īy the beginning of 1759 neither alliance had the advantage, in either the land or sea campaigns. France supported Austria and Russia in a land campaign against Prussia, and launched what she saw as her main effort in a maritime and colonial offensive against Great Britain. The invasion of Saxony by Prussian troops, in August 1756, triggered what was later known as the Seven Years' War. By 1755 Britain and France were fighting an undeclared war at sea and on the Indian frontier of North America for example: in May, 2,000 British soldiers invaded French North America in June, the Royal Navy captured nearly 300 French fishing vessels off Newfoundland and their 4,000 crew, both hitting France economically and reducing the French navy's potential recruitment pool of experienced seamen. In reaction, Prussia, which had emerged from the war as a newly significant European power, allied with her previous enemy, Great Britain. France was prepared to ally with her historic enemy because this would, the Conseil du Roi thought, allow her to concentrate her efforts against Great Britain in a future war. This led Austria to an historic rapprochement with France. Frustrated by the loss of Silesia to the Kingdom of Prussia, Maria Theresa of Austria looked for an alliance which would enable her to recover it. All of its signatories considered it unsatisfactory in France "as stupid as the peace" became a catch phrase. The War of the Austrian Succession ended in 1748 with the Peace of Aachen.
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