IMPERIAL WARS OF THE
TH
18 CENTURY
IMPERIAL WARS
E. TREATY OF RYSWICK (1697):. Louis recognized William III as king of
England, France kept Strasbourg and Louis' ''reunion'' acquisitions along the
Franco-German border, but gave up most of his post-l679 conquests. The
question of the succession to the Spanish throne remained a major issue in
European affairs, however and led directly to the War of the Spanish
Succession.
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IMPERIAL WARS
II. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (1701-1714): Last, longest, and
bloodiest of the wars of King Louis
A. CAUSES
1. Charles II of Spain: the last Spanish Habsburg king, died in 1700 without an
uncontested heir
2. Louis XIV and William III had drawn up treaties (1698, 1700) dividing the
inheritance of the sickly Charles between the leading claimants, the French
Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs. However the dying king bequeathed all
his territories to Philippe, duc d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. If Philippe
declined the inheritance, it would go to the Austrian archduke Charles (later
Emperor Charles VI), second son of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.
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3. Louis accepted the inheritance for his grandson,
who became Philip V of Spain, breaking the
partition agreement. By subsequently coordinating
the military, commercial, and political policies of
Spain and France, Louis upset the European power
balance. As a result, an anti-French alliance was
formed.
B. COMBATANTS: France, Spain, and Bavaria
faced a Grand Alliance of the Austrian. Habsburgs,
most German princes, the United Provinces,
Britain, and, after 1703, former French allies
Portugal and Savoy.
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C. WAR ON THE CONTINENT: French victories in southwest Germany offset
by Britain's seizure of Gibraltar and by the allied conquest of Bavaria. France
lost the Spanish Netherlands and all of Italy. Franco-Spanish success was
limited to Spain. Louis XIV faced with defeats a financial crisis, a crippling
winter, and the revolt of the Camisards (Huguenots of the Cevennes
Mountains), offered to renounce the Spanish inheritance but fought on when
Anglo-Dutch diplomats insisted that he drive his grandson from Spain. Fighting
continued until political events brought the war to an end. In Britain, the Whig
party was replaced by the pro-peace Tories. The deaths of all but two direct
descendants of Louis XIV (Philip V of Spain and the future Louis XV of France)
and of Emperor Leopold and his first son Joseph I (leaving Emperor Charles VI
as sole Austrian Habsburg) forced a compromise settlement of the Spanish
succession since none of the leading European powers would tolerate a union
of Austrian and Spanish domains.
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D. WAR IN THE AMERICAS: Called
Queen Anne's War, it consisted of
French & Indian raids against New
England, Spanish raids on Carolina
settlements. The English captured
Acadia and renamed it Nova Scotia.
English privateer Edward Teach would
turn to piracy after the war and terrorize
the coastal settlements of Virginia and
the Carolinas as Blackbeard until he was
finally killed on Nov. 22, 1718 during an
engagement with a force sent from
Virginia.
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E. PEACE OF UTRECHT
(17l3-14): Awarded Spain and
its colonies to Bourbon Philip v,
keeping France separate but
without significant territorial
losses. Britain emerged as the
great colonial, commercial, and
naval power in the world,
gaining Gibraltar, Minorca,
Hudson Bay, Nova Scotia,
Newfoundland, Saint Kitt's and
the sole right to the slave trade
with Spain's American
colonies. Austria acquired the
Spanish Netherlands Naples,
Milan, and Sardinia. This new
balance of power remained
until the War of the Austrian
Succession.
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III. WAR OF JENKINS’ EAR (17401744): Caused by commercial
rivalry between Britain and Spain,
named for the alleged mutilation of
an English sea captain by the
Spanish in 1739. Fighting took
place in the Caribbean and in
Georgia where James Oglethorpe
led Carolinians and Georgians
against Saint Augustine in 1740,
but had to abandon the siege after
several weeks. In 1742 he thwarted
a Spanish invasion of Georgia,
making the war in the south a
standoff. This war would merge
with the War of the Austrian
Succession in 1744.
IMPERIAL WARS
IV. WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
(1744-1748)
A. CAUSES
UNDERLYING: Competition between Prussia
and Austria in central Europe, long-standing
differences between Austria and France and a
worldwide struggle between England and
France for superiority in overseas trade and
colonial empire.
IMMEDIATE: On Oct. 20: 1740, emperor
Charles VI died without a male heir, and his
lands passed to a daughter, Maria Theresa, as
provided in the Pragmatic Sanction. Two
months later, Frederick II of Prussia invaded
Silesia, a province bordering Bohemia.
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B. COMBATANTS: Prussia, Bavaria, Spain,
France vs. Austria, Great
Britain, Netherlands.
