Joseph I of Habsburg
Joseph I reigned for six years, was more capable than his father and his brother, and died of smallpox at thirty-two. Born in 1678, the elder son of Leopold I, he was educated for the succession and was the first Habsburg heir in generations not raised principally by Jesuits — his father deliberately gave him a broader tutelage. He was crowned King of Hungary at nine and King of the Romans at eleven, and succeeded as emperor in 1705 in the middle of the War of the Spanish Succession. He then did what his father had not. He backed Prince Eugene of Savoy and Marlborough with money and men rather than second-guessing them, reorganised the finances, and let his generals fight — and the war went accordingly, with Turin relieved in 1706, the Netherlands taken at Oudenarde in 1708, and Malplaquet in 1709. He settled the Hungarian revolt of Rákóczi that had been running since 1703, offering terms rather than reprisals, and it was concluded weeks after his death on the basis he had prepared. He also excommunicated and invaded the Papal States when the pope recognised the Bourbon claimant to Spain. His death in April 1711 changed the war entirely. It left his brother Charles as both emperor and Habsburg claimant to Spain, and the allies who had fought to stop one man holding France and Spain would not fight on to let another hold Spain and the empire. Britain opened separate negotiations within months, and Utrecht followed on terms far short of what his armies had won. He left two daughters and no son, which put the succession question to his brother and produced the Pragmatic Sanction and, eventually, the war over Maria Theresa. Historians have generally treated his reign as the road the Habsburgs did not take.
- Lived: 1678 CE – 1711 CE
- Nationality: Austrian
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader
