Part #5: A Race to Arms
From “A History of France's Ancien Regime”
Louis XV, while his ministers and his army was unhappy with the way the war ended, couldn’t have been happier with the result and was quite delighted to attain peace in his kingdom. He wasn’t a bloodthirsty absolute monarch who cared nothing for his society as some future portrayals among those in France would show, but really a king following in his father’s footsteps. Louis XIV had been the genesis of the absolute monarch and an inspiration for enlightenment leaders everywhere, who wanted to emulate the ‘Sun King’. So his great-grandson, with all the same form, did not rule with a minister or a court, but he himself would make all of the final decisions relating to the welfare of his nation. Louis knew of the slow declining financial straits his ‘perfect hexagonal’ Kingdom. In striving to perfect his realm, he sought and worked to reform the tax code, which up until that point had very much favored towards the rich, wealthy aristocratic patrons of France. But nonetheless, when he tried to tax the wealthy further, he faced opposition from the Grand Parlement of Paris, led by the gentry, who painted themselves as the saviors of the traditions of France against the arbitrary whims of a monarch. How ironic that history sees this in an entirely different light.
Still the domestic troubles and the dreams of reform in France quieted as the real problems for the Kingdom were beginning. The enmity between their neighboring great superpower, the Kingdom of Great Britain was still warm from the treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle and soon to heating up again. Preparations were to be made and war was soon to come again to the nation of France and it's people. This war, far larger than the previous one, would prove to be decisive to the integrity of his reign…
*
“British Politics: 1688-1788” By William Thomas Jennings
The British government came out of the War of Austrian Succession as well as it could have given the lackluster performance in the war. William Pulteney, although sustaining several bad losses in the early stages of the war, redeemed themselves on the continent at Fontenoy and a few victories in Italy. The colonial misfortunes were not on the part of British incompetence; it was sheer cunning of Dupleix that led to his victory to take Madras and an insufficient New Englander garrison at Louisburg. But regardless, this war was regarded as a success but did nothing to resolve any of the longstanding struggles between France and Britain.
Pulteney became Prime Minister under extraordinary circumstances. He had to negotiate the return of King George II and then used the outrage of the British people to force all of the bickering factions to cooperate with each other. But now that the war was over, he had a serious problem. He was seen as being far too cordial with George’s son, Frederick the Prince of Wales, whom George detested. The King also held clout with many of the more conservative politicians of the time period and would’ve made his government entirely unworkable.
But Pulteney had a trick up his sleeve. He appointed Lord Cartertet the Secretary of State for the Southern Department. He had been present with the King at the Battle of Dettingen and was quite grateful to Pulteney for his handling of the crisis. He had been in opposition with Walpole for quite some time and had made acquaintances with him. He also detested Prince Frederick and was a close confidant to King George II (because both spoke in German together often). This unlikely ally helped him to distance himself from both the patriots and the Pelham’s former supporters. This also split the opposition into two parts, a first in parliamentary procedure. The New Patriots opposing on one side, led by the young Paymaster-General William Pitt and his ally Henry James Fox and the conservative Whigs on the other side, led by Thomas Pelham-Holmes and his young protégé, Frederick North.
Despite their divisions, Pulteney’s parliament managed to pass through the Act of Toleration in 1754, which began to return some rights to non-Anglican Protestants, while still recognizing the Anglican Church as supreme. He also managed to pass the Jew Naturalization Act of 1754, in recognition of their loyalty during the Jacobite rebellions. The former Act was an incredibly popular move to the many German Calvinists and Lutherans as well as many French Huguenots residing in Britain, all escaping persecution on the continent. The latter Act made many London Jews begin to worship openly and encourage their brethren to come to the newly tolerant London. While George II was very opposed to both, Lord Cartertet, knowing it was necessary for his ministry to continue managed to get him to begrudgingly allow it to pass above the objections of the Tories and the King. There were the inevitable street riots by some more cantankerous Protestants but they quickly died down. He also received the support of the New Patriots completely and used these Acts to show he was still in solidarity to these men.
