Text | Xiangjie Knowledge Bureau
Editor | Xiangjie Knowledge Bureau
Preface
The First Silesian War was a war between Prussia and Austria, which lasted from 1740 to 1742. The result was that Prussia seized most of Silesia from Austria.
The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia, and formed a theater of the wider War of the Austrian Succession.
This was the first of three Silesian Wars fought between Frederick the Great 's Prussia and Maria-Theresa 's Austria. All three wars ended with Prussia taking control of Silesia.
There is no special triggering event that causes the war. Prussia cited its centuries-old dynastic claims to parts of Silesia as justification, but realpolitik and geostrategic factors also played a role in provoking the conflict.
Maria Theresa's disputed succession to the Habsburg monarchy provided Prussia with an opportunity to strengthen itself against regional rivals such as Saxony and Bavaria.
The war began with Prussia's invasion of Habsburg Silesia at the end of 1740 and ended with Prussia's victory. The Treaty of Berlin in 1742 recognized Prussia's seizure of most of Silesia and part of Bohemia.
Meanwhile, the wider War of the Austrian Succession continued, and the conflict over Silesia would see Austria and Prussia again become embroiled in the Second Silesian War two years later.
The First Silesian War marked the unexpected defeat of the Habsburg monarchy by a smaller German power and set in motion the Austrian-Prussian rivalry that would influence German politics for more than a century.
Background and Reasons
At the beginning of the 18th century, Brandenburg-PrussiaThe ruling Hohenzollern familyhad multiple principalities in the Habsburg province of Silesia. The area had a large population and prosperous economy, and was adjacent to Prussia's core territory of the Margrave District of Brandenburg.
In addition to its value as a source of tax revenue, industrial output (especially minerals), and military personnel, Silesia was of great geostrategic importance to the belligerents. The Upper Oder Valley formed a natural military corridor between Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the Marquisate of Moravia, allowing whichever country held the territory to threaten its neighbors.
Silesia also lies on the northeastern border of the Holy Roman Empire, allowing its controllers to limit the influence of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Russian Empire within Germany.
Brandenburg-Prussian claims
Brandenburg-Prussian claims in Silesia were based in part on the 1537 Treaty of Succession between Duke Frederick II of Legnica and Prince Elector Joachim II of Brandenburg.
According to this treaty, if the Piast dynasty of Silesia fell, the Silesian duchies of Lignitz, Warau and Brig would be transferred to the Hohenzollern of Brandenburg.
At that time, the Habsburg King Ferdinand I of Bohemia refused to accept the agreement and forced the Hohenzollern family to abandon the agreement.
In 1603, Joachim III-Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg of Hohenzollern, independently inherited the Duchy of Jaegerdorf in Silesia from his cousin, Margrave George-Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and made his son Johann-Georg the Duke.
During the Bohemian Revolt of 1618 and the subsequent Thirty Years' War, John George joined the Silesian estates in revolting against the Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.
After the Catholic victory at the Battle of the White Mountains in 1621, the emperor confiscated John George's duchy and refused to return it to his heirs after his death, but the Hohenzollern family of Brandenburg continued to claim itself as the rightful ruler of Jaegerdorf.
In 1675, when the Silesian Piast family came to an end with the death of Duke Georg-William of Liegnitz, the "Grand Prince" Frederick-William of Brandenburg made a claim to Liegnitz, Warau and Brieg, but the Habsburg emperor ignored the Hohenzollerns' claims and the lands were bequeathed to the crown.
In 1685, when Austria was involved in the Great Turkish War, Emperor Leopold I gave Elector Frederick William immediate control of the Silesian enclave of Schwebs in exchange for military support for the Turks and the surrender of Hohenzollern's pending claims in Silesia.
After the accession of the Elector's son and successor, Frederick III of Brandenburg, the Emperor regained control of Schwibs in 1694, claiming that the territory was merely a life estate assigned personally to the late Elector.
As a young prince, Frederick III had secretly agreed to this repossession in exchange for Leopold paying some of his debts, but as monarch he repudiated this agreement and reaffirmed the old Hohenzollern claims to the estates of Yegeldorf and Silesian Piast.
The Austrian Succession
Two generations later, the newly crowned Prussian King Frederick II of Hohenzollern made plans for Silesia soon after he succeeded to the throne in May 1740.
Frederick believed that his dynastic claims were credible and that he had inherited from his father a large and well-trained Prussian army and a healthy royal treasury.
Austria was in financial difficulties at the time, and its army performed poorly in the 1737-1739 Austro-Turkish War and was not strengthened and reformed. The strategic situation in Europe was favorable for attacking Austria. Britain and France occupied each other's attention in the War of Jenkins' Ear, and Sweden was also at war with Russia.
