The Austrian Succession War Erupts: Timeline And Context

The War of the Austrian Succession took place between 1740 and 1748. It was a conglomeration of related wars, two of which developed directly from the death of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and head of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg, on 20 October 1740. The war began when Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia, one of the richest Habsburg provinces.

The First Silesian War (1740-1742)

The First Silesian War began when Prussia invaded Habsburg Silesia in late 1740, citing its centuries-old dynastic claims on parts of the region. The war was also influenced by Realpolitik and geostrategic factors, including the opportunity to strengthen Prussia relative to regional rivals such as Saxony and Bavaria. The invasion was also prompted by the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in October 1740, which left his daughter, Maria Theresa, as the ruler of Austria, the Bohemian lands, and the Hungarian lands within the Habsburg monarchy.

The Prussian army, consisting of two corps totalling 27,000 soldiers, invaded Silesia in December 1740 without a formal declaration of war. The Austrian garrison in Silesia only had around 8,000 men, and by the end of January 1741, almost the entirety of Silesia was under Prussian control. The remaining Austrian strongholds of Glogau, Brieg, and Neisse were besieged. The Prussian victory at the Battle of Mollwitz in April 1741 further secured their control of the region.

The First Silesian War ended in a Prussian victory with the 1742 Treaty of Berlin, which recognised Prussia's seizure of most of Silesia and parts of Bohemia. The war formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1740 to 1748. The conflict over Silesia continued with the Second and Third Silesian Wars, which were fought between 1744-1745 and 1756-1763, respectively.

The Second Silesian War (1744-1745)

The Second Silesian War was a continuation of the First Silesian War, which had concluded just two years prior. The Treaty of Berlin had ended hostilities between Austria and Prussia in 1742, but the Habsburg monarchy's fortunes improved as Austria expanded its alliances with the 1743 Treaty of Worms. Prussia entered a renewed alliance with Austria's enemies in the League of Frankfurt and rejoined the war, hoping to prevent Austria from retaking Silesia.

The war began with a Prussian invasion of Habsburg Bohemia in mid-1744 and ended in a Prussian victory with the Treaty of Dresden in December 1745, which confirmed Prussian control of Silesia. The conflict was fought mainly in Silesia, Bohemia, and Upper Saxony and formed one theatre of the wider War of the Austrian Succession.

In late 1743, Austria, Britain-Hanover, and Savoy-Sardinia concluded a new alliance under the Treaty of Worms. In response, Prussia formed an alliance with Bavaria, Sweden, Hesse-Kassel, and the Electoral Palatinate, known as the League of Frankfurt. On 7 August 1744, Prussia declared its intervention in the Austrian war on behalf of Emperor Charles VII, beginning the Second Silesian War.

On 15 August 1744, Frederick led Prussian soldiers across the frontier into Bohemia. The invading army of around 70,000 men entered Bohemia in three columns and converged on Prague by the beginning of September, surrounding and besieging the city. The city underwent a week of heavy artillery bombardment and eventually surrendered to the Prussians on 16 September.

Frederick gathered his forces around Prague and tried to force a decisive engagement, but the Austrian commander, Otto Ferdinand von Traun, focused on harassing the invaders' supply lines, eventually forcing the Prussians to abandon Bohemia and retreat into Upper Silesia in November.

With the January 1745 Treaty of Warsaw, Austria established a new "Quadruple Alliance" with Britain, Saxony, and the Dutch Republic. Meanwhile, Emperor Charles VII died on 20 January, destroying the rationale behind Frederick's alliance. Austria renewed its offensive against Bavaria in March 1745, decisively defeating the Franco-Bavarian army at the Battle of Pfaffenhofen and making peace with Maximilian III of Bavaria on 22 April.

Having defeated Bavaria, Austria began an invasion of Silesia. At the end of May, an Austrian-Saxon army crossed through the Giant Mountains into Silesia, only to be surprised and decisively defeated by Frederick in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg on 4 June, removing any immediate prospect of Austria recovering Silesia. The Prussians followed the retreating Austrian-Saxon army into Bohemia, harassing its rear as far as Königgrätz.

