Daily Quiz for December 25, 2008

War of the Austrian Succession. The ignoring of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 led to the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740. Most European powers vowed to respect the 1713 royal pronouncement of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, called the Pragmatic Sanction, in which he declared that if he had no direct male heir upon his death, his Austrian domains would go to his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa. However, when Charles died in 1740, Maria Theresa’s claim was ignored by Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria, Augustus III of Saxony and Poland, and Philip V of Spain, igniting a general European war. The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle brought the war to an end and upheld the Pragmatic Sanction.