8: All Quiet on the Western Front
Cardinal Fleury, the leading man in France
The Western Theatre of Empress Catherine's War geographically is much larger than the Northern German Theatre. Whereas the Northern German Theatre was fought mainly in the Lower and Upper Saxon Circles of the Holy Roman Empire, the Western Theatre involved four Imperial Circles (the Burgundian Circle, Westphalian Circle, Swabian Circle, and Austrian Circle) and the completely foreign countries of the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of France. Overall, this Western Theatre extended from the commercial city of Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands all the way to the fortress of Freiburg in the region of Swabia. Accompanying this larger area of land was also a larger amount of men and resources relative to the Northern German theatre. In the west, there were more than 200000 soldiers involved compared to the 167000 soldiers in Northern Germany (before the Battle of Bienenbuttel). Finally, although the commanders in Northern Germany were by no means nameless nobodies, the two men who commanded in the Western Theatre were by far the two greatest generals in Europe at the time, Prince Eugene of Savoy and the Duc de Villars, Claude Louis Hector. Yet in spite of all of these facts, the Western Theatre was quite quiet from a military standpoint.
In fact, looking at past wars, the Western Theatre is a particularly odd grouping of geography. In all the preceding wars of Louis XIV, there was no combined Western theatre but rather two distinct and entirely separate Low Countries Theatre and Rhenish Theatre. The reason for this distinction was that each theatre had enough battles, sieges, and excitement that historians and politicians did not even contemplate joining the two regions into a singular theatre, which would rob each of respect due to them. This war, Empress Catherine's War, however, was decidedly different in how it treated the two regions. This difference in conduct had little to do with the titular figure of the war but rather the lack of the titular figure of previous wars. Although Catherine I, no doubt, cared little for occurrences in the Low Countries and Rhine Valley it was actually the lack of Louis XIV which deprived the two regions of their expected action. Louis XIV had for decades fought for his own glorie and then later for the quest of giving France truly defensible borders. These goals heavily involved winning large set-piece battles and capturing major fortifications in both the Low Countries and Rhineland. Without Louis XIV, France's goals had changed dramatically and so to did the method in which it fought its wars. The change was so great that it had warranted the creation of a Western theatre.
Following Louis XIV's death in 1715, France had since several men try to replace that behemoth of a man. Among those men had been Louis XIV's illegitimate son, Louis Auguste, Duc de Maine; Louis XIV's trueborn son, Felipe V, King of Spain; Louis XIV's nephew, Philippe II, Duc de Orleans; Louis XIV's kinsman, Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon; Cardinal Dubois; and Cardinal Fleury. For the ten years that followed Louis XIV's death, these men schemed and plotted against each other to become the most powerful man in France. This plotting including two conspiracies, four executions, one war, and a marriage. For the majority of that time, it was the Duc de Orleans who had been beating out his opponents and maintaining himself as the power behind the throne. By the time Empress Catherine's War broke out, however, Orleans was dead and the only man left standing was the patient, calculated Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury.
Cardinal Fleury was drastic contrast to the Sun King, Louis XIV. Where Louis XIV was willing to resort to violent force, Fleury looked towards gentle diplomacy. Where Louis XIV was a man of grandiose ambitions, Fleury thrived on moderation and temperateness. And where Louis XIV dreamed of using his might to create a France which Europe could never threaten, Fleury worried that all Europe would ever see in France was a threat. Thus where Louis XIV had had a mission of expanding France's territories and strengthening borders, Fleury had a much-limited goal: survival. These set of differences were already noticeable when Fleury guided France towards joining Britain's coalition rather than being the target of that coalition. Now, with war at hand, these differences would make themselves even more apparent. For example, while Louis XIV regularly raised 250000 men, Fleury restricted himself to just 100000 for reasons of finance and diplomacy
[1].
