Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading

by George Park Fisher

CHAPTER IV. WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION; GROWTH OP THE POWER OF PRUSSIA: THE DESTRUCTION OF POLAND.

THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION.—On the death of Augustus II., there were two competitors for the Polish crown,—his son, Augustus III. of Saxony, and Stanislaus Lesczinski whom France supported. After a contest, by the consent of the Emperor Charles VI., Lesczinski, whose daughter had married Louis XV., obtained the duchy of Lorraine, which thus became a possession of France (1735). In return, the emperor's son-in-law, Francis Stephen (afterwards Francis I.), was to have Tuscany; and France, in connection with the other powers, assented to the Pragmatic Sanction, according to which the hereditary possessions of Austria were to descend intact in the female line. It was expected that the empire would pass along with them.

PRUSSIA: FREDERICK WILLIAM I.—In 1611 the duchy of Prussia and the mark or electorate of Brandenburg were joined together. The duchy was then a fief of Poland. But under the Great Elector, Frederick William (1640-1688), this relation of the duchy to Poland ended. By him the military strength of the electorate was increased. Frederick, his son (1688-1713), with the emperor's license, took the title of King of Prussia (Frederick I.). He built up the city of Berlin, and encouraged art and learning. King Frederick William I. (1713-1740), unlike his predecessor, was exceedingly frugal in his court. He was upright and just in his principles, but extremely rough in his ways, and governed his own household, as well as his subjects generally, with a Spartan rigor. Individuals whom he met in the street, whose conduct or dress he thought unbecoming, he did not hesitate to scold, and he even used his cane to chastise them on the spot. He cared nothing for literature: artists and players were his abomination. He favored industry, and was a friend of the working-class. Every thing was done with despotic energy. He disciplined the military force of Prussia, and gathered at Potsdam a regiment of tall guards, made up of men of gigantic height, who were brought together from all quarters. He left to his son, Frederick II. (1740-1786), a strong army and a full treasury.

CHARACTER OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.—Young Frederick had no sympathy with his father's austere ways. The strict system of training arranged for him, in which he was cut off from Latin and from other studies for which he had a taste, his time all parceled out, and a succession of tasks rigorously ordained for him, he found a yoke too heavy to bear. Once he attempted to escape to the court of his uncle, George II. of England; but the scheme was discovered, and the incensed father was strongly inclined to execute the decree of a court-martial, which pronounced him worthy of death. Frederick, from the window of the place where he was confined, saw Katte, his favorite tutor, who had helped him in his attempt at flight, led to the scaffold, where he was hanged. In the later years of the old king, the relations of father and son were improved. The prince had for his abode the little town of Rheinsberg, where he could indulge, with a circle of congenial friends, in the studies and amusements to which he was partial. He grew up with a strong predilection for French literature, and for the French habits and fashions—free-thinking in religion included—which were now spreading over Europe. On his accession to the throne, Frederick broke up the Potsdam regiment of giants, and called back to Halle the philosopher Wolf, whom his father had banished. Frederick was visited by Voltaire, who at a later day took up his abode for a time with him in Berlin. But the king was fond of banter, and the foibles of each of these companions were a target for the unsparing wit of the other; so that eventually they parted company with mutual disgust. Later they resumed their correspondence, and never wholly lost their intellectual sympathy with each other. As a soldier, Frederick had not the military genius of the greatest captains. He applied superior talents to the discharge of the duties of a king, and to the business of war. He was cool, knew how to profit by his errors and to repair his losses, and to press forward in the darkest hour. Napoleon said of him that "he was great, especially at critical moments."

WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCESSION—-Charles VI. was succeeded, in 1740, by his daughter Maria Theresa, who united in her character many of the finest qualities of a woman and of a sovereign. Notwithstanding the pragmatic sanction by which all the Austrian lands were to be hers, different princes deemed the occasion favorable for seizing on the whole, or on portions, of her inheritance. Charles, elector of Bavaria, claimed to be the lawful heir, and was aided by France, which was afraid of losing Lorraine if Maria Theresa's husband, Francis Stephen, should become emperor. Augustus III. of Poland was a participant in the plot. Frederick II. of Prussia claimed Silesia, and, after defeating the Austrians at Molwitz (1741), seized the greater part of that district. Soon after, the French and Bavarians overran Austria. The Bavarian elector was chosen emperor. Even the elector of Hanover (George II. of England) engaged not to assist the empress.

