WAR of THE austrian succession
A dynastic dispute in Austria eventually consumed All of europe during the 1740s in A protracted And confusing conflict that bolstered the rising power of prussia
The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48) was a series of related wars, two of which directly developed from the death of the Austrian Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. The accession of Charles’s daughter Maria Theresa as Holy Roman Empress was disputed by neighbouring powers over whether a woman should become head of the House of Habsburg, and in 1740 Frederick II of Prussia invaded Habsburg Silesia.
Today this would be a monstrously sexist act, but this was of no concern to the European powers of the 1740s, who promptly started making alliances or declaring war to suit their own political ends. Eventually the war would pit Austria, Britain, the Dutch Republic and Russia against France, Prussia, Spain, Bavaria and Saxony and would even spread to the Americas and the Indian Ocean.
Britain joined the war with Austria largely out of a fear of French domination of Europe. Although there was a victory at Dettingen, Cumberland’s defeat at Fontenoy and the Jacobite Rebellion saw a diminished British role in the war. The French occupied the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium) but it was the Prussians who gained the most from the war.
Frederick II won significant victories at the Battles of Hohenfriedburg and Soor, which enabled the Prussian occupation of Silesia and secured his reputation as ‘Frederick the Great’. Prussia ensured that Maria Theresa’s husband Francis became Holy Roman Emperor. By the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-chapelle in October 1748 every power was obliged to restore any captured lands to the orignal owner, except for the Prussians, who held on to their Silesian conquests. This made the Kingdom of Prussia the only true winner of the war.