1.
Greater Poland Civil War
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The death of Casimir III the Great in 1370 marked the end of the Piast dynasty in Poland. He was succeeded by Louis I of Hungary of the Angevin dynasty, Louis death in 1382, without a male heir, left a power vacuum. The different factions in Poland could not agree on the succession, the faction gathered around the Grzymała clan supported Sigismund, while the Nałęcz clan instead favored the Duke of Masovia, Siemowit IV. As the clans in Greater Poland warred, those in Lesser Poland succeeded in gathering support for a different solution, in 1384, Louis 10-year-old daughter Jadwiga was crowned King of Poland, upon the condition that the Polish-Hungarian Union was dissolved. Her coronation marked the end of most civil war hostilities, Norman Davies notes that the disappointed candidates battled each others candidacy into oblivion. As Jadwigas fiance, William, Duke of Austria, was unpopular in Poland. Jagiełło had just emerged victorious from a war in Lithuania. Their marriage began the period of the Polish-Lithuanian Union and the ascension of the Jagiellon Dynasty to the thrones of Poland, the war is said to have been bloody, Davies writes of much slaughter, and Sobczak notes that entire clans perished in it. Duchy of Greater Poland Warfare in Medieval Poland Jerzy Łojko, wojna domowa w Wielkopolsce w latach 1382—1385. M. Palczewski, Walka Siemowita IV o tron Polski, Prace Naukowe WSP w Częstochowie, Seria, Zeszyty Historyczne, nr 1, Częstochowa 1993, s
2.
Siege of Danzig (1734)
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The Siege of Danzig of 1734 was the Russian encirclement and capture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth city of Danzig during the War of Polish Succession. It was the first time that troops of France and Russia had met as foes in the field. Augustus II of Saxony, who had ruled as King of Poland for most of the years since 1697, died on February 1,1733. Russia, the Habsburgs, and Saxony, desiring a monarch over whom they would have more influence, on September 30 a Russian army of 20,000 under Peter Lacy arrived in Warsaw, and on October 6 a second sejm proclaimed Augustus III king. In addition to 4,500 regular troops stationed in the city, general Lacy, required to leave large garrisons to deal with Stanisławs partisan supporters, marched 12,000 men to Danzig, which he began to besiege on February 22,1734. Cardinal de Fleury, Louis XVs chancellor, ordered a fleet to the Baltic in support of Stanisław. Departing Brest on August 31,1733, a fleet of fourteen ships arrived at Copenhagen on September 20. The fleet was recalled before it became clear that Stanisław would need some sort of assistance, over the objections of Frances ambassador to Denmark, Louis Robert Hyppolite de Bréhan, Count Plélo. On March 17 Marshal Münnich arrived with reinforcements -15,000 soldiers, the Russians made some advances, but were limited in their advances by inadequate artillery. Adam Tarło, a Stanisław supporter, led 8,000 men in an attempt to relieve the blockade, when it was learned in Paris that Stanisław was blockaded in Danzig in February 1734, a second relief fleet was organized. While Plélo requested fifteen to twenty thousand troops, at first only two ships under Commodore Barailh were sent with 1,800 men under Pérouse La Motte and these troops were landed at Weichselmünde on May 11. Four days later, Pérouse La Motte abandoned the position, declaring it untenable, there Count Plélo insisted that action be taken, and, reinforced by the arrival of three more ships, the fleet returned to Danzig, landing the troops on May 24. On May 27, in the first recorded meeting of French and Russian troops, this attempted to storm the Russian entrenchments. Barailh returned to Copenhagen, but not before two of his captured the Russian frigate Mittau, this ship was eventually exchanged for the captured French troops. Danzig capitulated unconditionally on June 30, after sustaining a siege of 135 days, Danzig had suffered considerable damage and was also required to pay reparations to the victors. Disguised as a peasant, Stanisław had contrived to escape two days before the citys surrender, in the Ukraine, Count Nicholas Potocki hoped to support Stanisław by joining up with a force of some 50,000 guerillas operating in the countryside around Danzig. However they were scattered by the Russians, and France refused to send any additional support. Stanisław formally renounced his claim on January 26,1736, following the surrender, some of the Russian forces were sent further west to assist Austria in the defense of the empire against French military action in the Rhine River valley
3.
