Joseph II

Introduction
Early years
Domestic reforms
Failure in foreign affairs
Legacy

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Images

Portrait painting of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, wearing a black and red military coat with medals and a sash, with St. Peter's Basilica visible in the background.

At a Glance

Joseph II summary

Quizzes

Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon in Coronation Robes or Napoleon I Emperor of France, 1804 by Baron Francois Gerard or Baron Francois-Pascal-Simon Gerard, from the Musee National, Chateau de Versailles.

Kings and Emperors (Part III) Quiz

Related Questions

How did Enlightenment ideas influence Joseph II’s policies?
How did Joseph II change censorship and freedom of the press?
How did Joseph II change the University of Vienna?
How did Joseph II change the constitution of the Austrian Netherlands in 1787?
How did Joseph II change the lives of peasants in 1781?
How did Joseph II protect peasants who appealed against their lords?
How did Joseph II separate the judiciary from the executive branch of government?
How did Joseph II support the Burgtheater in Vienna?
How did Joseph II try to make the Habsburg government more centralized?
How did Joseph II’s Edict of Toleration change religious life in the Habsburg lands?
How did Joseph II’s monastic reforms affect art and religious buildings?
How did Joseph II’s relationship with Maria Theresa affect his early political role?
How did Pope Pius VI respond to Joseph II’s church reforms?
How did public health care develop in Vienna during the reigns of Maria Theresa and Joseph II?
How did smallpox affect Joseph II’s two marriages?
What did Austria gain under the Treaty of Teschen in 1779?
What happened during the War of the Bavarian Succession?
What happened to Joseph II during the Austrian campaign against the Ottoman Empire in 1788?
When did Joseph II rule as Holy Roman emperor?
Which parts of the Habsburg monarchy did Joseph II govern?
Who succeeded Joseph II after his death in 1790?
Who was Joseph II’s first wife, Isabella of Parma?
Who were Joseph II’s parents?
Why did Frederick the Great oppose Joseph II’s plan to acquire Bavaria?
Why did Joseph II become sole ruler of the Habsburg dominions in 1780?
Why did Joseph II dissolve hundreds of monasteries?
Why did Joseph II establish national training colleges for Catholic priests?
Why did Joseph II limit the power of the Roman Catholic bishops?
Why did Joseph II make German the official language of government in Hungary?
Why did Joseph II move the Hungarian crown to Vienna?
Why did Joseph II reimpose censorship after initially relaxing it?
Why did Joseph II revoke many of his Hungarian reforms in January 1790?
Why did Joseph II’s reforms meet strong resistance across the Habsburg monarchy?
Why did Maria Theresa retain most political power while Joseph II was her co-regent?
Why did many Hungarians resist Joseph II’s language policy?
Why did the Austrian Netherlands revolt against Joseph II in 1789?
Why is Joseph II often described as an enlightened despot?
Why was the War of the Bavarian Succession called the Potato War?
What is Gustav Klimt’s most famous piece?
Does Oprah Winfrey own a painting by Gustav Klimt?
What was Joseph Haydn’s family like?
How was Joseph Haydn educated?
Who was Napoleon?
How did Napoleon become emperor of France?
What did Napoleon accomplish?
What happened to Napoleon?
Was Napoleon short?
Why is Franz Joseph important?

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External Websites

Linda hall Library - Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
University of Helsinki Open Repository - The Travels of Joseph II in Hungary, Transylvania, Slavonia and the Banat of Temesvar, 1768ï¿½1773

Joseph II

Holy Roman emperor

Written by

Reinhold F. Wagnleitner

Associate Professor of History, University of Salzburg, Austria. Author of Coca-colonization and the Cold War: The Cultural Mission of the United States in Austria After the Second World War.

Reinhold F. WagnleitnerAll

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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

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Last updated

Oct. 1, 2026 •History

Joseph II (born March 13, 1741, Vienna, Austria—died Feb. 20, 1790, Vienna) was the Holy Roman emperor (1765–90), at first coruler with his mother, Maria Theresa (1765–80), and then sole ruler (1780–90) of the Austrian Habsburg dominions. An “enlightened despot,” he sought to introduce administrative, legal, economic, and ecclesiastical reforms—with only measured success. Joseph, the eldest son of Maria Theresa and Francis Stephen of Lorraine (the future emperor Francis I), was strictly and thoroughly educated....

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