ABSTRACT
With the deaths of Joseph and Leopold and the exile of Stanislas Augustus, the first phase of modernization had come to an end. But events originating in revolutionary France were soon to show that the check was only temporary. In 1792 the French declared war on Austria and Prussia; where Enlightenment had penetrated fitfully through books, liberty, equality and fraternity were to be spread by force of arms. Even if it wished, Eastern Europe could no longer remain aloof from the ideological tussles of the West.
