The Impact of the Rákóczi Rebellion on Habsburg Strategy: Incentives and Opportunity Costs

Abstract

The emperor’s preoccupation with the Hungarian Rákóczi rebellion close to home, rather than with fighting Louis XIV more effectively, was often cited as a reason for the break-up of the alliance between the Habsburgs and the Protestant sea-powers towards the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Yet, with the possible exception of the one campaign in 1705, the Habsburgs never wavered in their determination to accord priority to the war with France. When they finally did send more troops into Hungary after 1708, cavalry in particular, the opportunity costs were small - mainly because there were so few opportunities to exploit elsewhere: a few thousand hussars would not have made that much of a difference in Flanders.