Charles VI Julia & Desmond

Charles VI ruled the Holy Roman Empire from 1711 until his death, and the collapse of the Empire, in 1740. He believed his power came from God, however he did not inherit the Empire and had to fight for it autocratically. He was the designated successor of the childless Charles II, however on his death bed, Charles altered his successor to be Philip of Anjou (Philip V of Spain). Later, war broke out between Philip V and Louis XIV of France (Charles’ grandfather). Charles saw this as a time of weakness and, with help from the British army, conquered the Catalonia region of Spain.

Charles was formally recognized by most of Germany, England, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and Portugal after the War of the Spanish Succession in 1701. He tried to force his rule from 1704 to 1711, yet he only succeeded in Catalonia. After becoming King Charles III of Spain, he inherited Hungary and Austria from his dead brother, Joseph I, and was elected to the position of Holy Roman Emperor Karl (or Charles) VI in 1711. He was hardworking and cared greatly for the wellbeing of his subjects. He took his responsibilities very seriously. Charles inherited a dying empire and upon his election, many nations attempted to secede, fearing the reinstatement of the regime of his ancestor, Charles V. Charles VI’s response to this was war, and so he gained a great deal of land in regions of Italy, the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), Hungary and Serbia early on in his reign, through war and treaties such as the Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714).

A specific way that Charles gained power was through the Pragmatic Sanction in 1720, where all Habsburg kingdoms were an integral whole without partition. Along with this, the undivided heritage goes directly to the eldest son, and if there are no sons, they go to the eldest daughter. This served as a constitutional law between the Habsburg monarchy, Holy Roman Empire, and the lands outside the empire. During his reign, he abolished the sale  of governmental positions, a practice his predecessors had indulged in, in favor of the traditional, purely hereditary system. Later on in his regime, he redistributed many of his powers to other princes to better equalize the state, however this combined with the overall lack of unity between the states led to the secession of many countries from the Empire, and ultimately its demise.

Charles conducted a highly successful war against the Ottoman Empire in 1716 which lasted for two years, resulting in positive changes throughout Hungary and Serbia. He then founded the Ostend Company, which resulted in a boom in empirical revenue, in addition to expanding the lucrative port of Trieste.

Charles began to lose his power beginning around the 1730s. The start of the War of the Polish Succession in 1733 began a war which would go on to last five years and conclude with a heartbreaking defeat for Charles VI, and a loss of Polish territories. During this, conflict arose with Turkey from 1736 to 1739, causing the loss of most of the southeastern territories which Charles gained in 1718. Charles VI died in October 1740, and due to the Pragmatic Sanction, all of his inheritance was left to his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, who went on to lead the Habsburg House.

An anecdote that describes King Charles’ rule could be The Giving Tree by Shell Silverstein. This is because like the proverbial tree, he did the very best he could for his people, but in doing so he gave away his own power and undermined his own utility.