The claims to Austria were as follows:—

Augustus III., king of Saxony, and Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, had married daughters of the Emperor Joseph I. (the brother and predecessor of Charles VI.). The wife of Charles Albert was the younger daughter; but he appealed to an alleged provision in the will of the Emperor Ferdinand I., according to which the posterity of his daughter Anna (who married a Bavarian duke) was to inherit the duchy of Austria and Bohemia, in case his male descendants should die out. It was not to the male descendants, but to the legitimate descendants, however, that the will referred. The Bourbons in France and Spain seized the occasion to regain the possessions of Spain lost in the Peace of Utrecht (p. 466). Francis Stephen, the husband of Maria Theresa, it was feared, might seek to get back Lorraine from France (p. 474). Spain was anxious to recover Milan. Philip V. of Spain claimed the Austrian possessions on the basis of certain stipulations of Charles V. and Philip III. in the cession of them. To weaken the Austrian house in Germany, was an aim of France. The courts of France and Spain were ready, on all these grounds, to support Charles of Bavaria. They were ready, also, to support Frederick II. in legal claims which he set up to a portion of Silesia. The empress rejected the offer of Frederick to defend Austria if she would give up this territory.

SPIRIT OF THE EMPRESS: CESSION OF SILESIA.—Maria Theresa proved herself a Minerva. She threw herself for support on her Hungarian subjects, who responded with loyal enthusiasm to her appeal made at the Diet of Presburg. Her forces drove the Bavarian and French troops before them in Austria, entered Bavaria, and captured Munich. Reluctantly the queen, in the Peace of Breslau (1742), ceded Silesia to Frederick, in order to lessen the number of her antagonists. She was crowned (1743) in Prague, and at length gained an ally in George II. of England. The "Pragmatic Army," as it was called, defeated the French under Marshal Noailles at Dettingen. Sardinia and Saxony joined the Austrian alliance.

TO THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.—These events widened the dimensions of the contest. France declared war directly against England and Austria. Frederick II. of Prussia was now the ally of France, and began the second Silesian war. He took Prague, but, being deserted by the French, was driven back into Saxony. The son of Charles Albert of Bavaria, Maximilian Joseph, made peace with Austria,—the Peace of Füssen,—promising to give his vote to Francis, the husband of Maria Theresa, for the office of emperor. Francis (1745-1765) was crowned at Frankfort. Victories in Saxony on the side of Frederick led to the Treaty of Dresden, which left Silesia in his hands (1745). The most of the English army went back to England to fight the Pretender. The war went on in the Netherlands and in Italy, and between France and England; the English being victors on the sea under Anson (1747), while the French were generally successful on the land. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) provided for a reciprocal restoration of all conquests: Silesia was given to Prussia, and the Pragmatic Sanction was sustained in Austria.

ALLIANCE AGAINST FREDERICK.—Frederick the Great used the next eight years in doing what he could to encourage industry and to increase the prosperity and resources of Prussia, at the same time that he strengthened his military force. Prussia had evinced so much power in the late conflicts as to be an object of envy and apprehension. Maria Theresa was anxious to recover Silesia. Frederick had a foe in Elizabeth, empress of Russia, whose personal vices he made a subject of sarcastic remark, and who, besides, coveted Prussian provinces on the Baltic. An alliance was formed between Russia and Austria. This was joined by Saxony, and by France; since Louis XV. had become alarmed by the calculating selfishness of Frederick's policy, and was induced to depart from the French traditional policy, and to unite with Austria. The only ally of Frederick was _George II. _of England, which was then engaged in a contest with France respecting the American colonies (1756).

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.—Thus arose the Seven Years' War. Frederick, secretly informed of the plans of his enemies, anticipated their action by invading Saxony and capturing Dresden (1756). At Lobositz he defeated the Austrians: he soon took eighteen thousand Saxon troops. He had now to encounter the military strength of the various nations opposed to him. With the bulk of his forces he marched into Bohemia, and gained a great but costly victory at Prague (1757). For the next six months, successes and reverses alternated; but before the end of the year (1757) Frederick won two of his most famous triumphs,—one at Rossbach, over the French and the Imperialists; and the other over the Austrians, at Leuthen. Frederick was now admired as a hero in England, and was furnished by the elder William Pitt, who had succeeded Newcastle, with money and troops. In 1758 the Prussians vanquished the Russians at Zorndorf, but were, in turn, soon defeated by the Austrians at Hochkirch Of the numerous battles in this prolonged war, in which the military talents of Frederick were so strikingly shown, it is possible to refer only to a few of the most important. He was defeated by the united Austrians and Russians at Kunersdorf; and so completely that he was for the moment thrown into despair, and wrote to his minister Finkenstein, "All is lost." In 1760 Berlin was held for a few days by the Russians, but Frederick soon defeated the Austrians once more at Torgau. In 1761, however, his situation was in the highest degree perilous. His resources were apparently exhausted. Spain joined the ranks of his enemies. He faced them all with determined resolution, but he confessed in his private letters that his hopes were gone.

