Chapter 19: Rolling the Dice
Spring, 1741
Paris
Despite the victory over the Habsburg Duchy of Milan (which the French kept 60% of the territory, the other 40% split between Piedmont-Sardinia and Parma), the situation in France was not exactly ideal nor did the war, as a whole, go to plan.
Louis XV had predicated his aggression against the Habsburgs on multiple assumptions:
- The Habsburgs would be too entrenched in the war in Poland to defend their western domains of Sicily, Naples, Milan and the Austrian Netherlands. While the former three campaigns had gone fairly well for the Bourbons, the latter had yet to commence.
- There would be no effective resistance in the northeastern front (Austrian Netherlands) as Austria would be too exhausted by war (partially true) and the British-Hanoverians would be exhausted following an invasion of Hanover by Prussia if not totally conquered by Frederick William. The latter never occurred. Instead of attacking Hanover and reducing the allies' ability to resist a Netherlands Campaign, Frederick William invaded Poland himself and promptly made a deal with the Austrians, Poles and Russians to retain “Royal Prussia”. Then he made a deal to trade his western territories in the Rhineland for part of Saxony. Then the Prussian died and left his Kingdom to a boy disinclined to fight. The new King promptly stepped down his forces and released several regiments hired from smaller German duchies (Hesse, Lippe, Waldeck, etc) from his service…which were promptly hired by the British to fight for them in the Netherlands.
- Instead of a weak Habsburg and Dutch force to confront the bulk of his armies in the Austrian Netherlands, he now faced a stronger Austrian, Dutch, Hanoverian and mercenary force which may at any day be supplemented by British regiments (and already paid for by British money). The easy victory in the northeast no longer looked so easy.
- The shockingly facile fall of Louisbourg to a bunch of British colonials had badly shaken the French colonial office. Having believed the war would be a matter of endless conquests, the very real possibility of the British conquering Canada and the French West Indies….
The French King already spent years funding a ruinous war and had yet to receive any benefit beyond 60% of Milan. Granted, this was a strategic decision as much as acquisitive one. He wanted the Habsburgs away from the frontier of France and seizing the stronghold of Milan accomplished that.
As his army sat before the border of the Austrian Netherlands, draining his pockets by the day and no guarantees that victory was nigh.
Great Britain was getting peevish and demanding that Spain withdraw from Sicily and Naples before any peace would be made…and Louis XV was quite certain his cousin would never give up the old Italian Bourbon possessions without a fight.
Indeed, Louis I of Spain was already besieging Gibraltar. With a steady flow of gold from the new world (now prey to pirates), Spain was still capable of carrying on the war in a way neither France nor Austria could.
Louis XV knew his treasury could not hold out much longer. The Milan campaign had been ruinous. He was already facing default on his debts or devaluing the currency. With Britain’s navy so strong, conquering the rest of the British West Indies seemed unlikely. If anything, the French and possibly Spanish West Indies were at threat.
With victory in Europe unlikely and peace impossible unless Britain or Spain softened their demands, Louis XV found himself in a trap.
In the end, he decided to move forward with the secret plan developed between himself and his cousin, Louis I of Spain. In the spring of 1741, the Bourbon powers sought to knock Britain out of the war with their most audacious gamble yet.
From Marseille, Cadiz, Nice, Bordeaux and other ports, hundreds of transport ships gathered under the protection of dozens of warships.
While the French had intimated that England was the target, the powerful British Home Fleet made this a risky proposition to even land upon, much less successfully invade the isle of Britain.
Instead, the fleet sailed far to the west, caught the easterly trade winds…and land in June along the west coast of Ireland.
First to set foot upon the undefended soil was the scion of the exiled House of Stuart.