s resigned
the whole of his Austrian possessions, and to Austrian affairs he gave
throughout his reign but scant attention. Ferdinand, in turn, devoted
himself principally to warfare with the Turks and to an attempt to
secure the sovereignty of Hungary. His efforts met with a measure of
success and there resulted that affiliation of Austria and Hungary
which, though varying greatly from period to period in strength and in
effect, has been maintained to the present day. During a century
succeeding Ferdinand's accession to the Imperial throne in 1556, the
affairs of Austria were inextricably intertwined with those of the
Empire, and it was only with the virtual disintegration of the Empire
in consequence of the Thirty Years' War that the Hapsburg sovereigns
fell back upon the policy of devoting themselves more immediately to
the interests of their Austrian dominion.

The fruits of this policy were manifest during the long reign of
Leopold I., who ruled in Austria from 1655 to 1705 and was likewise
emperor during the last forty-eight years of this period. At the close
of a prolonged series of Turkish wars, the Peace of Karlowitz, January
26, 1699, added definitely to the Austrian dominion Slavonia,
Transylvania, and all Hungary save the banat of Temesvar, and thus
completed the edifice of the Austrian monarchy.[646] The period was
likewise one of internal consolidation. The Diet continued to be (p. 444)
summoned from time to time, but the powers of the crown were augmented
enormously, and it is to these years that scholars have traced the
origins of that thoroughgoing bureaucratic regime which, assuming more
definite form under Maria Theresa, continued unimpaired until the
revolution of 1848. It was in the same period that the Austrian
standing army was established.

[Footnote 646: At the diet of Pressburg, in
1687-1688, the Hungarian crown had been declared
hereditary in the house of Hapsburg, and the
Austrian heir, Joseph, had been crowned hereditary
king. In 1697 Transylvania was united to the
Hungarian monarchy. The banat of Temesvar was
acquired by the Hapsburgs in 1718. The term "banat"
denotes a border district, or march.]

*489. Development of Autocracy Under Maria Theresa, 1740-1780.*--The
principal threads in Austrian history in the eighteenth century are
th