This study examines the question of the beginnings of modern conservative thought and politics in the Austrian monarchy at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The author calls this period a "prelude" to conservatism and explains this as a largely natural response to the dynamic reforms during the reign of Joseph II, which virtually replaced revolution in the Austrian setting. She focuses first on the actual term "conservatism" and then considers the role of the monarch, the church and Romantic nationalism.