As the war began, Cardinal Fleury was slow to dispatch his armies, unlike Louis XIV who had always struck with decisive speed. This delay was not out of a lack of capability or courage in Fleury nor was due to his disinclination towards war. Instead, Fleury postponed France's military movements because he did not wish to act alone which might incite fear among his allies that France had not changed since Louis XIV's demise. With Britain's lack of government in the very of the war, Fleury could do little else but assemble his armies and wait. However, once both the Parliament in London and the States General in the Hague had made their decisions regarding the war and their strategy towards it, Fleury was quick to consult with both governments. In London, the British were clearly happy to have as an ally rather than an enemy but it was obvious that underneath all the courtesies and civilities that the British were still concerned that France might use this war to its own advantage
[2]. In the Dutch Republic, the degree of contempt and fear was too hard to hide completely. The exchanges with both allies convinced Fleury that he was correct in his assessment of France's position vis-à-vis its allies and neighbors. France was still the enemy in their eyes and it would be a hard sentiment to break down. Despite how they saw France, Fleury was still determined to improve France's diplomatic situation and its long-term place in European affairs.
In Fleury's effort to diminish the association of belligerence and aggression with France, he actively worked to approach French military campaigning in a new and nuanced way. Towards, Spain 25000 men under the Duke of Berwick would be dispatched to occupy Navarre and put pressure on Madrid to come to terms with the Hanoverian Alliance. For the Low Countries, an army of 30000 men led by Marshal du Ble would be formed as nothing more than an army of observation meant to dissuade the Hapsburgs from making any significant military actions. Finally, in the Rhine Valley, 55000 men under the command of the Duc de Villars were to be deployed. The only aim of this last army was to seize Lorraine and the Hapsburgs fortresses in the area to provide a threat towards the Viennese Army from the west. Overall, not only did Fleury desire to use fewer men than Louis XIV had used but Fleury desired to use these men for less than Louis XIV had used them for
[3].
Cardinal Fleury's decision against invading the Southern Netherlands proved to be extremely wise as the initial events of the war unfolded. As aforementioned, the Dutch Republic was still haunted by the devastation of the Franco-Dutch War and the wars which followed. For this reason, although the Dutch were allied to the French there no trust felts towards the French. Consequently, when the war began, the Dutch garrisons of the Barrier Fortresses were ordered to give up the line of fortifications to the Hapsburgs by the officials in the Dutch Republic. After negotiating with the Governor of the Southern Netherlands, Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, it was agreed that after a brief set of mock sieges that the Dutch would surrender the fortresses to the Hapsburgs but be allowed to keep their arms and retreat unhindered. Once the Dutch had, in fact, turned over the fortresses they chose to retreat to the north. This meant they decided they would rather march all the way through the Southern Netherlands to reach home than march a brief distance to the south to their "ally" France. In other words, despite declaring war on the Hapsburgs alongside the French, the Dutch Republic still trusted Vienna more than Versailles
[4]. In Versailles, the Cardinal did not take offense at the Dutch actions but rather took them as further proof of his own beliefs about France's reputation.
The reaction to the surrender of the Barrier Fortresses in Vienna was pleasant surprise. This occasion was an undoubted coup for the Hapsburgs and Archduchess Maria Elisabeth was praised for her role in it. In spite of this congratulation for Maria Elisabeth, the Imperial council still felt that over the course of her tenure as Governor of the Southern Netherlands had been displaying a proclivity towards independent action which was considered disagreeable in Vienna
[5]. The outbreak of a European war provided Vienna with the reason and motive to remove and replace Maria Elisabeth. Although Emperor Charles VI would have liked to have Prince Eugene, one of his most advisers, at the helm of the Southern Netherlands, Prince Eugene previous rule of the region had failed and anyways the Prince was preoccupied with commanding an army in Rhine Valley. The rest of the Emperor's advisers were needed at home, in Vienna, to manage the war in its entirety rather than a single part of it, in the form of the Southern Netherlands. With these thoughts weighing on his mind, Charles VI decided to promote the Elector of Bavaria, Charles Albert, to the post of governor. The position had once been held by Charles Albert's father, Maximilian II Emmanuel, who had done an impressive job until he ultimately betrayed the House Hapsburg and fought for Louis XIV. Also, Charles Albert's brother was the current Archbishop-Elector of Cologne and Prince-Bishop of Münster, both of which were neighbors of the Southern Netherlands and the Dutch Republic. Additionally, Charles Albert was married to a Hapsburg, Archduchess Maria Amalia. Overall, Charles Albert was a decent candidate for the role of governor. More importantly, it was believed that by naming Charles Albert governor that the Hapsburgs would be able to further secure his and Bavaria's loyalty to Emperor Charles VI
[6].
