The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

ministration of the Crown War Council and the Court Chancellery in Vienna, while the remaining part was brought under the jurisdiction of the Hungarian magnates.

Owing to the prolonged wars and the despotic régime strictly applied to all Austrian provinces, dissatisfaction became general and an armed revolution broke out in Hungary, just at the moment when Austria was engaged in a new war with France over the Spanish succession. The Hungarian leader, Rakoczy II, invited the Serbians to side with him. But the old and experienced Patriarch Carnoevié remained faithful to the Hapsburgs, placing all the Serbian forces at the disposal of the dynasty. With special fury the Magyars turned against the Serbians who in this revolution lost about 100,000 men, but contributed effectively to the final victory of the Imperial army. The Serbian merits were recognised by a fresh confirmation of their privileges in 1706 by the Emperor Joseph I the son and suecessor of Leopold I.

But all this was quickly forgotten, and in 1713 the Emperor Charles VI tried to limit the privileges greatly. But they were again confirmed by him in 1715 on the eve of a fresh war against Turkey which broke out in 1716.

When the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, at the very outset of her reign, encountered the open hostility of Prussia, France and Bavaria, she endeavoured to reconcile the Magyars by

63