ni's guidance had occupied Sardinia and Sicily. On the
2nd of August 1718, accordingly, Charles joined the Triple Alliance,
henceforth the Quadruple Alliance. The coercion of Spain resulted in a
peace by which Charles obtained Sicily in exchange for Sardinia. The
shifting of the balance of power that followed belongs to the history of
Europe (_q.v._); for Austria the only important outcome was that in 1731
Charles found himself isolated. [Sidenote: The Pragmatic Sanction.] Being
without a son, he was now anxious to secure the throne for his daughter
Maria Theresa, in accordance with the Pragmatic Sanction of the 19th of
April 1713, in which he had pronounced the indivisibility of the monarchy,
and had settled the succession on his daughter, in default of a male heir.
It now became his object to secure the adhesion of the powers to this
instrument. In 1731 Great Britain and Holland agreed to respect it, in
return for the cession of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla to Don Carlos; but
the hostility of the Bourbon powers continued, resulting in 1733 in the War
of Polish Succession, the outcome of which was the acquisition of Lorraine
by France, and of Naples, Sicily and the Tuscan ports by Don Carlos, while
the power of the Habsburg monarchy in northern Italy was strengthened by
the acquisition of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. At the same time Spain
and Sardinia adhered to the Pragmatic Sanction. Francis, the dispossessed
duke of Lorraine, was to be compensated with Tuscany. On the 12th of
February 1736 he was married to the archduchess Maria Theresa, and on the
11th of May following he signed the formal act ceding Lorraine to France.

[Sidenote: Treaty of Belgrade, 1739.]

The last years of Charles VI. were embittered by the disastrous outcome of
the war with Turkey (1738-1739), on which he had felt compelled to embark
in accordance with the terms of a treaty of alliance with Russia signed in
1726. After a campaign of varying fortunes the Turks beat the imperial
troops at Krotzka on the 23rd of July 1739 and laid siege to Belgrade,
where on the 1st of September a treaty was signed, which, with the
exception of the banat, surrendered everything that Austria had gained by
the treaty of Passarowitz. On the 20th of October 1740, Charles died,
leaving his dominions in no condition to resist the attacks of the powers,
which, in spite of having adhered to the Pragmatic Sanction, now sought to
profit from their weakness. Yet for thei