II. No, I don't Wanna be Friends
The Great Silesian War was largely a matter of chance and time. Ludwig Karl had devoted the first two years of his reign to massive reforms of the military, in particular reforms which would make the Austrian military a fully professional force. This he had good reason to do - he envied and feared the Prussian military, first under the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I, then under Friedrich II. In many respects Friedrich and Ludwig Karl, and some say that this is exactly what made them such bitter enemies. Friedrich had almost no justification for war, but he wanted to challenge Hapsburg power, and to gain the rich territory of Silesia for the Prussian Crown.
In the former motive, he colluded with France, which also wished to check the power of the Hapsburg dynasty, and the latter he thought of as now-as-never due to Ludwig Karl's reforms. He also estimated Ludwig Karl as weak due to his combat inexperience. It is thus not too hard to see why Friedrich, on a hot June morning, invaded Silesia. This action of sudden attack, without seeming pretext, was to be repeated two centuries later (but by another nation), and begin the Second Great War. When the news hit Ludwig Karl, he reportedly leapt into action, the war he had been waiting for for years had finally arrived.
The initial skirmishes were minor and inconclusive as blue-coated Prussian regiments marched into Silesia and Ludwig Karl mustered his full might for a hammer-blow right at the Prussian armies. Meanwhile, the war of Jenkins' Ear (which had been raging for a year beforehand) was subsumed into the wider pattern of war. As the year continued, Ludwig Karl won a battle at Breslau, however it was not to decide the war.
In 1741, the fighting continued with new ferocity. Ludwig Karl began his campaign as soon as the snow cleared, and pressed on with a fervent power that caught Friedrich very much by surprise. Ludwig Karl had come to see himself as the Prussian King's personal nemesis, and sent the full might of his armies straight at him, beginning the Battle of Neisse. Ludwig Karl led multiple cavalry charges at Friedrich's lines during the battle, and seemingly miraculously survived. Friedrich himself almost died several times during the campaign of 1741. Neisse was inconclusive, but Ludwig Karl was fuelled by sheer determination to, in his words, 'teach the Prussian upstart a vital lesson'.
1742 was a year that went by with little incident. But in 1743, the nature of the war changed completely. Friedrich made for Breslau again, but was intercepted on the way by Ludwig Karl's troops. Thus, just outside the city, began the great Battle of Breslau. Ludwig Karl threw himself time and time again at the enemy, at the last breaking their lines with one mighty charge. Friedrich was cut off from retreat, and Ludwig Karl was in no mood for mercy. The King and his Guard fought with great courage, cut off and surrounded. But following a last desperate attempt to break through, they were slain to the last.
The death of Friedrich resulted in Prussia leaving the war, but Ludwig Karl was forced to head south as news of a French army near Vienna reached him. Ludwig Karl defeated the French as they neared Vienna, but the war was far from over.
The final battle of the war was in 1747, after which France agreed to a peace.
However the war, no matter how great it might have seemed, would be as nothing compared to the wars which would close this century.