On foreign policy, Pulteney did share the ideas of some of his New Patriot supporters that they should abandon the continent entirely and focus on the Indian and North American fronts. But he still needed to appease George II and Lord Cartertet, who both wanted to protect Hanover at any cost. It had been costly to subsidize all of those imperial troops to protect the lands and Austria was naturally unwilling to protect Hanover. While it seemed like searching for new allies would be difficult, the exceedingly complex diplomacy of the mid-1700’s made the decision for them…
*
From “Portugal in the Seventeenth Century”
The Aftermath of the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was massive and shook the declining Kingdom of Portugal from its slumber. From the horrifying carnage of a devastated city, one of Portugal’s greatest leaders emerged, Sebastiao Jose Malo. Joseph I, the King of Portugal had always liked this young, energetic man who had a certain hunger that his other noble ministers lacked. This was because Melo was a commoner at birth and worked hard to achieve the position he had and eventually in 1738, he was appointed the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Many of Joseph's ministers did not make it out of the destruction wrought on the city but luckily Malo escaped with the King and was at his side throughout the incredibly traumatic ordeal. When the night passed and the next day rose to a desolated city, Joseph asked Malo what was to be done, and the Minister replied “Bury the Dead and heal the Living...”. With those simple words, Malo would lead a swift recovery and rebuilding operation to restore Lisbon to it's former glory. While Malo did try to make the city as safe as possible; building the first earthquake-proof buildings, Joseph would be permanently stationed outside the city, in a complex series of beautifully colored tents and huts. This new court soon became the center for Portuguese life.
Soon after the reconstruction efforts began, the King was so impressed by Malo's leadership that he bestowed a title on him, the Marquis of Pombal and officially gave him the post of Prime Minister. This cemented their friendship and marked an age of Portuguese restoration. Unfortunately it would also spell doom for Joseph's life. The nobility of Portugal already did not like Joseph because he did not produce a male heir and therefore designated his eldest daughter as the inheritor to the throne while several Portuguese noblemen were connected to the royal family and had more tenuous claims to the throne. But the deliberate antagonism of giving Pombal, a commoner the highest government position in the Nation was simply one violation too many.
A cadre of aristocratic families sought to kill both Joseph and the Princess, leaving Pombal with no allies and giving one charismatic leader, Francisco the Marquis of Tavora the throne. They hired two assassins to kill them simultaneously and then the plan would be put into place. It was decided that he would be killed while traveling, so they could place the blame on simple highway robbery while the young heiress could be blamed on a simple fever and sickness; rather than the poison that would actually kill her.
So in June of 1757, a group of assassins posing as highwaymen attacked the Royal Caravan of Joseph I; catching the Royal Guard by surprise and killed the King. The Assassins tried to flee but one was captured by the remnant of the Guard and was dragged back to Lisbon. The other assassins, poised to kill the Heiress, was too afraid to do anything and abandoned their plot. Pombal was furious beyond measure, for Joseph was his close personal friend and he had suspicions that it was deliberate murder. He mercilessly tortured the man until he gave away his true purpose (to murder the King and the Heiress) and who employed him, the Tavora family.
The new queen was shocked that she was to be murdered by a power hungry aristocratic family and gave Pombal all of the freedom that her father afforded him. Pombal was as heavy handed as he could be with the Tavora family, killing everyone including the women and children. Pombal became even more of a de-facto dictator with the young afraid queen and a complaint populace.
It was in this atmosphere, Pombal sought to make Portugal strong again. He decided to renew his alliance with the British Empire, built up his navy and upgraded colonial defenses throughout the Portuguese Empire. His domestic reforms were very important as well. He reformed the tax code and tried to create a secular schooling system by expelling the Jesuits. He also tried to expel the Jesuits in South America as well where they owned massive missions. Who would take over these missions would prove to propel Portugal to war and the Marquis de Pombal to greatness...
*
From “The Seventeen Provinces: A history of the Republic of the Netherlands”
The Dutch had been reasonably successful in the War of Austrian Succession, having stopped the French in Flanders with the British at Fontenoy. But the French raids on Bruges and even to Antwerp in 1746 and 1747 destroyed Dutch garrisons and though these defeats were not strategically important, they awoke several important leaders to reform the Dutch army along French and Prussian lines in order to increase their power and efficiency. Still, the successful defense of the Austrian Netherlands gave the Grand Pensionary of the Republic, Anthonie Van Der Heim a very strong position to govern. Though he was not a dynamic leader, he was held as a compromise candidate in 1736 between the Republican forces and those of the Orangists. Now with his successful defense of the Netherlands, he was untouchable.
But even with this reasonable success in the War of Austrian Succession, Van Der Heim looked at the declining economic standing of the Dutch Republic very seriously. The French and British financial systems had already overtaken the financial system of Amsterdam and now it's trading fleets were being overtaken by the large empires being built around the Netherlands. Slowly it was draining the once great trading empire of the Dutch because heavy borrowing had been siphoning the wealth of the Netherlands to the Bank of England. Van Der Heim saw this around him and knew something had to change. He tried to remove the corruption and excessive taxation on the wealthy burghers and aristocrats. This made him incredibly popular among the shopkeepers and merchantmen.
