MARIA THERESA. 



685 



was conquered by the French and Bavarians, and 

 the elector (November 19) was crowned king of 

 Bohemia. He was likewise crowned emperor of 

 Germany, at Frankfort, February 12, 1742, and took 

 the name of Charles VII. But his troops were 

 defeated near Scharding (January 23, 1742), and the 

 electorate occupied by Khevenhiller, who gave up 

 the land to be plundered by his army, and entered 

 Munich upon the same day upon which Charles was 

 crowned emperor. Frederic II., alarmed for Silesia, 

 in consequence of the progress of the Austrians, put 

 an end to the truce, pressed forward to Iglau, 

 invaded Austria, and his hussars spread terror even 

 to the gates of Vienna. He was obliged to retire, 

 and Maria Theresa rejected his renewed proposals 

 for peace ; but the victory of Frederic at Chotusitz 

 (May 17) hastened the conclusion of the preliminaries 

 of peace, at Breslau (June 11. 1742). The queen 

 ceded Upper and Lower Silesia and the county of 

 Glatz, with the exception of the principalities of 

 Teschen, Jagerndorf, and Troppau, and the moun- 

 tains on the other side of the Oppa. The definitive 

 peace was signed the 28th July, under the guarantee 

 of England. From this time, the arms of Austria 

 were victorious ; prince Charles of Lorraine drove 

 back the French to Braunau, and blockaded Prague. 

 The general opinion that the balance of Europe 

 depended upon the continuance of the house of 

 Austria, excited England to arm for Maria Theresa, 

 and Holland paid her subsidies. In Italy, the king 

 of Sardinia, injured by Spain, became reconciled to 

 Maria Theresa (who ceded to him a part of Milan), 

 and supported the Austrian arms against Spain and 

 France. The internal condition of the latter coun- 

 try, and the age of the prime minister, cardinal 

 Fleury, induced this statesman to think of peace. 

 Maria Theresa rejected the proposed conditions. 

 MaHlebois, the French commander, received, there- 

 fore, orders to press forward from Westphalia to 

 Prague. But prince Charles of Lorraine went to 

 meet him with a part of his army, and Maillebois 

 was compelled to give up his intention of relieving 

 Prague. Belle-Isle, however, escaped by artifice 

 with the greater part of his garrison, out of the 

 famished city, and marched to Eger. The whole of 

 Bohemia was now, as far as Eger, in the power of 

 Austria, and Maria Theresa was (May 12) crowned 

 queen of Bohemia. 



After the death of Fleury (January 9, 1743), the 

 cause of Austria triumphed throughout Europe. 

