Austro-Italian ironclad arms race
Austria's defeat in the Seven Weeks War forced Austria to determine a new set of foreign and domestic policies for the future, as Austria's interests since the days of the Holy Roman Empire had primarily been found in Italy and Germany. The Empire thus reformed itself into the Austria-Hungarian Empire following the adoption of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (German: "Ausgleich"), which re-established the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Hungary and placed Hungarians within the Empire on an equal footing with Austrians. Under the "Ausgleich", Emperor Franz Joseph I would be crowned as King of Hungary, while a separate parliament at Pest with powers to enact laws for the lands of the Holy Crown of Hungary would be established.
Austro-Hungarian Navy
By the time the Seven Years' War began in 1756, Austria still lacked a proper navy. English pirates and privateers, as well as Barbary corsairs severely hampered Austria's merchant marine, to the point that most of Austria's sea trade had to be conducted in foreign ships. The lack of any naval force to protect Austria's shipping led Count Kaunitz to push for the creation of a small force of frigates to protect the Adriatic Sea. However, the Seven Years' War forced Vienna to pay much more attention to Austria's land border with Prussia and its coastline along the Adriatic Sea, preventing Kaunitz's program from achieving success.