Pax Austriaca

The term Pax Austriaca, sometimes Pax Habsburgica, has been used by scholars to describe the imperial ideology of the House of Habsburg, also known as House of Austria.^[1][2][3] The Archduke Frederick III is credited as the initiator of the ideology as he was the first Habsburg to be elected Holy Roman Emperor, and coined the motto A.E.I.O.U. (All the world is subject to Austria).^[4] His successor Emperor Maximilian I expanded Habsburg territories and did so with marriages rather than war, thus establishing the motto "Bella gerunt alii, tu felix Austria nube" ("let others wage war; you, happy Austria, marry").^[4] Charles V notably attempted to actually enforce the hegemonical peace in Europe.^[4] Further attempts to establish a Pax Habsburgica in Europe continued until the 30 years war.^[3] The Peace of Westphalia ended the universal aspirations of the Habsburg monarchy and put an end to the possibility of a Pax Austriaca, although the term has also been used to describe later policies of the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary.^[5]

Family portrait of Emperor Maximilian I and his family; with his son Philip the Fair, his wife Mary of Burgundy, his grandsons Ferdinand I and Charles V, and Louis II of Hungary (husband of his granddaughter Mary of Austria).