He was also able to complete the first government investigation into the Dutch East India Company after the 1740 Chinese massacre at Batavia. He was doing this to try and remove the stranglehold the company and business interests held over the Netherlands. Inadvertently however, the reorganization he forced upon the Dutch East India Company actually made them far more profitable than before. Trade now didn’t have to go to Batavia before going back to the Dutch Republic. Trade volumes and the shares of the company went up. While this made the wealthy wealthier; it also gave the government and the Dutch economy some desperately needed growth and stability.
Knowing that further wars would only weaken the merchant marine and further deplete the state's coffers, The Grand Pensionary instead decided to pursue a policy of neutrality going forward. Everyone in Europe knew that another conflict was brewing between the Great Powers and although it would take some time to build up, it would happen. Neutrality however would give the merchant fleet a chance to build the prosperity of the Dutch Empire. Ultimately Van Der Heim made an incredibly good decision in staying out of this latest and incredibly destructive conflict...
*
From “Europe in the Early Modern World”
The Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle did almost nothing to solve any of the long-term conflicts between the Great Powers of Europe; so, looking back into the mists of history, it seems as though conflict between them on a wider scale was almost inevitable.
The key pivot point was Maria Teresa, the Empress of Austria. She had spent her entire reign dealing with the ulcer in the stomach of her Holy Roman Empire, Prussia. During the War of Austrian Succession, Frederick II inflicted an incredible defeat at the battle of Hohenfriedburg, which had sealed Prussia’s control of the territory of Silesia that it so desperately coveted. Now, as we know, it was because of the Prussian army’s incredible prowess and advanced technique. But in Maria Teresa’s eyes, it was merely a matter of alliances.
The French were the biggest backers of Prussia and showed how decisive their support was in the Battle of Dettingen, where French forces were able to route the Pragmatic army and ultimately leave central Germany completely exposed. Maria Teresa knew that in order to truly end the upstart Prussia, she would have to ensure that they would no longer intervene on Prussia’s behalf. So in 1753, she decided to send secret diplomatic overtures to Paris to see under what conditions they would support Maria Teresa in the next conflict with Prussia.
She also understood that it would be downright impossible to try and fully ally with France and retain the British as one as well. The enmity and even downright hatred between those two nations and their global empires was intense and while Maria Teresa was a diplomatic genius, it would eventually take incredible events to end those two nation’s rivalry. This was increasingly evident when her diplomats returned with the news that Louis XV wanted Austrian neutrality or even an Austrian alliance only if they could receive assistance in invading Hanover. Nevertheless, when she thought hard about it, she needed Britain as well. They protected the Austrian Netherlands well at the Battle of Fontenoy and if she could ensure French neutrality, she could make sure the British don’t support Prussia with subsidies or even troops. The British, however, only wanted her procession of Hanover on the continent protected by imperial and even Austrian troops. Austria, wanting to focus on Silesia, certainly did not want to tie up its troops defending an almost useless possession to appease an ally. This situation seemed to perplex Maria Teresa, which seemingly hamstrung her attempts to isolate Prussia.
Enter Empress Elizabeth and Russia. While Maria Teresa was reluctant to protecting Hanover herself, she certainly would allow Russian troops to pass through her territory to do the same. Russia wanted to annex East Prussia and then trade the territory to Poland for the Duchy of Courland. She would be the first to admit that this ingenious compromise wasn’t exactly her idea; it had first come from her chief foreign minister Wenzel Anton Graf Kaunitz. He had originally been an opponent of the Anglo-Austrian alliance but his heart had changed in 1744, as he was the minister of the Austrian Netherlands at the time of the Battle of Fontenoy. The Duke of Cumberland’s defense showed him the Britain could be a valuable ally and he wanted to work towards keeping them that way. These negotiations, which were usually spied upon had to be kept incredibly secret as the details were hammered out in Parliament, led by William Pulteney between the years of 1752 to 1755. While they were initially unhappy with the idea of Russian troops protecting British lands, as they had a reputation for being barbarous, ultimately Kaunitz convinced them it was worth it. Frederick, if he ever found out, would certainly immediately declare war on any number of the powers conspiring against him. Still, during this time he seemed oblivious, believing France to remain as one of his main allies.
Maria Teresa had, in a short time, achieved her goal. She ensured that France would essentially leave Prussia’s side, or at least not support Prussia when the invasion of Silesia would come. She made sure that Prussia was entirely surrounded by enemies and filled with Russian troops. It was unorthodox and certainly quite different at time, using Russian troops to protect a British possession in the Holy Roman Empire. But Maria Teresa was willing to go great lengths to destroy Prussia and now that it seemed completely isolated, she had a right to be fairly confident that when the next war broke out, Silesia could be regained and the threat of the Hohenzollern dynasty could be permanently extinguished from the Holy Roman Empire.
But as Great Men know, the course of history is nearly impossible to completely divert the way you wish…