Rhineland
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The Rhineland is the name used for a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine River, chiefly its middle section. In the High Middle Ages, numerous Imperial States along the river emerged from the stem duchy of Lotharingia. The term covered the whole occupied zone west of the Rhine including the bridge-heads on the eastern banks, after the collapse of the French dominated West Bank in the early 19th century, the regions of Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg were annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1822 the Prussian administration reorganized the territory as the Rhine Province, following the First World War, the western part of Rhineland was occupied by Entente forces, then demilitarized under the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. German forces remilitarized the territory in 1936, as part of a diplomatic test of will, stretching down to the North Palatine Uplands in the south, this area, except for the Saarland, more or less corresponds with the modern use of the term. The southern and eastern parts are mainly hill country, cut by valleys, principally the Middle Rhine up to Bingen and its Ahr, Moselle. The border of the North German plain is marked by the lower Ruhr, in the south, the river cuts the Rhenish Massif. The area encompasses the western part of the Ruhr industrial region, toponyms as well as local family names often trace back to the Frankish heritage. The lands on the shore of the Rhine are strongly characterised by Roman influence. In the core territories, large parts of the population are members of the Catholic Church. On the right bank of the Rhine, between the Main and the Lahn, were the settlements of the Mattiaci, a branch of the Germanic Chatti, while farther to the north were the Usipetes and Tencteri. Julius Caesar conquered the tribes on the left bank, and Augustus established numerous fortified posts on the Rhine. The Frankish conquerors of the Rhenish districts were singularly little affected by the culture of the Roman provincials they subdued, by the 8th century the Frankish dominion was firmly established in western Germania and northern Gaul. On the division of the Carolingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun the part the province to the east of the fell to East Francia. As the central power of the Holy Roman Emperor weakened, the Rhineland split up into small independent principalities, each with its separate vicissitudes. After the Imperial Reform of 1500/12, the territory was part of the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian, Upper Rhenish, aachen was the place of coronation of the German emperors, and the ecclesiastical principalities of the Rhine played a large role in German history. At the Peace of Basel in 1795, the whole of the bank of the Rhine was taken by France. The population was about 1.6 million in small states
4.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
5.
Treaty of Vienna (1738)
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Written in latin, the Treaty of Vienna or Peace of Vienna was signed on 18 November 1738. It was one of the last international treaties written in Latin and it ended the War of the Polish Succession. By the terms of the treaty, Stanisław Leszczyński renounced his claim on the Polish throne and recognized Augustus III, as compensation he received instead the Duchy of Lorraine and Bar, which was to pass to France upon his death. Francis Stephen, who was the Duke of Lorraine, was indemnified with the vacant throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, France also agreed to the Pragmatic Sanction in the Treaty of Vienna. In another provision of the treaty, the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were ceded by Austria to Duke Charles of Parma and Piacenza, the younger son of King Philip V of Spain. Charles, in turn, had to cede Parma to Austria, and to give up his claims to the throne of Tuscany in favor of Francis Stephen
6.
Kingdom of France
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The Kingdom of France was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the Late Middle Ages and it was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. France originated as West Francia, the half of the Carolingian Empire. A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, the territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum well into the High Middle Ages. The first king calling himself Roi de France was Philip II, France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines—the Valois and Bourbon—until the monarchy was overthrown in 1792 during the French Revolution. France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy, in Brittany and Catalonia the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France, during the Late Middle Ages, the Kings of England laid claim to the French throne, resulting in a series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years War. Subsequently, France sought to extend its influence into Italy, but was defeated by Spain in the ensuing Italian Wars, religiously France became divided between the Catholic majority and a Protestant minority, the Huguenots, which led to a series of civil wars, the Wars of Religion. France laid claim to large stretches of North America, known collectively as New France, Wars with Great Britain led to the loss of much of this territory by 1763. French intervention in the American Revolutionary War helped secure the independence of the new United States of America, the Kingdom of France adopted a written constitution in 1791, but the Kingdom was abolished a year later and replaced with the First French Republic. The monarchy was restored by the great powers in 1814. During the later years of the elderly Charlemagnes rule, the Vikings made advances along the northern and western perimeters of the Kingdom of the Franks, after Charlemagnes death in 814 his heirs were incapable of maintaining political unity and the empire began to crumble. The Treaty of Verdun of 843 divided the Carolingian Empire into three parts, with Charles the Bald ruling over West Francia, the nucleus of what would develop into the kingdom of France. Viking advances were allowed to increase, and their dreaded longboats were sailing up the Loire and Seine rivers and other waterways, wreaking havoc. During the reign of Charles the Simple, Normans under Rollo from Norway, were settled in an area on either side of the River Seine, downstream from Paris, that was to become Normandy. With its offshoots, the houses of Valois and Bourbon, it was to rule France for more than 800 years. Henry II inherited the Duchy of Normandy and the County of Anjou, and married Frances newly divorced ex-queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, after the French victory at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, the English monarchs maintained power only in southwestern Duchy of Guyenne. The death of Charles IV of France in 1328 without male heirs ended the main Capetian line, under Salic law the crown could not pass through a woman, so the throne passed to Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois
7.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
8.
