Treaty of Teschen

Treaty of Teschen

Friede von Teschen
Map of the Innviertel, 1779
Signed	13 May 1779
Location	Teschen (Cieszyn)
Effective	28 February 1780
Condition	Ratification by the Empire
Signatories	Habsburg Monarchy  Kingdom of Prussia
Languages	French

The Treaty of Teschen (German: Frieden von Teschen, i.e., Peace of Teschen) was signed on 13 May 1779 in Teschen, Austrian Silesia, between the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy and the Kingdom of Prussia, which officially ended the War of the Bavarian Succession.

When the childless Wittelsbach elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria died in 1777, the Habsburg emperor Joseph II sought to acquire most of the Electorate of Bavaria and the Upper Palatinate, referring to his marriage with the late elector's sister, Maria Josepha, who had died in 1767.

Maximilian's direct heir was his cousin Count Palatine and Prince-Elector Charles Theodore (1724–1799), by prior succession agreements between the Bavarian and Palatinate branches of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Charles Theodore was amenable to an agreement with Emperor Joseph II that would allow him to acquire parts of the Austrian Netherlands in exchange for parts of his Bavarian inheritance. From 16 January 1778 Austrian troops moved into the Lower Bavarian lands of Straubing. Ultimately, both parties envisioned a wholesale exchange of the Bavarian lands for the Austrian Netherlands, but the final details were never concluded by treaty due to outside intervention.

Because Charles Theodore too had no legitimate heirs so his successor would be his Palatine cousin, Duke Charles II August of Zweibrücken (1746–1795). Charles August objected to the agreement depriving him of the Bavarian inheritance and appealed to the Imperial Diet in Regensburg. His cause was taken up by the Prussian king Frederick the Great, who refused any increase in Austrian territory, and by Saxony, whose Wettin electoral house was married into the Wittelsbach family and therefore had allodial claims to parts of the inheritance.