C. WAR of THE CONTINENT: Initial Prussian
victories did not force Maria Theresa into
surrender. She countered a Franco-Bavarian
offensive by making a temporary truce with
Prussia. Aided by subsidies from England and
Holland she attacked her remaining enemies.
Austrian successes brought Prussia back into
the war in May 1742 and again in June 1744.
Victories by Frederick II in 1745 compelled
Maria Theresa to sign the Treaty of Dresden on
Dec. 25, 1745, reaffirming Prussian control of
Silesia. Fighting continued between the French
and English.
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D. WAR IN THE AMERICAS: Called King George's War, A New England army
captured the French fortress of Louisbourg from which French sea raiders had
preyed upon colonial shipping.
E. TREATY OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE (Oct- 18, 1748): Restored all the prewar
territorial arrangements in western Europe and the colonial sphere (Louisbourg
was returned to the French). In central Europe, however, Austria reluctantly
recognized Frederick II's annexation of Silesia. The wealth and population of
Silesia immediately elevated Prussia into the ranks of the great European
powers. However, Austria's determination to recover Silesia was a chief cause
of the second major European conflict, the SEVEN YEARS' WAR.
IMPERIAL WARS
V. SEVEN YEARS' WAR (1756-1763):
first of the imperial wars to begin in
America and spread to Europe. It was
an extension of the old disputes and
antagonisms that had caused the War
of the Austrian Succession. Prussia and
Austria renewed their contest for
possession of Silesia and for political
dominance in central Europe. At the
same time Britain and France continued
their long struggle for naval and colonial
supremacy.
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A. FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
(1754-1763): Colonial rivalry
erupted between the French and
the English in the Ohio Valley. The
French constructed Fort Duquesne
and defeated a young George
Washington at Fort Necessity in
July of 1754. The British
government in London, realizing
that the colonies by themselves
were unable to prevent the French
advance into the Ohio Valley, sent
a force of regulars under General
Edward Braddock to uphold the
British territorial claims.
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• In July 1755, Braddock's army was disastrously defeated as it approached
Fort Duquesne. With the majority of the Indians fighting on the side of the
French, the English did not need any other subversive activity so they
forcibly deported virtually the entire French peasant population of Nova
Scotia (Acadia) to increase the security of that province. But it was not until
May 1756, nearly two years after the outbreak of hostilities on the Virginia
frontier, that Britain declared war on France.
IMPERIAL
WARS
WAR ON THE CONTINENT
1. COMBATANTS: Britain and Prussia against
Austria, France, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and
(after 1762) Spain.
2. BATTLES: Hostilities began on Aug. 29, 1756,
when Frederick II of Prussia, anticipating an
assault from Maria Theresa of Austria and
Elizabeth of Russia, launched a surprise offensive.
However he was not able to end the war quickly
and found himself at a disadvantage against those
allied against him while receiving little aid from the
British who paid him financial subsidies and
maintained an army in northwestern Germany to
shield Hanover, a possession of the British king,
from French attack. He suffered the worst defeat of
his entire career against the Russians at
Kunersdorf on Aug. 12, 1759. By the end of 1761
the Austrians had moved into Saxony and Silesia,
and Russian troops held Prussian Pomerania
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3. LUCKY BREAK: At this critical moment the
Russian empress died (January 1762) and was
succeeded by Peter III, one of Frederick's devoted
admirers. Peter immediately withdrew from the war,
and Austria, unable to defeat Prussia alone, was
compelled to end the fighting in Germany.
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C. WAR IN THE AMERICAS: Under
effective generalship of the marquis de
Montcalm, New France enjoyed victory
after victory. But William Pitt (the Elder),
Britain's new prime minister had adopted
a policy of drastically increasing aid to
the American colonies, and he was able
to do so because the Royal Navy kept
the sea-lanes open.
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• France, in contrast, found itself unable to maintain largescale support of its colonies. As a result, by 1758, the
period of French ascendancy was coming to an end. The
British, employing increasing numbers of regulars,
sometimes in conjunction with provincial troops, began
gaining important victories. Winning a stunning victory
against the French at Quebec on the Plains of Abraham,
at the cost of the lives of both Montcalm and the British
commander James Wolfe, the British completed the
conquest of Canada with a successful offensive against
Montreal. By the end of 1760, French resistance in North
America had virtually ceased.
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D. TREATY OF PARIS (Feb. 10, 1763):
1) Britain gained all of North America east of the Mississippi River, including
Canada and Florida.
2) Spain got the Louisiana Territory from France;
3) French were excluded from India which gave England dominance;
4) France gave Senegal (Africa) to England. This treaty marked Britain's
emergence as the world's leading colonial power.