Enlightenment in Spain
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The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment came to Spain in the eighteenth century with the new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last Habsburg monarch, Charles II, in 1700. Like the Spanish Enlightenment, the Spanish Bourbon monarchs were imbued with Spains Catholic identity, the Bourbon monarchs sought the expansion of scientific knowledge, which had been urged by Benedictine friar Benito Feijóo. From 1777 to 1816, the Spanish crown funded scientific expeditions to gather information about the potential wealth of the empire. Spanish scholars sought to understand the decline of the Spanish empire from its glory days. In Spanish America, the Enlightenment also had an impact in the intellectual and scientific sphere, the Napoleonic invasion of the Iberian peninsula was enormously destabilizing for Spain and the Spanish overseas empire. The ideas of the Hispanic Enlightenment have been seen as a contributor to the Spanish American wars of independence. The French Bourbons had a claim on the Spanish throne following the 1700 death of the last Hapsburg monarch, Charles II. France won War of the Spanish Succession and the Bourbon monarchy was established in Spain, once it consolidated rule in Spain, the Bourbon monarchs embarked upon a series of reforms to revitalize the Spanish empire, which had significantly declined in power in the late Hapsburg era. The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment had an impact in Spain. A cortes was convened in Cádiz, which ratified a constitution in 1812. Ferdinand VII claimed he supported the liberal constitutions, but once restored to power in 1814, he renounced it, New Spain and Peru were the exceptions, becoming independent in 1821 and 1824. Mexico briefly had a monarchy under royalist military officer turned insurgent Agustín de Iturbide, Spain was at the center of this political crisis, but it was the object not the arbiter. The vastness of the Spanish Empire in the New World, along with her naval resources, had made Spain a vital part of European power politics. If the throne of Spain was to go to a relative of the king of France, if it remained in the hands of another member of the anti-French, Austrian Habsburg dynasty, the status quo would remain. European politics during the century became dominated by establishing an orderly succession in Spain that would not alter the balance between Europes great powers. Castilian legitimists, who valued the succession of the closest heir of the king over the continuation of Habsburg rule, Spanish officials were also concerned with Spain remaining an independent country, rather than another part of the French or Austrian empires. Even so, on hearing the news that his grandson had become King of Spain, Louis XIV proclaimed, at age 17, Philip V arrived in Madrid in early 1701 without visible opposition. Philip confirmed the fueros of Catalunya and Aragon, and to all appearances the Bourbon succession was successful, the Austrian Hapsburg claimant to the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles of Austria, argued that he had been cheated out of the throne of Spain unfairly
9.
Kingdom of Sardinia
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The Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Southern Europe which existed from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. It was the state of todays Italy. When it was acquired by the Duke of Savoy in 1720, however, the Savoyards united it with their possessions on the Italian mainland and, by the time of the Crimean War in 1853, had built the resulting kingdom into a strong power. The formal name of the entire Savoyard state was the States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia and its final capital was Turin, the capital of Savoy since the Middle Ages. Beginning in 1324, James and his successors conquered the island of Sardinia, in 1420 the last competing claim to the island was bought out. After the union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile, Sardinia became a part of the burgeoning Spanish Empire, in 1720 it was ceded by the Habsburg and Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne to Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. While in theory the traditional capital of the island of Sardinia and seat of its viceroys was Cagliari, the Congress of Vienna, which restructured Europe after Napoleons defeat, returned to Savoy its mainland possessions and augmented them with Liguria, taken from the Republic of Genoa. In 1847–48, in a fusion, the various Savoyard states were unified under one legal system, with the capital in Turin, and granted a constitution. There followed the annexation of Lombardy, the central Italian states and the Two Sicilies, Venetia, in 238 BC Sardinia became, along with Corsica, a province of the Roman Empire. The Romans ruled the island until the middle of the 5th century, when it was occupied by the Vandals, in 534 AD it was reconquered by the Romans, but now from the Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantium. It remained a Byzantine province until the Arab conquest of Sicily in the 9th century, after that, communications with Constantinople became very difficult, and powerful families of the island assumed control of the land. Starting from 705–706, Saracens from north Africa harassed the population of the coastal cities, information about the Sardinian political situation in the following centuries is scarce. There is a record of another massive Saracen sea attack in 1015–16 from the Balearics, the Saracen attempt to invade the island was stopped by the Judicatus with the support of the fleets of the maritime republics of Pisa and Genoa, free cities of the Holy Roman Empire. Pope Benedict VIII also requested aid from the republics of Pisa. Even the title of Judices was a Byzantine reminder of the Greek church and state, of these sovereigns only two names are known, Turcoturiu and Salusiu, who probably ruled in the 10th century. The Archons still wrote in Greek or Latin, but one of the first documents of the Judex of Cagliari, their successor, was written in romance Sardinian language. The realm was divided into four kingdoms, the Judicati, perfectly organized as was the previous realm, but was now under the influence of the Pope. That was the cause of leading to a long war between the Judices, who regarded themselves as kings fighting against rebellious nobles
10.
