The Turks are driven from the walls of Vienna by the Polish king John Sobieski, in what proves a historic turning point

The Hungarian diet grants the Habsburg dynasty in Austria a hereditary right to the crown of St Stephen

The War of the Spanish Succession breaks out between French and Austrian claimants to the Spanish throne

The emperor Charles VI issues a Pragmatic Sanction, declaring that the remaining Habsburg empire can be inherited through the female line

The treaties signed in Utrecht bring to an end the War of the Spanish Succession

In the aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish Netherlands are transferred to Austria

The Habsburg emperor Charles VI has a son, but the child dies within the year

The Austrian emperor, Charles VI, agrees that Hungary shall be ruled as a separate kingdom within his empire

In the Treaty of Vienna, France accepts the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI – the last of the European powers to do so

The Habsburg emperor Charles VI dies and is succeeded by his elder daughter, the 23-year-old Maria Theresa

Frederick II, the king of Prussia, invades the neighbouring Habsburg province of Silesia, launching the War of the Austrian Succession

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession, but only postpones the continuation of hostilities (in the Seven Years' War)

In what becomes known as the Diplomatic Revolution, two of Europe's long-standing rivals - France and Austria - sign a treaty of alliance

6-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart plays for the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa

The Treaty of Hubertusburg, between Prussia and Austria, increases the power of Prussia among the many separate states of Germany

Russia, Prussia and Austria agree a treaty enabling them to divide the spoils in the first partition of Poland

Joseph II passes an Edict of Toleration, for the first time allowing Protestant worship in Habsburg territories

The reforming emperor Joseph II emancipates the serfs in the Habsburg territories

The emperor Joseph II is reported to have told Mozart that his opera The Marriage of Figaro has 'too many notes'

Mozart's opera Così fan Tutte has its premiere in Vienna, in the court theatre of Joseph II

France declares war on the Austrian emperor, an event that plunges Europe into more than 20 years of conflict

Napoleon achieves the peace of Campo Formio, by which Austria cedes the Austrian Netherlands and northern Italy to France

By the Treaty of Campo Formio the free republic of Venice, created by Napoleon, is handed over to Austrian rule

Napoleon enters Vienna and then defeats an Austrian and Russian army at Austerlitz

Francis II formally brings to an end the 1000-year-old Holy Roman Empire, to keep it from the clutches of Napoleon