The electors of Bavaria and Saxony also had claims on Austria and seemed likely to join the attack. While the Hohenzollerns' dynastic claims provided a legal justification, realpolitik and geostrategic considerations played a dominant role in provoking the war.
The death of Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in October 1740 without a male heir provided an opportunity for Brandenburg-Prussia to stake its claim.
According to the Pragmatic Sanctions of 1713, Charles identified his eldest daughter Maria Theresa as the heir to his hereditary title. After his death, she officially became ruler of Austria and the lands of Bohemia and Hungary under the Habsburg monarchy.
During the lifetime of Emperor Charles, pragmatic sanctions were generally recognized by the states of the empire, but after his death they were quickly contested by Prussia, Bavaria, and Saxony.
Frederick saw a favorable opportunity to seize Silesia from the female inheritance in Austria. In a letter to Voltaire in 1740, he called this "a signal to completely change the old political system."
He argued that pragmatic sanctions would not apply to Silesia because the Habsburgs regarded it as part of the imperial domain rather than as a hereditary property. Frederick also argued that his father, King Frederick William I, had agreed to the Sanctions in exchange for Austrian support for the Hohenzollern claims to the duchies of Jülich and Berg, which had yet to materialize.
Meanwhile, Prince Charles Albert of Bavaria and Prince Frederick Augustus II of Saxony were each married to Maria Theresa's cousins of a high-ranking branch of the Habsburg family, and they used these relationships to prove their claims to Habsburg territory in the absence of male heirs.
Frederick Augustus, who ruled Poland in a personal capacity, was particularly interested in gaining control of Silesia in order to join his two kingdoms into a contiguous territory; Frederick's concern to prevent this outcome prompted him to act hastily against Austria when the disputed succession presented an opportunity.
Actions to War
As Prussia relaunched its Silesian claims and prepared for war against Austria, several other European states took similar actions. Charles Albert of Bavaria made claims to the imperial throne and the Habsburg territories of Bohemia, Upper Austria and Tyrol, while Frederick Augustus of Saxony made claims to Moravia and Upper Silesia.
The Kingdom of Spain and Naples hoped to seize the Habsburg possessions in northern Italy, while France, which regarded the Habsburgs as a traditional rival, sought to control the Austrian Netherlands.
The Electorate of Cologne and the Electorate of Palatine joined these states to form an alliance known as the Nymphenburg League, which aimed to weaken or destroy the Habsburg monarchy and its dominance over the German states.
Austria was supported by Britain and eventually Savoyard-Sardinia and the Dutch Republic; the Russian Empire under Empress Elisabeth also indirectly sided with Austria in the wider conflict by going to war against Sweden.
Maria Theresa's purpose in the conflict was: first, to protect her hereditary lands and titles; second, to win or force support for her husband, Duke Francis-Stephen of Lorraine, to be elected Holy Roman Emperor and defend her family's traditional dominant position in Germany.
After the death of Emperor Charles on October 20, Frederick quickly decided to strike first; on November 8 he ordered the mobilization of the Prussian army, and on December 11 he issued an ultimatum to Maria Theresa, demanding the cession of Silesia.
In return, he offered to guarantee the immunity of all other Habsburg possessions from any attack, pay substantial cash compensation, recognize the Pragmatic Sanctions, and give his vote as Elector of Brandenburg to Maria Theresa's husband in the imperial elections. Without waiting for a response, he and his troops advanced toward Silesia.
Early Modern Warfare
Early modern European warfare was characterized by the widespread use of firearms combined with more traditional edged weapons. European armies in the 18th century were built around large infantry units equipped with smoothbore flintlock muskets and bayonets.
Cavalry is equipped with saber and pistols or carbine ; light cavalry is mainly used for reconnaissance, screening and tactical communications, while heavy cavalry is used as a tactical reserve and is deployed for shock attacks. The smoothbore cannon provides fire support and plays a leading role in siege warfare.
Strategic warfare during this period revolved around the control of key fortifications in order to command surrounding areas and roads, with lengthy sieges a common feature of armed conflict. Decisive field battles were relatively rare, although they played a greater role in Frederick's theory of war than was typical among his contemporary opponents.
The Silesian Wars, like most European wars of the 18th century, were fought as so-called cabinet wars, in which disciplined regular armies, equipped and supplied by the state, fought on behalf of the monarch's interests.
Occupied enemy territory is often taxed and extorted for funds, but mass atrocities against civilians are rare compared to conflicts of the past century. Military logistics were a decisive factor in many wars, as armies became too large to sustain long-term operations by foraging and plundering alone.
Munitions were stored in centralized ammunition depots and distributed by baggage trains that were extremely vulnerable to enemy attack. Troops, often unable to sustain combat operations during the winter, typically establish winter garrison locations during the cold season and resume operations when spring returns.