END OF THE WAR.—At this time there was a turn of events in his favor. In Russia, Peter III., who succeeded Elizabeth, was an admirer of Frederick,—so much so that he wore a Prussian uniform,—and hastened to conclude a peace and alliance with him (1762). Peter was soon dethroned and killed by Russian nobles; and his queen· and successor, Catherine II., recalled the troops sent to Frederick's aid. Nevertheless, they helped him to a victory over the Austrians, under the command of Daun, at Burkersdorf (1762). Austria, too, was exhausted and ready for peace. The negotiations between England and France, which ended in the Peace of Paris (1763), made it certain that the French armies would evacuate Germany. Prussia and Austria agreed to the Peace of Hubertsburg, by which Prussia retained Silesia, and promised her vote for the Archduke Joseph, son of Maria Theresa, as king of Rome and successor to the empire (1763).

POSITION OF PRUSSIA.—Joseph II. succeeded his father as emperor in 1765, and was associated by his mother, Maria Theresa, in the government of her hereditary dominions. From the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, Prussia took her place as one of the five great powers of Europe.

THE BRITISH INDIAN EMPIRE.—It was during this period that the empire of the British in India grew up out of the mercantile settlements of a trading corporation, the East India Company. The result was effected after a severe struggle with the French. After the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Mughal empire at Delhi declined. Insubordinate native princes admitted only a nominal control over them. The effect of successive Mahratta and Afghan invasions was such, that when England and France went to war in Europe, in 1745, India was broken up into different sovereignties, to say nothing of the great number of petty chieftains who were practically independent. Pondicherry was the chief French settlement. For a time it seemed that in the struggle for control France, under the masterly guidance of Dupleix, must triumph. In 1756 Calcutta was taken from the English by the Nabob of Bengal, and many Englishmen died in the close room of the military prison in which they were shut up,—"the Black Hole." In 1757 Clive defeated a great army of the natives, with whom were a few French, in the decisive battle of Plassey. He had previously shown his indomitable courage in the seizure of Arcot, and in its defense against a host of besiegers. The victory at Plassey secured the British supremacy, which gradually extended itself over the country. The various local sovereignties became like Roman provinces. On the death of Clive, Warren Hastings was made governor-general (1772). After his recall, he was impeached (1788), on charges of cruelty and oppression in India, and his trial by the House of Lords did not end until seven years after it began. He was then acquitted. Among the conductors of the impeachment on the part of the House of Commons, were the celebrated orators Edmund Burke and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1784 the power of the East-India Company had been restricted by the establishment of the Board of Control. Up to that time the Indian Empire, made up of dependent and subject states, had been governed by the sole authority of the company.

CATHERINE II. OF RUSSIA.—Catherine II. (1762-1796) in her private life was notoriously dissolute. If she did not connive at the assassination of her husband, Peter III., she heaped gifts upon his murderers. In her policy, she aimed to strengthen Russia, especially towards the sea. This occasioned successful conflicts with the Turks.

THE PARTITION OF POLAND.—At first inimical to Frederick the Great, Catherine afterwards made an alliance with him. She compelled the election of one of her lovers, Poniatowski, to the throne of Poland. Poland was mainly Catholic; and the Confederation of Bar (1768), made by the Poles to prevent the toleration of Greek Christians and Protestants, was defeated by a Russian army, and broken up. The Turks were worsted in the war which they made in defense of the confederacy. As one result, Russia gained a firm footing on the north coasts of the Black Sea (1774). The "free veto," oppression of the peasantry, their distress, and the general want of union and public spirit, had reduced Poland to a miserable condition. Catherine, however, favored no reforms there looking to an improvement in the constitution. She preferred to prolong the anarchy and confusion. She wished to make the death of Poland in part a suicide. At length she invited Prussia and Austria to take part with her in the first seizure and partition of Polish territory (1772). Each took certain provinces. In 1793 the second, and in 1795 the final partition of Poland, was made by its three neighbors. The capture of Warsaw, and the defeat of the national rising under Kosciusko, obliterated that ancient kingdom from the map of Europe. It should be said that a large part of the territory that Russia acquired had once been Russian, and was inhabited by Greek Christians. By the division of Poland, Russia was brought into close contact with the Western powers. The Crimea was incorporated with Russia in 1783. After a second war, provoked by her, with the Turks, who now had the Austrians to help them, the Russian boundaries through the Treaty of Jassy (1792) were carried to the Dniester.