Legacy of Joseph II

Joseph and his reign have generated much discussion among historians. Generally, he is presented as the representative enlightened absolutist—that is to say, the most typical of those 18th-century monarchs who applied the principles of the philosophical movement known as the Enlightenment to the problems of government and society. In his religious reforms, he endorsed the principles that a person’s beliefs are his own business and that no one should be compelled to worship in ways that violate his conscience. In his social reforms, he sought the greatest good for the greatest number and so tried to alleviate the plight of the peasantry and foster prosperity for all. In his administrative reforms, he tried to rationalize government so that it could perform as effectively and sensibly as possible, and he sought to achieve not only equal treatment for his subjects but equal opportunity as well.

But many scholars dispute these claims. They argue that Joseph fostered freedom of expression only when that expression did not criticize him; when it did, he introduced repression just as harsh as any other monarch of the time. His social and religious reforms were less concerned with creating a just society than with extracting the greatest amount of taxes and the greatest number of military recruits from his people in the most efficient manner possible. Prosperity in his mind was good only because it meant increased revenue for the state. Finally, they contend that his administrative reforms served primarily to level the cultural and historical differences among his crown lands without consideration for the traditions and customs of the people who populated them. The debate among scholars promoting these positions and their variations will continue for some time. It can be said, however, that Joseph’s legacy was profound in the monarchy’s later history. His policies set the tone for church-state relations from his reign onward, and his reforms in serf-lord relations alleviated the worst conditions in the countryside and would be completed by the final abolition of serfdom in 1848. Perhaps the one criticism that will stand in all schools is that Joseph tried to do too much too quickly and so died a deeply disappointed man.