Charles Albert was indeed pleased to be appointed Governor of the Southern Netherlands and he sent his thanks to the Emperor for entrusting him with such a great responsibility. What Charles Albert did not mention was that he still aspired to the Imperial crown that there be no Hapsburg to assume upon Charles VI's death. Nor was Charles Albert's hopes of gaining a slice of the Hapsburg inheritance lessened by this honor. Still, for the time being, Charles Albert thought it best to align himself with the Emperor. Perhaps the position of governorship was a prelude to the Emperor actually ceding him the Southern Netherlands in return for Charles Albert recognizing Maria Theresa's succession to the rest of the Hapsburg empire
[7]. Such a thought pleased and amused the young Elector of Bavaria. In the meantime, however, he did have a war to attend to.
Upon arriving in Brussels, Charles Albert found that only 15000 Hapsburg men were defending the region. Charles Albert soon augmented that number with 15000 soldiers from his own Bavaria and from his brother's Cologne. This brought up the total Viennese Alliance force in the Southern Netherlands to a just 30000. Such a number is typically a considerable one. In this case, however, Charles Albert was left wanting more. Again, to his south, Charles Albert was being stared down by du Ble and 30000 Frenchmen. To his north, Charles Albert found 42000 Anglo-Dutch soldiers. Combined the two enemy formations outnumbered Charles Albert by more than double and in the case that they attacked him Charles Albert would be hard pressured to defeat either or both of them. At best Charles Albert could attempt to hold out in Brussels and pray for relief or to fall back to Luxembourg and await reinforcements. Fortunately, no attack ever came.
As already discussed, Fleury had explicitly ordered Marshal du Ble and his 30000 Frenchmen to act solely as an army of observation. Cardinal Fleury had drawn this command up because he knew that French in the Low Countries would only cause great alarm among his British and Dutch allies. The British would recall their nightmares of Frenchmen in Antwerp and the Dutch would think back to the Franco-Dutch War. Neither outcome was desirable for Fleury as both were counter to his goals. On the other hand, Fleury could not just leave the Low Countries unattended. Of course, there was the risk that the Hapsburgs would attack from the Southern Netherlands but the better reason was that Fleury did not want to seem uncommitted to his alliance with Britain and the Dutch Republic. In such a situation, the British or Dutch might be led to believe that France was perhaps scheming against them, which would be a disastrous thought. By leaving an army of observation to the south of the border, Fleury would not threaten the security of the Southern Netherlands nor would he seem disingenuous about his commitment to the alliance.
To the north of the Southern Netherlands, the Dutch and newly arrived British soldiers made for a formidable army. Yet both the States General of the Dutch Republic and the Parliament of Great Britain agreed that it was best not to use that army. If the Anglo-Dutch army struck at the Southern Netherlands it would give the French an excuse to also invade the region, which could not be allowed to happen. However, the British and Dutch had antagonized the Emperor recently and they could not be certain of his intentions so an army was needed in case those intentions should include a forcible revision of the Treaty of Westphalia and opening of the Scheldt River to the Emperor's Ostend Company
[8]. Fortunately, at least as far as 1727 was concerned, the Scheldt was not on Charles VI's mind and thus the Anglo-Dutch army remained stationary and unengaged.
All in all, despite there being a little over 100000 soldiers in the Low Countries, not even a single musket or cannon was fired outside of drills. The political machinations and aspirations of France, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and the Hapsburgs had restricted three whole armies to do nothing more than sit, watch, and wait. In this fashion, the Low Countries which had once been a great seat of conflict worthy of being classified as its theatre to become nothing more a sideshow to the adjacent actions of the Rhine, which in their selves were but a sideshow to the ongoings of Northern Germany and the Mediterranean. Low Countries had become nothing more than a place for political messages and images.