Duchy of Parma
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The Duchy of Parma was created in 1545 from that part of the Duchy of Milan south of the Po River, which was conquered by the Papal States in 1512. These territories, centered on the city of Parma, were given as a fief for Pope Paul IIIs illegitimate son, Pier Luigi Farnese. In 1556, the second Duke, Ottavio Farnese, was given the city of Piacenza, becoming thus also Duke of Piacenza and he ruled until 1735 during the War of the Polish Succession, when Parma was ceded to Emperor Charles VI in exchange for the Two Sicilies. As Duke Philip, he became the founder of the House of Bourbon-Parma reigning over the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza, in 1796, the duchy was occupied by French troops under Napoleon Bonaparte, and the political situation of the State became extremely confused. Napoleon was undecided about the future of the duchy, aspiring to an engagement of the Bourbons in the European wars as his allies. Even as French laws and administration were introduced, the formal annexation to the French Empire was declared only in 1808 after the outbreak of the conflict against Bourbonic Spain. The duchy was reformed as the département of Taro, in 1814, the duchies were restored under Napoleons Habsburg wife, Marie Louise, who ruled them for the rest of her life. After Marie Louises death in 1847, the Duchy was restored to the Bourbon-Parma line, in this context, Guastalla was ceded to Modena. The Bourbons ruled until 1859, when they were out by a revolution following the French. The House of Bourbon continues to claim the title of duke of Parma to this day, prince Carlos of Bourbon-Parma has held the title since 2010. Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes, French diplomacy in the age of revolution, alessandro Cont, Il potere della tradizione. Guillaume Du Tillot e la questione della nobiltà, Nuova Rivista Storica,100,1, pp. 73-106
11.
Augustus III of Poland
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The only legitimate son of Augustus II of Poland, he followed his father’s example by joining the Roman Catholic Church in 1712. In 1719 he married Maria Josepha, daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Joseph I, chosen king by a small minority of electors on 5 October 1733, he drove his rival, the former Polish king Stanisław I, into exile. He was crowned in Kraków on 17 January 1734, and was recognised as king in Warsaw in June 1736. Augustus gave Saxon support to Austria against Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession and his last years were marked by the increasing influence of the Czartoryski and Poniatowski families, and by the intervention of Catherine the Great in Polish affairs. His rule deepened the anarchy in Poland and increased the dependence on its neighbours. The reign of Augustus witnessed one of the greatest periods of disorder in Polish history, Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II the Strong, Prince-Elector of Saxony and king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth who belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin. His mother was Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, groomed to succeed his father as king of Poland, Augustus converted to Catholicism in 1712, when publicly announced, this caused discontent among the Protestant Saxon aristocracy. Upon the death of Augustus II in 1733, Augustus inherited the Saxon electorate and was elected to the Polish throne, with the support of the Russian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire. He was opposed by the forces of Stanisław I Leszczyński, who had usurped the throne with Swedish support during the Great Northern War, reigning from 1706 until 1709, Stanisław was overthrown after the Swedish defeat at Poltava. As King, Augustus was uninterested in the affairs of his Polish–Lithuanian dominion, focusing instead on hunting, the opera, Augustus delegated most of his powers and responsibilities in the Commonwealth to Heinrich von Brühl, who served in effect as the viceroy of Poland. Augustuss eldest surviving son, Frederick Christian of Saxony, succeeded his father as Elector, a Russian-supported coup détat in Poland, instigated by the Czartoryskis, resulted in the election of Stanisław August Poniatowski as king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania on 7 September 1764. August was portrayed by Ernst Dernburg in the 1941 film Friedemann Bach, in Dresden on 20 August 1719, Augustus married Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, the eldest child of Joseph I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Bachs title of Koeniglicher Pohlnischer Hoff Compositeur is engraved on the page of Bachs famous Goldberg Variations. History of Saxony History of Poland Rulers of Saxony List of Lithuanian rulers Dresden Castle – Residence of Augustus III Bach, Johann Sebastian, Mass in B Minor, Cue points, Oregon Bach festival
12.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
13.
