Essay example --

The First Silesian War The First Silesian War inaugurated, and is generally seen in the context of, the wider ranging War of the Austrian Succession. It owed its origins to the Pragmatic Sanction of 19 April 1713 whereby the Habsburg emperor Charles VI decreed the imperial succession arrangements as set out in his will, according precedence to his own daughters over the daughters of his (by now deceased) elder brother Joseph I. This proved prescient: in May 1717 the emperor’s own eldest daughter was born and on his death in 1740, she duly succeeded as Archduchess of Austria as well as to the thrones of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within the Habsburg Monarchy as Queen Maria Theresa. During the emperor’s lifetime the Pragmatic Sanction was generally acknowledged by the Imperial States; however, upon his death it was promptly contested both by the Hohenzollern scion Frederick II, who had just ascended the throne of the King in Prussia, and by the Wittelsbach elector Charles Albert of Bavaria. While Charles launched a claim to the Imperial throne and the Habsburg territories, King Frederick II aimed at the annexation of the Silesia, a Bohemian crown land since 1526. Frederick based his demands on a 1537 inheritance treaty of the Silesian duke Frederick II of Legnica with the Hohenzollern elector Joachim II of Brandenburg, whereby the Silesian duchies of Legnica, WoÅ‚Ã ³w, and Brzeg were to pass to the Electorate of Brandenburg on the extinction of the Silesian Piasts. The Bohemian king Ferdinand of Habsburg, aware of the Hohenzollern ambitions, had immediately rejected the agreement; nevertheless, in 1675 the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg raised claim to the principalities, when with the death of Duke George Will... ...ides, and in this war, they supported Prussia against their former allies the Austrians. After battles in 1761–1762 went well for Russian and Austrian forces, in January 1763 Russia had suddenly abandoned Austria after the rise of Peter III who recalled his army from within Berlin and Pomerania upon the death of Queen Elizabeth of Russia Peter was soon assassinated and Catherine the Great succeeded him and could once again bring Russia into an alliance. Peace talks that were already in progress, war had ended in February 1763. worse for Austria, Peter had mediated an agreement between Prussia and Sweden, allowing Frederick II's forces to consolidate his position and bolster Prussia's claims in January and February. All these events were against Austria's interests. Consequently, Prussia was then confirmed with her Silesian possessions in the Treaty of Hubertusburg.