In the Rhine Valley itself one would have expected a good deal of action or at least a grand campaign of maneuvering with the renowned Duc de Villars at the head of a French army of 55000 men and the venerated Prince Eugene of Savoy at the head of a German army of 58000 men. However, that was not what happened. Indeed, just as the Low Countries had failed to meet the expectations and precedents just by previous wars so to did the Rhine Valley. This was not the war in which the French would raze Palatinate nor would an Anglo-Hapsburg army daringly march through the region towards an epic triumph
[9]. No, this was the war without Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance.
The Rhine Campaign opened with the Duc de Villars quickly overrunning the neutral Duchy of Lorraine and Bar. This action was the most typical opening to a French expedition towards the Rhine and was not one which the Hapsburgs had ever attempted to stop. This time was no different. What was different was what followed. Once reaching the barrier that was the Rhine River, Villars found himself opposed by Prince Eugene on the other bank. Villars could have attempted to outmarch and outmaneuver Eugene by invading one of the countless Imperial principalities. However, Cardinal Fleury did not want to alarm the Imperial Diet or Imperial Circles by infringing on the neutrality of any other Imperial states outside of the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar, regarding which there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that the Imperial states and France would never go to war over Lorraine's neutrality. These orders were made because firstly, Fleury was working to assuage the fear which all of Europe and the Holy Roman Empire had kept reserved for France. To act just as Louis XIV did and trample over the rights of the Imperial states would do everything but help Fleury rebuild France's relationship with the Imperial states. Secondly, there was France's fear that if a French army attacked an Imperial state not already involved in the war that the Imperial Diet would see it as an attack on the Empire as a whole. In which case, the Imperial Diet could declare an Imperial War or Reichskrieg on France, which would bring the whole of the Holy Roman Empire into the conflict. In turn, the war would escalate to exceedingly worrying and complicated levels. In such a state, French diplomacy and scheming would be little able to rehabilitate France's image
[10]. Under these conditions, Villars' maneuverability was severely hampered and his army's choice of actions was made quite predictable.
On the other side, Prince Eugene knew that an offensive campaign, for the time being, was completely out of the question. The Hapsburgs had enough money to fight a kind of war but not the kind of war which involves campaigning across borders, deep inside enemy territory. Furthermore, Prince Eugene had only been entrusted with an army of 58000 men, consisting of 45000 Hapsburg soldiers and 13000 Bavarian soldiers. This army was barely larger than Villars'. If Prince Eugene was to invade France than supply issues, desertion, and attrition could easily wear his army down and do away with his slight numerical edge. This scenario would cede the advantage to Villars and put the Germans at the mercy of the French. Hence the Prince had little choice but to focus on doing nothing more than defending the Rhine Valley by establishing a defensive line at Ettlingen.
With these two complementary objectives for the Duc de Villars and Prince Eugene, a slight campaign of maneuver began. Villars and French would march south and try to outpace the Germans or trick them into leaving a crossing ill-defended. Prince Eugene, however, was still in his prime and was able to match Villars march for march
[11]. In the meantime, the Germans were busy repairing and improving the Rhenish fortifications such as the Fortress of Philippsburg and the Fortress of Kehl. Since neither army was significantly larger than the other, neither could use the threat of battle to force the other to concede ground. Thus for months the two armies marched and marched to little avail. Finally, winter arrived and offered the tired soldiers of both armies a reprieve from life on the road as each army retreated to its winter quarters.
The Rhenish portion of the Western Theatre had similarily to the Low Countries been, for the most part, uneventful. Outside of the expected loss of Lorraine, the had been no other change in territory. By the end of the campaigning season, the Duc de Villars had failed to overcome the barrier that was the Rhine and Prince Eugene had not even made the French consider leaving Lorraine. Both armies although somewhat depleted by the constant marching were still equally matched and that situation looked unlikely to change as Cardinal Fleury's government did not feel the need to draw up more soldiers to the front and the Imperial Council lacked the funds to support another army. Only a stroke of genius might be able to disrupt this flow of actions, the problem was that both commanders were geniuses so neither was likely to get outwitted.
