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War of Austrian Succession: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Frederick the Great grabbed Silesia from a 23-year-old Maria Theresa, and Europe fought for eight years to little purpose except to make Prussia a great power.

Fought
1740 to 1748
Duration
8 years
Dates
16 December 1740 to 18 October 1748
Deaths
About 450,000 to 500,000
Anti-Habsburg side
Prussia (1740-1742, 1744-1745), France, Bavaria, Spain, Saxony (to 1743), Naples, Genoa
Habsburg side
Austria, Britain, Hanover, Dutch Republic, Sardinia, Saxony (from 1743), Russia (1748)
Result
Prussia keeps Silesia; Maria Theresa keeps the rest; Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle

The War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) began when Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia in December 1740, weeks after Maria Theresa inherited the Habsburg lands under the Pragmatic Sanction her father had spent decades securing. France, Bavaria, Saxony and Spain joined in to dismember Austria; Britain, the Dutch and Sardinia backed Maria Theresa. Frederick won at Mollwitz, Chotusitz, Hohenfriedberg and Soor and kept Silesia; the Bavarian elector was briefly emperor; George II fought at Dettingen; Saxe beat the Allies at Fontenoy and overran the Austrian Netherlands; the Jacobite '45 diverted Britain. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) restored the status quo except for Silesia and left everyone dissatisfied.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is War of the Austrian Succession. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

800100012001400160018002000War of the Austrian Succession (1740 to 1748)Open: Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire (800 to 1806)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: First French colonial empireFirst French colonial empire (1534 to 1814)Open: Northern WarsNorthern Wars (1554 to 1721)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Deccan warsDeccan wars (1680 to 1707)Open: Great Northern WarGreat Northern War (1700 to 1721)Open: War of the Spanish SuccessionWar of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714)Open: Russian EmpireRussian Empire (1721 to 1917)Open: Maratha invasions of BengalMaratha invasions of Bengal (1741 to 1751)Open: Seven Years' WarSeven Years' War (1756 to 1763)Open: Austro-Hungarian EmpireAustro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918)

Prussian territory and population

Silesia added about a third to Prussia's population and much of its industry.

037.575112.5150Area 1740: 100100Area 1740Area 1748: 130130Area 1748Population 1740: 100100Population 1740Population 1748: 145145Population 1748index (1740 = 100)

Timeline of the War of the Austrian Succession

  1. 1740
    Charles VI dies; Frederick invades Silesia
  2. 1741
    Mollwitz; Prague falls to Bavaria and France
  3. 1742
    Charles VII emperor; Peace of Breslau
  4. 1743
    Dettingen
  5. 1745
    Fontenoy; Hohenfriedberg; Peace of Dresden; Culloden
  6. 1747
    Lauffeld; Bergen-op-Zoom
  7. 1748
    Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle

Silesia and the collapse of the Habsburg position

Charles VI died in October 1740 leaving his daughter the Habsburg lands and an empty treasury. Frederick, newly king, seized rich Silesia and won at Mollwitz in April 1741 (he fled the field before his infantry won it). Charles Albert of Bavaria claimed the inheritance and, with French armies, took Prague and was crowned Emperor Charles VII in 1742. Maria Theresa appealed to the Hungarian diet, which voted men, and bought Frederick off with Silesia at Breslau (1742) to fight the rest.

Dettingen, Fontenoy and Frederick's return

Austrian armies retook Bohemia and overran Bavaria; George II led the 'Pragmatic Army' to victory at Dettingen in 1743, the last time a British king commanded in battle. Alarmed by Austrian success, Frederick re-entered the war in 1744 and, after Charles VII's death, won at Hohenfriedberg and Soor and made a final peace at Dresden (1745) with Silesia confirmed and Maria Theresa's husband Francis elected emperor. In the Netherlands Marshal Saxe beat Cumberland at Fontenoy (1745), Rocoux and Lauffeld and took Brussels and Bergen-op-Zoom; Britain crushed the Jacobites at Culloden.

Aix-la-Chapelle

In Italy Spain and France fought Austria and Sardinia to a draw; overseas the British took Louisbourg and the French Madras, and swapped them back. Exhausted, the powers made peace at Aix-la-Chapelle in October 1748: mutual restoration, Silesia to Prussia, Parma to a Spanish Bourbon, the Pragmatic Sanction recognised. Maria Theresa never forgave the loss of Silesia and rebuilt her state to recover it; the resulting Diplomatic Revolution and Seven Years' War followed within eight years.

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8 surprising things about the War of the Austrian Succession

  1. Frederick, aged 28, wrote that Silesia was taken for 'ambition, interest, the desire to make people talk about me'.
  2. Maria Theresa's appeal to the Hungarian nobles, holding her infant son, produced the cry 'Our lives and blood for our king' (they called her king).
  3. Dettingen was the last battle in which a British monarch fought in person; Handel wrote a Te Deum for it.
  4. At Fontenoy the French and British Guards reportedly invited each other to fire first.
  5. The war's American theatre, King George's War, saw New Englanders take the great fortress of Louisbourg, then furious when it was handed back.
  6. The War of Jenkins' Ear between Britain and Spain, begun over a captain's severed ear, merged into the wider war.
  7. Bonnie Prince Charlie's 1745 rising was France's attempt to distract Britain and got within 200 km of London.
  8. The war's peace was so unsatisfying that Frenchmen said 'bete comme la paix', stupid as the peace.

Sources

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