate balancing act between accepting changing economic and social circumstances while rejecting their accompanying political change. The relative failure to deal with modernity produced major changes in Habsburg power and Austrian culture and society. One of the first challenges that Maria Theresa and her advisers faced was to restore the legitimacy and authority of the dynasty, although was slowly replaced by a need to establish the needs of State.
caption: Francis I (1740–1765) with Maria Theresa (1740–1780).
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