An Introduction to the History of Western Europe Part 55

[Sidenote: The War of the Austrian Succession.]

France, stimulated by Frederick's example, joined with Bavaria in the attack upon Maria Theresa. It seemed for a time as if her struggle to maintain the integrity of her realm would be vain; but the loyalty of all the various peoples under her scepter was roused by her extraordinary courage and energy. The French were driven back, but Maria Theresa was forced to grant Silesia to Frederick in order to induce him to retire from the war. Finally, England and Holland joined in an alliance for maintaining the balance of power, for they had no desire to see France annex the Austrian Netherlands. On the death of the emperor Charles VII (1745), Maria Theresa's husband, Francis, duke of Lorraine, was chosen emperor. A few years later (1748) all the powers, tired of the war, laid down their arms and agreed to what is called in diplomacy the _status quo ante bellum_, which simply means that things were to be restored to the condition in which they had been before the opening of hostilities.

[Sidenote: Frederick promotes the material development of Prussia.]

[Sidenote: Frederick and Voltaire.]

Frederick was, however, permitted to keep Silesia, which increased his dominions by about one third of their former extent. He now turned his attention to making his subjects happier and more prosperous, by draining the swamps, promoting industry, and drawing up a new code of laws. He found time, also, to gratify his interest in men of letters, and invited Voltaire, the most distinguished writer of the eighteenth century, to make his home at Berlin. It will not seem strange to any one who knows anything of the character of these two men, that they quarreled after two or three years, and that Voltaire left the Prussian king with very bitter feelings.[361]

[Sidenote: The Seven Years' War.]

202. Maria Theresa was by no means reconciled to the loss of Silesia, and she began to lay her plans for expelling the perfidious Frederick and regaining her lost territory. This led to one of the most important wars in modern history, in which not only almost every European power joined, but which involved the whole world, from the Indian rajahs of Hindustan to the colonists of Virginia and New England. This Seven Years' War (1756-1763) will be considered in its broader aspects in the next chapter. We note here only the part played in it by the king of Prussia.

[Sidenote: The alliance against Prussia.]

Maria Theresa's amba.s.sador at Paris was so skillful in his negotiations with the French court that in 1756 he induced it, in spite of its two hundred years of hostility to the house of Hapsburg, to enter into an alliance with Austria against Prussia. Russia, Sweden, and Saxony also agreed to join in a concerted attack on Prussia. Their armies, coming as they did from every point of the compa.s.s, threatened the complete annihilation of Austria's rival. It seemed as if the new kingdom of Prussia might disappear altogether from the map of Europe.

[Sidenote: Frederick's victorious defense.]

However, it was in this war that Frederick earned his t.i.tle of "the Great" and showed himself the equal of the ablest generals the world has seen, from Alexander to Napoleon. Learning the object of the allies, he did not wait for them to declare war against him, but occupied Saxony at once and then moved on into Bohemia, where he nearly succeeded in taking the capital, Prague. Here he was forced to retire, but in 1757 he defeated the French and his German enemies in the most famous, perhaps, of his battles, at Rossbach. A month later he routed the Austrians at Leuthen, not far from Breslau. Thereupon the Swedes and Russians retired from the field and left Frederick for the moment master of the situation.

[Sidenote: Frederick finally triumphs over Austria.]

England now engaged the French and left Frederick at liberty to deal with his other enemies. While he exhibited marvelous military skill, he was by no means able to gain all the battles in which he engaged. For a time, indeed, it looked as if he might after all be vanquished. But the accession of a new Tsar, who was an ardent admirer of Frederick, led Russia to conclude peace with Prussia, whereupon Maria Theresa reluctantly agreed to give up once more her struggle with her inveterate enemy.

[Sidenote: The kingdom of Poland and its defective const.i.tution.]

Frederick was able during his reign greatly to strengthen his kingdom by adding to it the Polish regions which had hitherto divided his possessions in Brandenburg from those which lay across the Vistula. The kingdom of Poland, which in its declining years was to cause western Europe much trouble, was shut in between Russia, Austria, and Prussia.

The Slavic population of this region had come under an able ruler about the year 1000, and the Polish kings had succeeded for a time in extending their power over a large portion of Russia, Moravia, and the Baltic regions. They had never been able, however, to establish a successful form of government. This was largely due to the fact that the kings were elected by the n.o.bles, the crown not pa.s.sing from father to son, as in the neighboring kingdoms. The elections were tumultuous affairs, and foreigners were frequently chosen. Moreover, each n.o.ble had the right to veto any law proposed in the diet, and consequently a single person might prevent the pa.s.sage of even the most important measure. The anarchy which prevailed in Poland had become proverbial.

