Charles VI of Habsburg
Charles VI was Holy Roman Emperor from 1711 to 1740, the last male Habsburg ruler. His reign was dominated above all by a single obsessive concern: ensuring that the Habsburg lands could pass undivided to his daughter Maria Theresa in defiance of the Salic law. The legal instrument he devised - the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 - became the central preoccupation of Habsburg diplomacy for more than two decades. The great irony of Charles's reign is that the Pragmatic Sanction, to which he devoted such enormous effort, collapsed almost immediately upon his death. When Charles died in October 1740, Prussia's Frederick the Great invaded Silesia within weeks, triggering the War of the Austrian Succession in which nearly every power that had guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction either joined the attack or failed to honor their commitment. Maria Theresa survived the crisis through her own formidable personal qualities.
- Lived: 1685 CE – 1740 CE
- Nationality: austrian
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader
