Barium titanate is the most studied ferroelectric material serving as a lead-free alternative to nowadays commercially used piezoceramics. The drawback of all alternative materials is their relatively low piezoelectricity accompanied by brittleness and low strength. The contribution is focused on the relationship between microstructure and fracture behaviour of barium titanate and its composites with a focus on the behaviour in the vicinity of the Curie temperature where a dramatic change in elastic properties for pure barium titanate is reported, but the fracture behaviour was not examined in detail. The microstructure and elastic behaviour can be related to this change in fracture behaviour.