32.3 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 7/28)

Saxony served as a battleground for many of the Prussian campaigns and in the Second Silesian War of 1744 Frederick II took 80,000 men through Saxony to invade Bohemia.

Shortly thereafter Saxony joined an alliance with Austria, England and Holland against Prussia, again on the wrong side, so that at the Treaty of Dresden, Saxony was forced to pay Prussia 1,000,000 rix dollars. Once again in the Third Silesian War (the Seven Years War) Frederick invaded Saxony with 67,000 men and defeated the combined Austrians and Saxons, taking 18,000 of the latter as prisoners. At the final peace, however, the original status of Saxony was preserved. In the War of the Bavarian Succession (1778) Saxony even joined Prussia, with Prince Henry joining Frederick in another invasion of Bohemia, but no real battles with the Austrians developed. For the remainder of the century, Saxony continued to oppose the grandiose schemes of Emperor Joseph.

Hanover

In this century Hanover, in northern Germany, had about as much power as Denmark, Prussia or Saxony. Its status was helped when George, the Elector of Hanover, became George I of England. He never did like the English, nor they him, although they would take any sovereign Protestant over a Catholic. George spent most of his time in Hanover and used the English navy and money to try to make Sweden negotiate peace with Denmark and the German states on the Baltic. (Ref. 131 )

Lesser states of germany

Like Bavaria, Baden and Wuerttenberg became battlefields at the end of the century as the French forces fought Austria. Throughout these years, although their princes had difficulty acknowledging it, these lesser states of Germany lost more and more power and influence. The Rhineland of west Germany became the first industrial area, with the first steam engine installed in a lead mine near Duesseldorf in the Duchy of Berg in 1751. (Ref. 8 )

Austria | hungary | czechoslovakia

Although all German states were nominally subject to the Holy Roman Empire, the real heart was the Austro-Hungary-Bohemia region, ruled by the Habsburgs in Vienna. In 1711 Austria lost 300,000 people to the Black Death and another Turkish army was near their border. The latter were put to rout by Prince Eugene of Savoy, who had become a great militarist for the Habsburgs. His success at this time was in part due to Austrian cavalry using fine Arabian horses. (Ref. 260 ) Emperor Joseph I, the elder son of Leopold, had a premature death and Karl (Charles), trained to become king of Spain, now had to be Austria's emperor as Karl (Charles) VI. Raised as a Spaniard, he remained such. The Spanische Reitschule (Spanish Riding Academy) is a remnant of his Spanish court. His death in 1740 marked the end of the male line of the Austrian Habsburgs, but it was the beginning of Austria's greatest era. (Ref. 181 ) Interpreting Karl's death as indicating a coming weakness in the empire, Frederick II of Prussia was tempted to move on Silesia for the First Silesian War