[Sidenote: The first part.i.tion of Poland, 1772.]

On the pretense that this disorderly country was a menace to their welfare, the neighboring powers, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, agreed to reduce the danger by each helping itself to a slice of the unfortunate kingdom. This amicable arrangement resulted in what is known as the first part.i.tion of Poland. It was succeeded by two others (1793 and 1795), by the last of which this ancient state was wiped from the map altogether.[362]

[Sidenote: Achievements of Frederick the Great.]

When Frederick died (1786) he left the state which had been intrusted to him by his father nearly doubled in size. He had rendered it ill.u.s.trious by his military glory, and had vastly increased its resources by improving the condition of the people in the older portions of his territory and by establis.h.i.+ng German colonies in the desolate regions of West Prussia, which he strove in this way to bind closely to the rest of the kingdom.

General Reading.--TUTTLE, _History of Prussia_ (4 vols., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $8.25). CARLYLE, _Frederick the Great_ (3 vols., Chapman, $2.25). LONGMAN, F.W., _Frederick the Great_ (Charles Scribner's Sons, $1.00). RAMBAUD, _History of Russia_ (2 vols., Coryell & Co., $2.00). For Peter the Great and his Age, WALISZEWSKI, _Life of Peter the Great_ (D. Appleton & Co., $2.00).

For the Seven Years' War and France, PERKINS, _France under Louis XV_ (2 vols., Houghton, Mifflin & Co., $4.00).

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

THE EXPANSION OF ENGLAND

203. In the last chapter we reviewed the progress of affairs in eastern Europe and noted the appearance of two new and important powers, Prussia and Russia, which, together with Austria, were engaged during the eighteenth century in extending their bounds at the expense of their weak neighbors, Poland and Turkey.

[Sidenote: In the eighteenth century England lays the foundation of her commercial greatness.]

In the west, England was rapidly becoming a dominant power. While she did not play a very important part in the wars on the continent, she was making herself mistress of the seas. At the close of the War of the Spanish Succession her navy was superior to that of any other European power, for both France and Holland had been greatly weakened by the long conflict. Fifty years after the Treaty of Utrecht, England had succeeded in driving the French from both North America and India and in laying the foundation of her vast colonial empire, which still gives her the commercial supremacy among the European countries.

[Sidenote: Questions settled by the accession of William and Mary.]

With the accession of William and Mary, England may be regarded as having practically settled the two great questions which had produced such serious dissensions during the previous fifty years. In the first place, the nation had clearly shown that it proposed to remain Protestant; and the relations between the Church of England and the dissenters were gradually being satisfactorily adjusted. In the second place, the powers of the king had been carefully defined, and from the opening of the eighteenth century to the present time no English monarch has ventured to veto an act of Parliament.[363]

[Sidenote: Queen Anne, 1702-1714.]

[Sidenote: The union of England and Scotland, 1707.]

William III was succeeded in 1702 by his sister-in-law, Anne, a younger daughter of James II. Far more important than the war which her generals carried on against Spain was the final union of England and Scotland. As we have seen, the difficulties between the two countries had led to much bloodshed and suffering ever since Edward I's futile attempt to conquer Scotland.[364] The two countries had, it is true, been under the same ruler since the accession of James I, but each had maintained its own independent parliament and system of government. Finally, in 1707, both nations agreed to unite their governments into one. Forty-five members of the British House of Commons were to be chosen thereafter in Scotland, and sixteen Scotch lords were to be added to the British House of Lords. In this way the whole island of Great Britain was placed under a single government, and the occasions for strife were thereby greatly reduced.

[Sidenote: Accession of George I (1714-1727), the first of the house of Hanover.]

Since none of Anne's children survived her, she was succeeded, according to an arrangement made before her accession, by the nearest Protestant heir. This was the son of James I's granddaughter Sophia. She had married the elector of Hanover[365]; consequently the new king of England, George I, was also elector of Hanover and a member of the Holy Roman Empire.

[Sidenote: The king ceases to attend the meetings of the cabinet, which comes to be regarded as the real governing body.]

