Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/34

20 Czechs were disarmed; it only remained to legalise their subjugation. The New Constitution of Ferdinand II. had allowed the unity of the Czech lands to exist as a national, independent body, but the successors of Ferdinand practically succeeded in depriving them of the last remnant of their ancient independence.

By the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles VI. began definitely to assure to his dynasty the succession to the throne of Bohemia.

Then came Maria Theresa, who struck the final blow to the Czech State.

With the accession of Maria Theresa and Joseph II., the secular policy of the Habsburgs entered a new phase. Weakened by the extinction of the Spanish branch of the House, and by the failure of the Austrian dynasty to assure to itself the succession to the Spanish throne, eclipsed by the prestige of Louis XIV., threatened by the Turkish peril, and by the growing power and ambitious of the new Prussian State, the Habsburgs had to abandon their European policy and to adopt an exclusively Austrian one. Maria Theresa could no longer hope to enforce her policy on Europe; all she could do was to defend her throne. At her succession the absolutism of the government was at its height; the power of the Czech Estates was almost nil, and everything was ripe for complete centralisation.