Franz Joseph I of Austria
If Greater Germany was to prevail, the crown would necessarily have to go to Franz Joseph, who had no desire to cede it in the first place to anyone else. On the other hand, if the idea of a smaller Germany won out, the German crown could of course not possibly go the Emperor of Austria, but would naturally be offered to the head of the largest and most powerful German state outside of Austria—the King of Prussia. The contest between the two ideas, quickly developed into a contest between Austria and Prussia. After Prussia decisively won the Seven Weeks War, this question was solved; Austria lost no territories as long as they remained out of German affairs.
Silesian Wars
Peace with Prussia allowed the Austrians and their British–Hanoverian allies to reverse the gains made by the French and Bavarians in 1741. By the summer of 1743, Austria recovered control of Bohemia, drove the French back across the Rhine into Alsace, and occupied Bavaria, exiling the Bavarian Elector Charles Albert (now crowned Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII) to Frankfurt. In September 1743, Britain, Austria and Savoy–Sardinia concluded a new alliance under the Treaty of Worms that led Frederick to suspect that Maria Theresa meant to retake Silesia as soon as the war elsewhere was concluded. So, on 7 August 1744 Prussia declared its intervention in the Austrian war on behalf of Bavarian Emperor Charles, and Frederick led soldiers across the frontier into Bohemia on 15 August 1744, beginning the Second Silesian War.