The First Silesian War The First Silesian War inaugurated, and is generally seen in the context of, the wider ranging War of the Austrian Succession. It owed its origins to the Pragmatic Sanction of 19 April 1713 whereby the Habsburg emperor Charles VI decreed the imperial succession arrangements as set out in his will, according precedence to his own daughters over the daughters of his (by now deceased) elder brother Joseph I. This proved prescient: in May 1717 the emperor’s own eldest daughter was born and on his death in 1740, she duly succeeded as Archduchess of Austria as well as to the thrones of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within the Habsburg Monarchy as Queen Maria Theresa. During the emperor’s lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction …show more content…
The Bohemian king Ferdinand of Habsburg, aware of the Hohenzollern ambitions, had immediately rejected the agreement; nevertheless, in 1675 the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg raised claim to the principalities, when with the death of Duke George William of Legnica the Piast line finally had died out. At that time no attempt had been made to implement these old treaty provisions, and when in the course of the 1685 Edict of Potsdam the Elector entered into an alliance with the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, he was persuaded to renounce his claims in return for the assignment of the Silesian Świebodzin (Schwiebus) exclave and a payment. However, after the accession of Frederick William's son and successor Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg, the emperor in 1695 enforced the restitution of Świebodzin, which allegedly only had been personally assigned to late Frederick William for life. Furious Frederick III in turn again insisted on the centuries-old Brandenburg claims to the Silesian …show more content…
King Frederick II was supported by the electorates of Bavaria, Saxony, and Cologne, as well as by the kingdoms of France, Spain, Sweden, and Naples along with various smaller European powers. The shared objective within the alliance was the destruction or at least the diminution of the Habsburg Monarchy and of its dominant influence over the other German states. The Habsburgs found themselves supported by the Russian Empire along with the maritime powers, the Dutch and the British (in personal union with the Electorate of Hanover), whose imperial aspirations beyond Europe always inclined them to join available eighteenth-century European wars on the anti-French side. Britain and Austria were bound by the Anglo-Austrian Alliance, which had existed since
Before Frederick took charge Prussia was not a country. It was broken into separate territories. France and England had become very powerful in the 1600's and Prussia felt endangered. Frederick's father Frederick the I was the elector of Prussia. When Frederick came to power his goal was to make Prussia a country. He believed that good government was rational but also authoritarian. Frederick was the first modern organizer. He put most of the country's wealth intro the military. He believed that the key to a country's wealth was through its military. 80% of Prussia's income went to the military. Prussia selected people for the military through the draft. Eventually Frederick died and left the kingdom to his son. Frederick the great was left with a 72,000 person military. This was a great deal of people for such a little country. Prussia only had 2,000,000 people.
In document 3 Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, writes a letter to Maria Antonia, a German ally. She writes about how their mutual enemy, King Frederick of Prussia is at full strength and he will attack. As an empress Maria Theresa writes out of fear for her country and her allies. She says that she had hoped to move troops back into the territory that Frederick seized. Having to play defense and not being able to expand was a major hurdle for Austria. Looking at this from the other side, document 4 is a letter from King Frederick of Prussia to his foreign minister after experiencing a series of defeats by the Austrians. In this letter he addresses Prussia’s need to become allies with the Ottoman Turks. He also says that it may be time to start peace negotiations. As the leader of Prussia he is frantic and nervous. This shows not only the difficulty of fighting against other strong European powers but also how dangerous it is to rely on allies. An additional type of document that could provide further information would be a letter from Saxony, the German state and ally of Austria. This could provide further insight as to what was going on Often times the biggest obstacles in the way of Europeans struggling for power was other Europeans struggling for
The seventeenth century was undeniably a period of great division, war and turmoil for Hungary. After the events of the previous century, Hungary remained divided into three distinct areas. The largest was Ottoman Hungary, under the direct control of Constantinople, which encompassed the south and south-east of Hungary. Second, there was the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom founded by János Zápolyai in 1526, who after the defeat of the Hungarian forces at the First Battle of Mohács sought the support of Sultan Suleiman I to be crowned King of Hungary by a rival faction of the nobility and became the Sultan’s vassal. After 1571, with the coronation of István Báthory, this Kingdom became the Principality of Transylvania which was semi-autonomous with Habsburgs and Ottomans vying for control. Lastly there was Royal Hungary, the only part of Hungary still under Habsburg control in this period. It consisted of the western and north-western areas that had been secured by Ferdinand I after being declared King of Hungary by the pro-Habsburg part of the noblity in 1526. This division remained the status quo into the seventeenth century. In this essay, it will be argued that due to this division the Habsburgs found it impossible to consolidate power in Hungary as well as a variety of other factors such as, confessional divisions in Hungary opposed to the Catholic dynasty, Habsburg priorities resting in religious conflict in Germany and securing influence in the Mediterranean from Ottoman and French fleets, Habsburg involvement in the Thirty Years War and the revived Franco-Ottoman Alliance. All these factors together ensured that the Habsburg would not gain control of Hungary until 1699.