During the following months, Maria Theresa won the support of enough prince-electors to see her husband named Holy Roman Emperor Francis I on 13 September in Frankfurt, achieving one of her major goals in the war. On 29 September, the Austrians attacked Frederick's camp in Bohemia, resulting in a Prussian victory at the Battle of Soor, despite the Austrian surprise and superior numbers. Soon, low supplies forced the Prussians to withdraw into Upper Silesia for the winter.

In November, Austria and Saxony prepared a surprise double invasion of Brandenburg, hoping to seize Berlin and end the war outright. On 23 November, Frederick surprised the Austrian invaders in the Battle of Hennersdorf, confusing and scattering the larger Austrian force. Meanwhile, another Prussian army under Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau advanced into western Saxony, attacking and destroying the main Saxon army in the Battle of Kesselsdorf on 15 December.

In Dresden, the belligerents quickly negotiated a peace treaty, under which Maria Theresa acknowledged Prussian control of Silesia and Glatz, while Frederick recognised Francis I as Holy Roman Emperor and agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction. For its part in the Austrian alliance, Saxony was compelled to pay one million rixdollars in reparations to Prussia. The Treaty of Dresden, signed on 25 December 1745, ended the Second Silesian War between Austria, Saxony, and Prussia.

The War of Jenkins' Ear (1739-1748)

The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict fought between the kingdoms of Spain and Great Britain, involving their colonies. It took place between 1739 and 1748, coinciding with King George's War between Great Britain and France. Both wars were part of the greater War of the Austrian Succession, which took place between 1740 and 1748.

The War of Jenkins' Ear was precipitated by an incident in 1738, when Captain Robert Jenkins appeared before the House of Commons and presented what he alleged to be his own amputated ear. Jenkins claimed that his ear had been cut off by Spanish coast guards in April 1731, who had boarded his ship, pillaged it, and set it adrift. This incident, along with other Spanish outrages on British ships, outraged British public opinion and was exploited by members of Parliament opposed to the government of Robert Walpole.

The British declared war on Spain on 23 October 1739, with plans for combined operations against Spanish colonies from both east and west. One force, led by Admiral Edward Vernon, would assault the Spanish colonies from the west, while another, commanded by Commodore George Anson, would round Cape Horn and attack the Pacific coast of Latin America. However, due to delays, poor preparations, and internal disputes, these plans ultimately failed. Despite this, Vernon succeeded in capturing the Spanish harbour of Porto Bello in present-day Panama on 21 November 1739.

In March 1741, Vernon launched an attack on Cartagena de Indias in what is now Colombia, but after two months of fierce fighting, the British were forced to withdraw due to heavy losses and the outbreak of disease. The war in the West Indies remained stagnant until 1748, with belligerent naval actions left to privateers from both sides.

The last year of the war saw two significant actions in the Caribbean: an unsuccessful British assault on Santiago de Cuba and a naval action that arose from an accidental encounter between two convoys. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which ended the War of the Austrian Succession, also brought an end to the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1748.

King George's War (1744-1748)

The war was characterised by bloody border raids by both sides, with the aid of their Native American allies. The only significant victory was the capture of the French fortress of Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, in 1745. In 1746, France launched a major expedition to recover Louisbourg, but it was beset by storms, disease, and the death of its commander.

The war was also fought on the frontiers between the northern British colonies and New France. Each side had allies among the Native Americans, and outlying villages were raided and captives taken for ransom, or sometimes adoption by Native American tribes who had suffered losses to disease or warfare.

The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the war in 1748 and restored Louisbourg to France, but failed to resolve any outstanding territorial issues. The peace treaty restored all colonial borders to their pre-war status, but it did little to end the enmity between France, Britain, and their respective colonies. Tensions remained in both North America and Europe, and in 1754, the French and Indian War broke out in North America, spreading to Europe two years later as the Seven Years' War.

