ABSTRACT
The various territories under the sovereignty of the Austrian Habsburgs belonged to a personal union that almost resembled a confederation of states. The privileged classes in every Habsburg dominion consisted of a relatively small group of aristocratic families, who were even able to control central government because they also sat in the state councils. The nobleman of the Habsburg Empire was not only a rentier, but was also often an entrepreneur, who earned money exploiting the land and supplying the army. The reorganisation of the economy implemented between 1740 and 1790 by Maria Theresa and Joseph II in the Habsburg dominions was part of a wider plan to strengthen the Empire as a whole. The ambitious Habsburg programme of mobilising society to encourage production and enterprise, consolidate the integration of internal markets, and develop technology and industry actually achieved important results, considering the initial conditions in the Empire.