Overall, the Western Theatre in 1727 failed to produce any decisive actions that could bring the war's end closer. This lack of action emerged mainly from the political disclination of Cardinal Fleury towards the thought a grand offensive campaign to dislodge the Viennese Alliance from either the Southern Netherlands or the Rhenish Valley and from the Anglo-Dutch absolute unwillingness to promote violence in the Southern Netherlands. On the other side, the Viennese Alliance's members of the Hapsburgs, Bavaria, and Cologne would have liked to have seen some successes but were willing to accept the result of nothingness which they received. Charles Albert, the new Governor of the Southern Netherlands, was simply happy to avoid losing his new position after just gaining it. Emperor Charles VI had prayed for a fortunate victory on the Rhine but had acquiesced to Prince Eugene's calls for a simple defensive campaign. All of this is understandable, the only real question is if there was any reason for the strategic situation of the Western Theatre to change in the campaign season that was to follow.
[1] Fleury wanted to improve France's situation, he just believed that France was in such a bad spot with its reputation that it needed to act like the good guy to improve its situation. Fleury was still willing to push for the ambitions of the House of Bourbon but he wanted to do it in a subtle, slight fashion. If Fleury could get France Lorraine without raising alarm then that's exactly what he would do. Fleury, however, is not the kind to push for the annexation of the Southern Netherlands, Palatinate, or Catalonia.
[2] The current alliance between France, Britain, and the Dutch Republic had been arranged personally by Townshend. The alliance was not arranged with the full parliament or even the full government being aware. The rest of parliament still accepted the alliance, of course, but at the same time its, not something which they or the new prime minister, Compton, were personally involved with creating. So although Britain is happy to have France on its side, it still has concerns.
[3] Similar to in the War of the Polish Succession, Fleury wants to keep the war limited and quiet in regards to France. If there are no major battles then that's a victory for Fleury's France, because it means no one is looking towards what France and its military are doing.
[4] The Dutch literally flooded half their country and underwent a political revolution due to their fear of France in 1672. For the next three decades, the Dutch Republic was ruled by William III who personally disdained France and his disdain towards France seeped down into the Dutch Republic's various politicians. Even after William was dead the Dutch spent over a decade fighting France in the Low Countries, on the doorstep of the Republic. The only war in which the Dutch have been allied to the French was the War of the Quadruple Alliance against Spain for the purpose of upholding the Treaty of Utrecht which the Dutch hold on to dearly. In this war, the French are once again fighting the Hapsburgs which could mean French gains in the Low Countries or Rhine, which the Dutch absolutely do not want. Which is why the Dutch are acting in such uncooperative and distrustful fashion towards the French.
[5] OTL Maria Elisabeth was quite the independent governor. She independently suspended and closed the Ostend Company since it was located in the Southern Netherlands. Because the Hapsburgs gave up on the Ostend project to gain British acceptance of the Pragmatic Sanction and because there were no pressing concerns in the Southern Netherlands the Hapsburgs allowed Maria Elisabeth to govern till her death. TTL the Ostend Company is still alive, there is a real war, and the Hapsburgs want to further tie Charles Albert to them which leads to Maria Elisabeth's dismissal.
[6] Overall, Charles Albert is a legitimate candidate who checks a lot of boxes.
[7] Most of the participants in the OTL War of the Austrian Succession just wanted to receive a slice of the Hapsburg inheritance, they didn't care how they gained that slice. Frederick the Great for example offered to ally with Maria Theresa if she should give up Silesia. Throughout the war, Charles Albert tried to negotiate with Maria Theresa.
[8] The Treaty of Westphalia closed the Scheldt River to the Southern Netherlands which extremely limited its trading ability and allowed the rise of the north. Once the Southern Netherlands were unleashed in the form of Belgium they were able to surpass the Netherlands.
[9] The march refers to Marlborough's march to Blenheim.
[10] OTL this motivated Fleury against attacking the Imperial states during the War of the Polish Succession, TTL it also motivates Fleury's policy.
[11] OTL Prince Eugene's defense of the Rhine in the War of the Polish Succession was inadequate as his mental state has significantly deteriorated in the time leading up to the war. TTL Prince Eugene's mind is still sound and he is able to match Villars and prevent the fall of the Rhenish fortresses.
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) and his enemies in the Supreme Privy Council are free to work against him. So what he needs is a short and preferably glorious affair. Getting bogged down in the Northern Germany/Denmark just to return to Karl Frederic his lost possessions definitely does not fit the description.
