The war for the Bavarian inheritance, or the war for the inheritance of the Bavarian throne , was also referred to in Prussia and Saxony as the “potato war” ( German Kartoffelkrieg ), and in Austria “tsvetgenrumel” ( German Zwetschgenrummel - literal translation: plum bazaar) [1] [ 2] - a military conflict caused by the claims of Austria on the lower Bavaria and Upper Palatinate , declared in 1777, when as a result of suppression of the Bavarian line of the Wittelsbach , represented by the Elector Maximilian Joseph , Bayern moved under the terms of Paviyskogo contract to Palatinate Wittelsbach , whether in e Elector Palatine Carl Theodor . After the death of a childless Bavarian elector, Maximilian III Joseph of the Wittelsbach family, at the end of 1777 , the Austrian government obtained from his successor, elector of the Palatinate Karl Theodor, consent to transfer about 40% of all Bavarian lands to Austria. [3] Emperor Joseph II , widower of the Elector Maximilian’s younger sister, easily convinced the Wittelsbach, Karl Theodor, childless and indifferent to the benefits of other lines, to recognize Austria’s right to possess Lower Bavaria, and some other parts of the inheritance, after which Emperor Joseph took over in January 1778 these areas by their troops.
Territorial conflicts themselves were not an exceptional occurrence in the German nation, which suffered from the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire . However, a feature of this conflict, which distinguished it from a series of similar clashes, was the struggle between Austria and Prussia for hegemony in the empire.
History
The claims of Austria, which sought to compensate for territorial losses (first of all, the loss of Silesia during the Silesian Wars ) and to strengthen its influence in the empire in this way, came up against the opposition of most German rulers, primarily the Prussian King Frederick II , who saw this as dangerous. including for himself, the strengthening of the power of the Austrian House. Frederick II considered both his own business and that of Germany, even that of all of Europe, to take a direct part in the fate of Bavaria. He entered into a relationship with the Duke of Zweibruecken, Charles , representative of the rights of the other line of the Palatinate House, and the heir to Bavaria, in the event of the termination of the Palatinate-Neuburg family with the death of childless Karl Theodor, and persuaded him to express displeasure at the deal between the Emperor and Elector, and promised him his help .
After the Austrian Emperor Joseph II persuaded the Palatinate Elector Karl Theodor to voluntarily cede the Bavarian territories in exchange for the Austrian Netherlands , fixed in the so-called Vienna Convention on January 3, 1778, Karl Zweibrucken, at the suggestion of the King of Prussia, declared his claims and openly requested the defense of Prussia . After this, Frederick II received the right of direct mediation in the case of Bavaria. Confident of Russia's disposition, secured by France, whose policy was aimed at participating in the war of the American colonies with England, and secured by the latter that this war required all its efforts and attention, Frederick II starts the war with confidence in success against Austria in July 1778.
The course of the war
At the same time, the emperor was preparing to approve what he had acquired by contract with the force of arms: Austrian troops from Hungary, Italy and Flanders converged to the borders of Prussia, occupying the following location: 30,000 men under the command of Prince Saxe-Teschen , in a fortified camp near Heidelnitz in Moravia; 90,000 people, under the personal leadership of the Emperor, in Bohemia, on the right bank of the Elbe, occupied the fortified line between Koniggretz and Arnau ; and 45,000 people under the command of Laudon , on the left bank of the Elbe, covering the passages through the Ore Mountains from Leitmeritz to Teplice .
Frederick II put up two armies against him of 80,000 men each: the first, under the command of Prince Henry , concentrated near Berlin , for operations in Saxony; from the second he himself entered Silesia, and settled down a fortified camp near Piskovits in the county of Glatz. From here began a fierce correspondence between the Prussian king and the emperor.
Meanwhile, Maria Theresa , dissatisfied with the restless enterprise of her son, sent, without his knowledge, her minister Tugut , for negotiations with Frederick II. Joseph II, learning about this, announced to his mother that his legs would not be in Vienna if she made peace with the King of Prussia, and as a result of this, the continuation of the war was decided.
In early August 1778, Frederick II invaded Bohemia through Nachod , and was located in full view of the Austrians, between Koniggretz and Jaromir . Prince Henry, reinforced by 18,000 Saxons, penetrated from Luzis through Humburg to Velvarn (3 miles from Prague), which forced Laudon to retreat to Munich ; a separate Prussian corps occupied Austrian Silesia.
But then hostilities ceased: both enemies, wary of each other, spent time in marches and counter-marches and in small cavalry matters. The Germans called this war potato, or plum because idle troops exterminated more potatoes and plums than the enemy. From its very beginning, the opponents fought not so much with each other as with the troubles of supplying their troops, soldiers had to eat one potato.
Meanwhile, the elderly Frederick, heavy with age, did not find pleasure in the battles and dangers of war; at the same time, Maria Theresa urged her son to keep up with the dangerous enterprise. No significant collisions occur. At the same time, France and especially Russia persistently offered their mediation to reconcile the emperor and the Prussian king, threatening, in case of refusal, to take the side of the latter. A truce was concluded in March 1779, and a congress was opened in Tesen, where on May 13, 1779 the Teshen peace was concluded, the conditions of which were that Austria receives from Bavaria a small district lying between the Danube, Inn and Salz, but forever refuses of all his further claims to Bavaria, and recognizes the inheritance law of the House of Palatinate-Zweibrucken. Russia, France and the Imperial Sejm take upon themselves the guarantee of compliance with the treatise.
See also
Notes
- ↑ Gregory Kvasha. Theory of War . - Litres, 2017-09-05. - 409 p. - ISBN 5457078302 .
- ↑ Anton Antonovich Kersnovsky. History of the Russian Army Part (volume) I. - Multimedia publishing house Strelbitsky, 2016-03-28. - 549 p.
- ↑ A.M. Prokhorov. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - Third edition. - Moscow: "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1970. - 632 p.
Literature
- Bavarian legacy // Military Encyclopedia : [in 18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
- Bavaria // Military Encyclopedia : [18 vol.] / Ed. V.F. Novitsky [et al.]. - SPb. ; [ M. ]: Type. t-va I. D. Sytin , 1911-1915.
- Encyclopedia of Military and Naval Sciences / Compiled under the general editorship of Lieutenant General G. A. Leer , Honored Professor of the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff . - SPb. : printing house V. Bezobrazova and Co. °. - T. 1.
- Military encyclopedic lexicon (in 14 volumes). The second revised edition under the general guidance of M. I. Bogdanovich. St. Petersburg, 1852-1858. Volume 2