War of the Austrian Succession
When Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI died in October 1740, Frederick II of Prussia immediately invaded Silesia, triggering a general European conflict over Maria Theresa's right to succeed to the Habsburg dominions. France, driven by traditional anti-Habsburg policy and the ambitions of the maréchal de Belle-Isle, entered the war in 1741 on Prussia's side, deploying armies in Bohemia and eventually capturing Brussels in 1746. Despite these tactical successes, France found itself fighting Britain at sea and in North America while sustaining ruinous continental campaigns, and at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 1748) France returned all its conquests — Madras, the Austrian Netherlands — without gaining a single territorial concession, prompting Voltaire's devastating characterisation of the peace as 'bête comme la paix' (stupid as the peace). The war consumed an estimated 1.3 billion livres, drove French state debt to new levels, and demonstrated the structural impossibility of maintaining both a continental army and a competitive navy against Britain without either a sound tax base or reliable public credit.
- Year: 1740 CE
- Category: Military
