Mid-Eighteenth Century Wars

1. Mid-Eighteenth Century Wars (Unit 7)

2. Intro • Statesmen of the time • Warfare could further national interests • Wars of 18th century fought by professional armies • Conflicts rarely affected civilians • Periods of peace • Seen as time to recoup strength • Main areas of conflict • Overseas empires • Central and eastern Europe

3. The War of Jenkins's Ear • Mid-18th century West Indies • Hotbed for smuggling and trade rivalry • Spanish tired to maintain trading monopoly • Spanish patrols boarded English vessels • Search for contraband • During a boarding in 1731 • Robert Jenkins (English captain) had ear cut off • 1738 • Jenkins went before parliament, showed severed ear preserved in brandy jar

4. The War of Jenkins's Ear (cont’d) • British merchants and West Indian planters • Lobbied parliament to prevent Spanish intervention in trade • Late 1739 • Britain to war with Spain • Opening to a series of European wars across the world until 1815

5. The War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748) • December 1740 • Frederick II seized Austrian province of Silesia (Habsburg territory) • Seizing of territory weakened new Habsburg monarch, Maria Theresa

6. The War of Austrian Succession (cont’d) (1740-1748) • Maria attempted to preserve Habsburg Empire • Won support of the nobility by giving them new privileges • Promised Hungarian nobility local autonomy • Preservation weakened central authority • Never regained Silesia

7. France Draws Great Britain into the War • France • Canceled plans to attack British trade with French Navy • Decided to support Prussia, against Austria • Drew Britain in • Wanted Low Countries to remain under Austria, not France • 1744 • British-French conflict carried into Colonies

8. France Draws Great Britain into the War (Cont’d) • French military and economic resources badly divided • Failed to bring strength to colonial struggle • Lost colonial struggle to Britain • War ends in stalemate • 1748 • Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle

9. The “Diplomatic Revolution” of 1756 • Dramatic shift in alliances • January 1756 • Britain and Prussia sign “Convention of Westminster” • Defensive alliance • Britain now at odds with Austria • May 1756 • France and Austria sign defensive alliance

10. The Seven Years War (1765-1763)

11. Fredrick the Great Opens Hostiles: • August 1756 • Fredrick II wages war on German state of Saxony • Spring of 1757 France/ Austria set out to destroy Prussia • Sweden, Russia and other small German states joined them • But Prussia remained undefeated because 1)”Britain furnished considerable financial aid” pg. 293. 2) In 1762 Empress Elizabeth of Russia died, her successor was Tsar Peter III, who made peace with Fredrick

12. Fredrick the Great Opens Hostiles: • The Treaty of Hubertusburg: in 1763 ended the continental conflict • Fredrick became known as Fredrick the Great • Prussia, now stood among the ranks of the great powers

13. William Pitt’s Strategy for Winning North “Amurca”: • William Pitt “the Elder”: (1708-1778) was known for his ego and his administrative genius • When he became secretary of state, and in charge of the war of 1757 he “pumped huge sums into the coffers of Fredrick the Great” pg. 293. • He saw the German conflict as a way to divert French resources and attention from the colonial struggle. • He later boasted of having won America on the Plains of Germany

14. William Pitt’s Strategy for Winning North “Amurca”: • Pitt wanted all of North America east of Mississippi for Great Britain's possession, and he nearly succeeded • He sent ~40,000 English/colonial troops against the French in Canada • French government was unwilling/unable to fight back with the English, because their system was corrupt • In September of 1759, the British Army, under James Wolfe defeated the French under Louis Joseph de Montcalm. • The French Empire in Canada was coming to an end

15. William Pitt’s Strategy for Winning North “Amurca”: • Major islands of the French West Indies fell to British fleets • Sugar sales helped finance the British war effort • British slave interests secured the bulk of French slave trade for themselves. But btwn 1755-1760, the values of French colonial trade fell by more than 80% • In India, the British forces defeated France’s Indian allies in 1757. • Never had Great Britain of any other European power, experienced this kind of military victory

16. The Treaty of Paris of 1763: • Then there came a new king: George III, but he fought with Pitt over policy, and so George resigned • Then came the Earl of Bute(1713-1792), who was responsible for the peace settlement • Britain received all of Canada, the Ohio River Valley, the eastern half of the Mississippi River valley • To Pitts dismay, Britain returned some land back to India, along with sugar islands back to the French • But due to all of this, Great Britain became a well known world power

17. The Treaty of Paris of 1763: • Through the span of the Seven Years War tens of thousands of soldiers/sailors had been killed or wounded • Prussia was constantly wresting with Silesia from Austria and hand undermined the integrity of the HRE. • Habsburg power now relied heavily on the dynasty’s own domains--especially Hungary; along with France finding its colonial dominion and influence reduced • The war caused domestic crises among the European powers

18. The Treaty of Paris of 1763: • Due to much defeat, France saw the need for political and administrative reforms • All those who participated in the war had to put high taxes on their good to compensate for their economic loses • Thus came about the American Revolution