Editing Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

===Foreign policy===
[[File:II. Jozsef es katonai 1787-ben.JPG|thumb|Joseph II and his soldiers in 1787]]

The Habsburg Empire also had a policy of war, expansion, colonization and trade as well as exporting intellectual influences. While opposing Prussia and Turkey, Austria maintained its defensive [[Franco-Austrian Alliance|alliance with France]] and was friendly to Russia though trying to remove the [[Danubian Principalities]] from Russian influence. Mayer argues that Joseph was an excessively belligerent, expansionist leader, who sought to make the Habsburg monarchy the greatest of the European powers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mayer |first=Matthew Z. |year=2004 |title=The Price for Austria's Security: Part I – Joseph II, the Russian Alliance, and the Ottoman War, 1787–1789 |journal=[[International History Review]] |volume=26 |issue=2 |pages=257–299 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2004.9641031 |jstor=40109472|s2cid=153786907 }}</ref> His main goal was to acquire Bavaria, if necessary in exchange for the [[Austrian Netherlands]], but in 1778 and again in 1785 he was thwarted by King Frederick II of Prussia, whom he feared greatly; on the second occasion, a number of other German princes, wary of Joseph's designs on their lands, joined Frederick's side.<ref>Jeremy Black, ''From Louis XIV to Napoleon: the fate of a great power'' p. 136</ref>

Joseph's travels through Russia in 1780 included a visit with the Russian empress Catherine, which started talks that would later lead to the [[Austro-Russian Alliance (1781)]], including an offensive clause to be used against the Ottomans. This was a significant diplomatic development, as it neutralised the previous Russian-Prussian alliance which had threatened the monarchy into peace during the War of the Bavarian Succession. The agreement with Russia would later lead Austria into the expensive and largely futile [[Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791)]].<ref>Stanford J. Shaw, ''History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey'' (1976) Volume 1 p. 259</ref> Joseph II travelled with only a few servants on horseback as "Count Falkenstein". He preferred to stop at a regular inn—forcing Catherine II to convert a wing of her palace, cajoling her gardener to act as inn-keeper.<ref>Catherine the Great Robert K Massie</ref>
[[File:Calafat iulie 1790 1305816656828128.jpg|thumb|Clash between Austrian and Turkish troops during the [[Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791)|Austro-Turkish War]], 1790]]
Joseph's participation in the Ottoman war was reluctant, attributable not to his usual acquisitiveness, but rather to his close ties to Russia, which he saw as the necessary price to be paid for the security of his people.<ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Mayer |first=Matthew Z. |title=Joseph II and the campaign of 1788 against the Ottoman Turks |publisher=[[McGill University]] |url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp01/MQ37222.pdf |oclc=46579421 |type=MA |year=1997}}</ref> After initial defeats, the Austrians won a string of victories in 1789, including the [[Siege of Belgrade (1789)|capture of Belgrade]], a key Turkish fortress in the Balkans. These victories however would not amount to any significant gains for the monarchy. Under the threat of Prussian intervention and with the worrying state of the revolution in France, the [[Treaty of Sistova]] of 1791 ended the war with only token gains.

The Balkan policy of both Maria Theresa and Joseph II reflected the [[Cameralism]] promoted by Prince Kaunitz, stressing consolidation of the borderlands by reorganization and expansion of the [[Military Frontier]]. [[Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)|Transylvania]] was incorporated into the frontier in 1761 and the frontier regiments became the backbone of the military order, with the regimental commander exercising military and civilian power. "Populationistik" was the prevailing theory of colonization, which measured prosperity in terms of labor. Joseph II also stressed economic development. Habsburg influence was an essential factor in Balkan development in the last half of the 18th century, especially for the Serbs and Croats.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Piaschka |first=Richard |year=1975 |title=Austrian Policy towards the Balkans in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: Maria Theresa and Josef II |journal=East European Quarterly |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=471–478}}</ref>