War of the Bavarian Succession

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The War of the Bavarian Succession was a war that occurred in 1778 and 1779. The fight is known as the Potato War (Kartoffelkrieg) because of the extended time the Prussian and Austrian troops spent in manoeuvres in Bohemia to obtain or deny food-supplies to the enemy.

When Elector Maximilian III of the house of Wittelsbach died in 1777, the Sulzbach line stood as heir to the Duchy of Bavaria. The Elector Palatine Charles IV Theodore was the actual heir who inherited the throne and he proceeded to cede Lower Bavaria to Austria by secret treaty with Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, in exchange for which he was to receive the Austrian Netherlands.

Frederick the Great of Prussia believed that Austria's acquisitions in Bavaria would rebalance the loss of Silesia to him three decades earlier, thus reestablishing Austria's hegemony in German-speaking lands and undermining his own position. He therefore constructed an alliance with Saxony and declared war on Austria, ostensibly to defend the rights of Charles II, Duke of Zweibrücken, Charles Theodore's heir.

Frederick's invasion of Bohemia was largely bloodless and ended in the Congress of Teschen (1779), mediated by Russia and France. According to the peace settlement, Maria Theresa of Austria, much to her son's and co-ruler's displeasure, gave all but the Innviertel back to Bavaria. Saxony received financial reward for their role in the intervention. It is notable largely as Frederick the Great's last war.