The new king was a German who could not speak English and was forced to communicate with his ministers in bad Latin. The king's leading ministers had come to form a little body by themselves, called the _cabinet_. As George could not understand the discussions he did not attend the meetings of his ministers, and thereby set an example which has been followed by his successors. In this way the cabinet came to hold its meetings and transact its business independently of the king.

Before long it became a recognized principle in England that it was the cabinet that really governed rather than the king; and that its members, whether the king liked them or not, might retain their offices so long as they continued to enjoy the confidence and support of Parliament.

James I (1603-1625) | +------------------+------------+ | | Charles I Elizabeth, m. Frederick V, (1625-1649) | Elector of the | | Palatinate | | (Winter King +--------+-------------------+ | of Bohemia) | | | Charles II (1) Anne Hyde, m. James II, m. (2) Mary of Sophia, m. Ernest (1660-1685) | (1685-1689) | Modena | Augustus, | | | Elector of +-------+-----+ | | Hanover | | | | William III, m. Mary Anne | | (1689-1702) (1689-1694) (1702-1714) | George I | (1714-1727) | | | George II James (the (1727-1760) Old Pretender) | | Frederick, | Prince of Wales Charles Edward (d. 1751) (the Young Pretender) | | George III (1760-1820)

[Sidenote: England and the 'balance of power.']

204. William of Orange had been a continental statesman before he became king of England, and his chief aim had always been to prevent France from becoming over-powerful. He had joined in the War of the Spanish Succession in order to maintain the "balance of power" between the various European countries.[366] During the eighteenth century England continued, for the same reason, to engage in the struggles between the continental powers, although she had no expectation of attempting to extend her sway across the Channel. The wars which she waged in order to increase her own power and territory were carried on in distant parts of the world, and more often on sea than on land.

[Sidenote: Peace under Walpole as prime minister, 1721-1742.]

For a quarter of a century after the Treaty of Utrecht, England enjoyed peace.[367] Under the influence of Walpole, who for twenty-one years was the head of the cabinet and the first to be called "prime minister,"

peace was maintained within and without. Not only did Walpole avoid going to war with other countries, but he was careful to prevent the ill-feeling at home from developing into civil strife. His principle was to "let sleeping dogs lie"; so he strove to conciliate the dissenters and to pacify the Jacobites,[368] as those were called who still desired to have the Stuarts return.

[Sidenote: England in the War of the Austrian Succession.]

[Sidenote: 'Prince Charlie,' the Young Pretender, in Scotland.]

When, in 1740, Frederick the Great and the French attacked Maria Theresa, England's sympathies were with the injured queen. As elector of Hanover, George II (who had succeeded his father in 1727), led an army of German troops against the French and defeated them on the river Main.

Frederick then declared war on England; and France sent the grandson of James II,[369] the Young Pretender, as he was called, with a fleet to invade England. The attempt failed, for the fleet was dispersed by a storm. In 1745 the French defeated the English and Dutch forces in the Netherlands; this encouraged the Young Pretender to make another attempt to gain the English crown. He landed in Scotland, where he found support among the Highland chiefs, and even Edinburgh welcomed "Prince Charlie." He was able to collect an army of six thousand men, with which he marched into England. He was quickly forced back into Scotland, however, and after a disastrous defeat on Culloden Moor (1746) and many romantic adventures, he was glad to reach France once more in safety.

205. Soon after the close of the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, England entered upon a series of wars which were destined profoundly to affect not only her position, but also the fate of distant portions of the globe. In order to follow these changes intelligently we must briefly review the steps by which the various European states had extended their sway over regions separated from them by the ocean.

[Sidenote: Colonial policy of Portugal, Spain, and Holland in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.]

The voyages which had brought America and India within the ken of Europe during the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries were, as we know, mainly undertaken by the Portuguese and Spaniards. Portugal was the first to realize the advantage of extending her commerce by establis.h.i.+ng stations in India and on the Brazilian coast of South America; then Spain laid claim to Mexico, the West Indies, and a great part of South America. These two powers found their first rival in the Dutch; for when Philip II was able to add Portugal to the realms of the Spanish monarchs for a few decades (1580-1640), he immediately closed the port of Lisbon to the Dutch s.h.i.+ps. Thereupon the United Provinces, whose merchants could no longer procure the spices which the Portuguese brought from the East, resolved to take possession of the source of supplies. They accordingly expelled the Portuguese from a number of their settlements in India and the Spice Islands and brought Java, Sumatra, and other tropical regions under Dutch control.[370]