Dispute between the Austrian Habsburg monarchy and an alliance of Saxony and Prussia
The last major cabinet war of the Ancien Régime, resolved diplomatically after minimal combat, reshaping Central European succession politics.
Key Facts
- Duration
- 3 July 1778 – 13 May 1779
- Resolved by
- Treaty of Teschen, 13 May 1779
- Nickname (Prussia/Saxony)
- Kartoffelkrieg (Potato War)
- Nickname (Habsburg Austria)
- Zwetschgenrummel (Plum Fuss)
- Trigger event
- Death of Maximilian III Joseph, 30 December 1777
- Russian threat
- Catherine the Great offered 50,000 troops to Prussia
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The death of Maximilian III Joseph without heirs in December 1777 ended the junior Wittelsbach line. Emperor Joseph II of Austria sought to partition Bavaria with Charles Theodore, ignoring the legitimate claim of heir presumptive Charles II August of Zweibrücken, alarming Prussia, Saxony, and other powers concerned about Habsburg expansion in Central Europe.
Austria and an alliance of Prussia and Saxony mobilized large armies across the Bohemian frontier in 1778. Despite the massive troop deployments, actual combat was limited to a few minor engagements. Thousands of soldiers died from disease and starvation rather than battle wounds, while diplomats simultaneously worked to resolve the succession dispute through negotiation.
The conflict ended with the Treaty of Teschen on 13 May 1779, brokered partly through Russian pressure from Empress Catherine the Great. Austria received only a small strip of Bavarian territory, and the Zweibrücken line's succession rights were recognized. The war is considered the last major old-style cabinet war before the transformative conflicts of the French Revolutionary era.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Emperor Joseph II.
Side B
2 belligerents
King Frederick the Great, Elector Frederick August III of Saxony.