Page:Gregor The story of Bohemia.pdf/450

 During the peasant war the fields, as a matter of course, were neglected, which brought on a famine the following year (1681). The number of people dying was about 100,000, Prague alone losing a third of this number.

The year 1682 is notable as the time when the Turks were expelled from Hungary, where for so many years they had held much territory. The successful issue of this war was mostly due to the heroic efforts of John Sobieski, the King of Poland.

During the reign of Leopold commenced the war of the Spanish Succession; but this did not affect Bohemia any further than that she was obliged to furnish her quota of troops and pay heavier taxes.

Leopold died in 1705, after a reign of forty-eight years, and his oldest son Joseph became emperor, as Joseph I.

Joseph was a man endowed with uncommon gifts of mind; and no sooner had he assumed the government than he began to prepare to introduce into the country many needed reforms. He appointed various committees to investigate the condition of the different departments of the government, and to make such suggestions as they deemed necessary for their improvement.

The war of the Spanish Succession going on, and Joseph, wishing to be better able to aid his brother Charles, sought by various methods to win the favor of the German princes. Among the concessions granted them was one bearing directly upon Bohemia. This kingdom, like the German States, was to furnish its part of taxation for the support of the Imperial government,