Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY
- CHAPTER II THE GROWTH OF OVERSEAS COMMERCE AND EUROPEAN MANUFACTURE
- CHAPTER III THE SOCIAL CLASSES AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE STATES
- CHAPTER IV THE VISUAL ARTS AND IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
- CHAPTER V THE ENLIGHTENMENT
- CHAPTER VI RELIGION
- CHAPTER VII MONARCHY AND ADMINISTRATION
- CHAPTER VIII THE ARMED FORCES AND THE ART OF WAR
- CHAPTER IX INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- CHAPTER X THE DECLINE OF DIVINE-RIGHT MONARCHY IN FRANCE
- CHAPTER XI ENGLAND
- CHAPTER XII THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND ITALY
- CHAPTER XIII THE ORGANISATION AND RISE OF PRUSSIA
- CHAPTER XIV RUSSIA
- CHAPTER XV SCANDINAVIA AND THE BALTIC
- CHAPTER XVI POLAND UNDER THE SAXON KINGS
- CHAPTER XVII THE HABSBURG DOMINIONS
- CHAPTER XVIII THE WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
- CHAPTER XIX THE DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION
- CHAPTER XX THE SEVEN YEARS WAR
- CHAPTER XXI THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
- CHAPTER XXII RIVALRIES IN AMERICA
- CHAPTER XXIII RIVALRIES IN INDIA
- CHAPTER XXIV ECONOMIC RELATIONS IN AFRICA AND THE FAR EAST
CHAPTER XIX - THE DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY
- CHAPTER II THE GROWTH OF OVERSEAS COMMERCE AND EUROPEAN MANUFACTURE
- CHAPTER III THE SOCIAL CLASSES AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE STATES
- CHAPTER IV THE VISUAL ARTS AND IMAGINATIVE LITERATURE
- CHAPTER V THE ENLIGHTENMENT
- CHAPTER VI RELIGION
- CHAPTER VII MONARCHY AND ADMINISTRATION
- CHAPTER VIII THE ARMED FORCES AND THE ART OF WAR
- CHAPTER IX INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
- CHAPTER X THE DECLINE OF DIVINE-RIGHT MONARCHY IN FRANCE
- CHAPTER XI ENGLAND
- CHAPTER XII THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND ITALY
- CHAPTER XIII THE ORGANISATION AND RISE OF PRUSSIA
- CHAPTER XIV RUSSIA
- CHAPTER XV SCANDINAVIA AND THE BALTIC
- CHAPTER XVI POLAND UNDER THE SAXON KINGS
- CHAPTER XVII THE HABSBURG DOMINIONS
- CHAPTER XVIII THE WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION
- CHAPTER XIX THE DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION
- CHAPTER XX THE SEVEN YEARS WAR
- CHAPTER XXI THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AMERICAN COMMUNITIES
- CHAPTER XXII RIVALRIES IN AMERICA
- CHAPTER XXIII RIVALRIES IN INDIA
- CHAPTER XXIV ECONOMIC RELATIONS IN AFRICA AND THE FAR EAST
Summary
From the beginning of modern European history the antagonism of France and the house of Habsburg had been axiomatic. The reconciliation of these Powers is therefore usually regarded as the greatest of all diplomatic revolutions. Austria broke off her entente with Britain while France renounced her alliance with Prussia in 1756. During the War of the Austrian Succession the old alliances had not run smoothly. Britain and Austria had agreed that the Dutch had let them down, but had agreed in nothing else. Britain complained that the Austrians had demanded extortionate subsidies, had never kept their contingents up to the stipulated strength, and had concentrated on the war in Germany. Austria retorted that Britain had never given her adequate support, had forced her by threats to make territorial concessions to her enemies, had broken Carteret's promises to secure compensation for Austrian losses and had finally deserted her altogether. A new element had however appeared during the war which was to modify Anglo-Austrian relations. Prussia had emerged with startling suddenness as a Great Power and the era of ‘dualism’ had begun in Germany. This did not merely make Austria a less powerful and efficientally, but gave Britain what she had not hitherto had—an alternative to the Austrian alliance against France. All through the war some British politicians had advocated the substitution of alliance with Prussia for alliance with Austria. Even those who did not go so far as this admitted the ‘lameness’ of the old system, caused by Prussian desertion, and made frantic and unavailing efforts to bring about a genuine reconciliation between the two German Great Powers.
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- The New Cambridge Modern History , pp. 440 - 464Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1957
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