 England granted new subsidies, and Sardinia re- 

 ceived 200,000 in order to support the queen of 

 Hungary. The States-General supplied 6000 aux- 

 iliary troops. The French were now driven out of 

 the Upper Palatinate, by prince Charles of Lorraine, 

 and the Bavarians, beaten in their own territories a 

 short time before, conquered by him. The emperor, 

 Charles VII., concluded, therefore, with the queen 

 of Hungary, a treaty of neutrality, according to the 

 terms of which he delivered to her, until a general 

 peace, his hereditary states, and renounced his right 

 of succession to the Austrian territories. The vic- 

 tory of the so called pragmatic army, consisting of 

 English, Hanoverians, Austrians, and Hessians, over 

 the French, at Dettingen on the Maine (June 27, 

 1743), where George II. of Britain fought in person, 

 confirmed the queen and her allies still more in the 

 determination to humble France. But through a 

 want of unanimity, the plan, that prince Charles of 

 Lorraine should enter France, was frustrated. The 

 emperor Charles VII., stripped of his states, had 

 settled, with George II., the preliminaries of peace, 

 according to which he broke off his connexion with 

 France, and agreed to other stipulations favourable 

 tor the court of Vienna. In return for these, he was 



to be recognised as emperor, and, for the support of 

 his dignity and for the recovery of his states, was to 

 receive subsidies. George promised to obtain Maria 

 Theresa's consent, but she insisted on the deposition 

 of Charles, and wished to retain Bavaria. As little 

 was she inclined to transfer to the king of Sardinia the 

 provinces promised him in the Milanese. Sardinia 

 assumed, therefore, a threatening position. This and 

 the representations of Britain compelled the queen, 

 at length, to compliance. She gave up to Sardinia 

 the province of Vigevano, together with some other 

 districts, relinquished her claims on the margraviate 

 of Finale, and gave to king Charles Emanuel III. the 

 chief command of 30,000 Austrian troops in Italy. 

 But in spite of this, as well as of the previous victory 

 of the Austrians near Campo Santo, over the Span- 

 iards (Feb. 8, 1743), the Spanish and French, under 

 the Infant don Philip, subjected all Savoy. As now 

 prince Charles of Lorraine could not effect his en- 

 trance into France, he returned to Vienna, where he 

 married the archduchess Maria Anna, the sister of 

 Maria Theresa, and received, as the reward of his 

 service, the general government of the Netherlands. 

 Until 1744, Britain and France had fought against 

 each other as auxiliaries to the chief contending 

 parties. Now followed a formal declaration of war 

 on the side of France, as well against Britain (March 

 15) as against Austria (April 11). The French con- 

 quered the most important fortresses in the Nether- 

 lands, and marshal Saxe threatened to subdue the 

 whole country, when prince Charles of Lorraine fell 

 upon Alsace. Already the Austrian light cavalry 

 had spread terror to the gates of Luneville, and king 

 Stanislaus was compelled to fly from the place. The 

 king of France, nevertheless, prepared a great force 

 to meet the prince, and Charles was recalled, in 

 order to oppose the king of Prussia, who had again 

 taken up arms. The proud and passionate Maria 

 Theresa had refused to acknowledge the-emperor at 

 the diet of Frankfort. Moreover, she let her pur- 

 pose be too plainly seen of holding Bavaria, of 

 making conquests in France and Italy, of again 

 taking Silesia, and, in connexion with Saxony and 

 Britain, of dividing the Prussian states. Frederic, 

 therefore, in order to anticipate her, and for the 

 defence of the emperor, formed (May 22, 1744) with 

 the emperor, with France, the elector of the Palatin- 

 ate, and the king of Sweden, as landgrave of Hesse, 

 a union at Frankfort. Accordingly, in August, he 

 made an irruption into Bohemia, with 80,000 men, 

 conquered Prague and the whole province upon the 

 east side of the Moldau. The Bavarian and Hessian 

 troops, at the same time, pressed forward into Bava- 

 ria, and placed the emperor again in possession of 

 his capital. The terror of them spread even to 

 Vienna, but Maria Theresa remained unshaken. She 

 animated her Hungarians at the diet of Breslau, and 

 these, assisted by Saxony and the Austrians, hurried 

 to the deliverance of Bohemia. Charles of Lorraine 

 also hastened out of Alsace and Lorraine, to the 

 borders of Bohemia, and the Prussians were again 

 compelled to quit the kingdom. On the other hand, 

 France conquered Freiburg, the Austrian bulwark on 

 the west, and pressed forward into the Netherlands. 

 Even in Itary, the Austrian commander, prince 

 Lobkowitz, after he had driven back the Spaniards, 

 and almost made prisoner don Carlos, king of Naples, 

 near Belletre, was compelled to retreat to Lombaidy, 

 on account of a want of troops. But the death of 

 Charles VII. (Jan. 20, 1745) opened a new field to 

 the ambition of Maria Theresa. France endeavoured 

 anew to wrest from the house of A ustria the imperial 

 throne. But the cause of Austria prevailed, in 

 spite of French artifice, at the Russian court. Bri- 

 tain also assisted the queen, Maria Theresa, again 