The First Carnatic War (1746-1748)

The British and French were minor players in India at the time, represented by their respective East India Companies. The most important figure in southern India was Nizam-ul-Mulk, the Mughal governor of the Deccan, who was acting as a semi-independent Nawab of Hyderabad. The southern part of his province was ruled by a subsidiary ruler, the Nawab of the Carnatic, a post held since 1743 by Anwar-ud-Din. The French had more prestige than the British in the region, and their governor also held the title of Nawab, giving him a place in the Mughal hierarchy. The main British possession in the area was Madras, while the main French base was further south, at Pondicherry.

The First Carnatic War was triggered by the War of the Austrian Succession, and the actions of British and French fleets in the region. The British and French in India had ignored earlier Anglo-French wars in Europe, remaining at peace during the War of the Spanish Succession. However, during the War of the Austrian Succession, the actions of their fleets in the region triggered combat on land. The fighting started in 1745 when a British squadron under Commodore Curtis Bennett swept French shipping off the seas. The French Governor-General, the Marquis Joseph-François Dupleix, appealed for protection from Anwar-ud-Din, who in turn warned the British that his province was neutral territory and that no attack on French possessions would be tolerated. The British restricted themselves to action at sea, but Dupleix called for backup from the French fleet stationed in Mauritius. This fleet arrived in the summer of 1746 and inflicted a minor defeat on the British at the Battle of Negapatam in July. The British retired to Ceylon to repair their fleet, leaving the French in command of the seas around Madras.

The French fleet briefly appeared off Madras at the end of August, before returning in mid-September. The resulting siege of Madras was short. The British East India Company had neglected the fortifications, and the garrison was tiny. On 21 September 1746, the British surrendered, and the French took possession of Madras.

The capture of Madras triggered a bitter argument between Dupleix and the commander of the French fleet, Admiral de la Bourdonnais. Dupleix wanted to hand the town over to the Nawab as compensation for breaking the Nawab's decree of neutrality, while de la Bourdonnais wanted to ransom the town back to the British. This dispute dragged on into October, and eventually, Anwar-ud-Din decided to intervene. He sent an army of 10,000 men under the command of his son Maphuze Khan to besiege the French in Madras. This decision backfired, and the French defeated the Nawab's forces in two battles that have been seen as a major turning point in Indian history. The first was the Battle of Madras on 2 November 1745, where a French force of only 400 men routed the Nawab's cavalry, causing his son to abandon the siege. Two days later, a slightly larger French army, moving to the relief of Madras, inflicted a second defeat on Maphuze Khan's army at the Battle of St Thome. These two battles secured French control of Madras and demonstrated that small European armies could defeat much larger Indian forces.

The British regrouped at Fort St. David, south of Pondicherry, and allied with the Nawab, who provided them with a large cavalry force under the command of two of his sons. This force defeated a French army advancing towards the fort at the battle of Fort St. David on 19 December 1746, but early in 1747 the French made peace with the Nawab, leaving the British vulnerable. A short-lived French siege in March 1747 ended when a British squadron arrived at Fort St. David.

Dupleix's next move was an attack on Cuddalore, a British fortified station two miles from Fort St. David. The resulting Battle of Cuddalore on 27-28 June 1747 was another British victory and was noteworthy as the first direct clash between British and French troops in India.

In November 1747, a fleet of eight men-of-war, accompanied by 1,400 British regulars, left Britain. In an unusual arrangement, Admiral Edward Boscawen commanded both the navy and army. After failing to make any progress at Mauritius, Boscawen reached the Indian coast in early August. The British now had command of the seas and enough troops to attempt to capture Pondicherry. The resulting siege of Pondicherry in August-October 1748 was not a great success. Boscawen wasted time attacking an outlying fort at Ariancopang, and his main batteries at Pondicherry weren't in place until the start of October. When they finally opened fire, the French counter-fire was far more ferocious than the British bombardment. In mid-October, Boscawen decided to call off the siege.

At about the same time, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (18 October 1748) ended the War of the Austrian Succession, and with it the First Carnatic War. Madras was returned to the British in return for Louisbourg in North America, and the situation returned to its pre-war state. However, the peace in India would be short-lived. In 1748, Nizam-ul-Mulk, the Mughal governor of the Deccan and semi-independent Nawab of Hyderabad, died. The succession to his position was contested, and the British and French were soon dragged into the fighting between the candidates, leading to the Second Carnatic War.

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