The German confederation backed Austria so Bismarck had what he wanted an excuse
Early in the 17th century, Ferdinand I ascended to the throne of the Habsburg, Austrian Empire. Ferdinand was a devout Catholic and his subjects in his Bohemian territory believed that the right to practice Protestantism, granted to them by...
The main driving force behind Peter I’s consolidation of power and reformation of Russia was the goal of ultimately enhancing military efficiency, allowing Russia to become a world power. Throughout his reign, war raged on and became a huge part of daily life. Compulsory lifetime military
Britain obtained Prussia as her ally, but you might ask, why? Surely you can’t fuel Frederick’s massive army any more? Pitt the Elder argued though that while true...
Peter the Great had many goals during the time he ruled. One of his biggest goals was to modernize and westernize Russia. The main reason Peter the Great modernized Russia was because he did not want the country he ruled to be left vulnerable to expansionist powers in Europe. The powers were constantly at war, fighting to take over each other’...
Political structure at that time led to Bismarck's success in war. With the untimely death of the Danish King, Christian VII, both Schleswig and Holstein refused to recognize the dynastic succession of the Danish King Frederick VII and appealed to the Frankfurt Assembly for recognition of Schleswig-Holstein as an independent German state, free from the Danish crown (doc2). With the declaration of an all-German war on the Kingdom of Denmark by the Frankfurt Assembly, Prussia immediately prepared a small military force to fight for the independence of Schleswig and Holstein (docs3,4). Prussia's aid proved victorious with the Danish defenses easily besieged (doc5). The English heard about the success of Prussia and of their preparations for an invasion of Jutland.
There was a long-standing rivalry between Austria-Hungary and Russia due to their interests in the Balkans. Russia saw her role as leading and supporting her fellow Slav peoples in the Balkans. This Pan-Slav concept provided an ideal excuse to interfere in the Balkans and to extend Russia's influence towards the Eastern Mediterranean. Ideally Russia wished to open the Dardenelles straits to its warships. Austria-Hungary was concerned that this Russian encouragement of nationalism may threaten her borders and inspire nationalism within her own empire. In turn, Germany recognised that as Austria's closest ally her fate was linked with that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Austria-Hungary was anxious to prevent Russian encroachment in the Balkans. This aim would be best served by the elimination of Serbia, Russia's Balkan ally. In 1878, Russia was humiliated at the Congress of Berlin when her proposal for a Greater Bulgarian state was rejected and Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia to maintain order amongst the nationalist revolts.
He brought in the Carlsbad Decree, banning the teaching of nationalism and liberalism. Lecturers were expelled for teaching nationalism and students were not allowed to talk about liberal and nationalist ideas. On the other hand, the second most powerful Germanic state, Prussia was open to the idea of liberalism and nationalism. Prussia welcomed the idea of one German nation. Other states grew closer to Prussia and an economic union called Zollverein was created that did included Austria in it. This economic union allowed Prussia to improve its economic situation and its military. An attempt to unify Germany was made in 1848, which ended up in a partial failure. The 1848 attempt made it clear that the German’s wanted Germany without Austria. The attempt was partially a failure because Prussian king did not take the title of German Emperor since the commoners were giving it and it made the Prussian King feel
In 1812, it was a different story, the French invaded Russia. It led to a change of fates.
...n Italy’s support by promising Venetia and gained Russia’s assurance that they would stay neutral. Prussia was well prepared for war, with three Prussian armies swept Bohemia, and the battle of Sadowa, Austria suffered defeat.
Frederick II, the Great, overcame the resource limitations within Prussia by mastering three aspects of the western way of war: the ability to finance war, possessing a highly disciplined military, and an aggressive mindset toward achieving quick decisive victory, which established Prussia as a major European power. Frederick II accomplished this feat while being surrounded by powerful neighbors that possessed larger populations, armies, and financial excess. His initial assessment on the state of his Prussian inheritance from his personal writings follows:
The Franco-Prussian war was waged between France and Prussia with a coalition of German States from July 15, 1870 to February 1, 1871. Prussian leadership of the German states had been confirmed after Prussia’s defeat of Austria in the Seven Weeks’ War in 1866. This threatened France’s position as the dominant power in Europe. The candidacy of Prince Leopold, for the Spanish throne, was one of the immediate causes of the Franco-Prussian war. It was Otto von Bismarck, the Prussian chancellor, and Spain’s de facto leader, Juan Prim who persuaded a very reluctant Leopold to accept the Spanish throne in June 1870. This move was alarming for France, the possible combination of Prussia and Spain directed against it was threatening. Leopold’s candidacy was withdrawn under French diplomatic pressure. The French ambassador demanded them to promise that Leopold would never again be allowed to be a candidate for the Spanish throne, something King William I politely declined. A telegram describing this incident was sent to Bismarck. In which he edited the original description and on July 14 he ...