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Documents - The Austrian Habsburg Empire
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1.   Maria Theresa's Political Testament (1749-50)
The extraordinary nature of this document justifies its being reproduced here at length. The document amounts to a political autobiography of Maria....
2.   Archduke Joseph II, "Political Daydreams" [Rêveries politiques] (1763)
Originally written in French, the following is an early confidential essay by the future Emperor Joseph....
3.   Wenzel Anton Kaunitz-Rietberg, "Most Graciously Commissioned Report on the Improvement of the Domestic System" for Maria Theresa (April 14, 1773)
The following is an excerpt from an unpublished manuscript of nearly 250 pages. Chancellor Wenzel Anton....
4.   Empress Maria Theresa Appraises the Character of Joseph II, her Son and Co-Regent (September 14, 1776)
This letter, originally written in French, expresses Empress Maria Theresa’s displeasure over Joseph’s arrogant and wounding behavior toward several of her most trusted and highly placed officials,....
5.   Emperor Joseph II, Instructions to all State Officials on the Principles Governing the Fulfillment of their Duties (December 13, 1783)
Celebrated in public opinion as Joseph’s “Pastoral Letter” [Hirtenbrief], this long-winded statement demanded of the state servant, in a religion-suffused discourse, “a warm soul for the best....
6.   Leopold II's Profession of Political Principles (1790)
Leopold wrote these lines (in invisible ink) in early 1790 to his sister, the wife of the governor....
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