Holy Roman Empire
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The Holy Roman Empire was a multi-ethnic complex of territories in central Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The title was revived in 962 when Otto I was crowned emperor, fashioning himself as the successor of Charlemagne, some historians refer to the coronation of Charlemagne as the origin of the empire, while others prefer the coronation of Otto I as its beginning. Scholars generally concur, however, in relating an evolution of the institutions and principles constituting the empire, the office of Holy Roman Emperor was traditionally elective, although frequently controlled by dynasties. Emperor Francis II dissolved the empire on 6 August 1806, after the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, before 1157, the realm was merely referred to as the Roman Empire. In a decree following the 1512 Diet of Cologne, the name was changed to Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, by the end of the 18th century, the term Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation had fallen out of official use. As Roman power in Gaul declined during the 5th century, local Germanic tribes assumed control, by the middle of the 8th century, however, the Merovingians had been reduced to figureheads, and the Carolingians, led by Charles Martel, had become the de facto rulers. In 751, Martel’s son Pepin became King of the Franks, the Carolingians would maintain a close alliance with the Papacy. In 768 Pepin’s son Charlemagne became King of the Franks and began an expansion of the realm. He eventually incorporated the territories of present-day France, Germany, northern Italy, on Christmas Day of 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne emperor, restoring the title in the west for the first time in over three centuries. After the death of Charles the Fat in 888, however, the Carolingian Empire broke apart, according to Regino of Prüm, the parts of the realm spewed forth kinglets, and each part elected a kinglet from its own bowels. After the death of Charles the Fat, those crowned emperor by the pope controlled only territories in Italy, the last such emperor was Berengar I of Italy, who died in 924. Around 900, autonomous stem duchies reemerged in East Francia, on his deathbed, Conrad yielded the crown to his main rival, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, who was elected king at the Diet of Fritzlar in 919. Henry reached a truce with the raiding Magyars, and in 933 he won a first victory against them in the Battle of Riade, Henry died in 936, but his descendants, the Liudolfing dynasty, would continue to rule the Eastern kingdom for roughly a century. Upon Henry the Fowlers death, Otto, his son and designated successor, was elected King in Aachen in 936 and he overcame a series of revolts from an elder brother and from several dukes. After that, the managed to control the appointment of dukes. In 951, Otto came to the aid of Adelaide, the queen of Italy, defeating her enemies, marrying her. In 955, Otto won a victory over the Magyars in the Battle of Lechfeld
14.
Habsburg Monarchy
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The Monarchy was a composite state composed of territories within and outside the Holy Roman Empire, united only in the person of the monarch. The dynastic capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, from 1804 to 1867 the Habsburg Monarchy was formally unified as the Austrian Empire, and from 1867 to 1918 as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The two entities were never coterminous, as the Habsburg Monarchy covered many lands beyond the Holy Roman Empire, the monarchy had no official name. The entity had no official name, Austrian Empire, This was the official name. Note that the German version is Kaisertum Österreich, i. e. the English translation empire refers to a territory ruled by an emperor, Austria-Hungary, This was the official name. An unofficial popular name was the Danubian Monarchy also often used was the term Doppel-Monarchie meaning two states under one crowned ruler, Crownlands or crown lands, This is the name of all the individual parts of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary from 1867 on. The Hungarian parts of the Empire were called Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen or Lands of Holy Stephens Crown, the Bohemian Lands were called Lands of the St. Wenceslaus Crown. Burgenland came to Austria in 1921 from Hungary, Salzburg finally became Austrian in 1816 after the Napoleonic wars. Vienna, Austrias capital became a state January 1,1922, after being residence, Upper and Lower Austria, historically, were split into Austria above the Enns and Austria below the Enns. Upper Austria was enlarged after the Treaty of Teschen following the War of the Bavarian Succession by the so-called Innviertel, formerly part of Bavaria. Hereditary Lands or German Hereditary Lands or Austrian Hereditary Lands, In a narrower sense these were the original Habsburg Austrian territories, i. e. basically the Austrian lands, in a wider sense the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were also included in the Hereditary lands. The term was replaced by the term Crownlands in the 1849 March Constitution, within the Habsburg Monarchy, each province was governed according to its own particular customs. Until the mid 17th century, not all of the provinces were even necessarily ruled by the same members of the family often ruled portions of the Hereditary Lands as private apanages. An even greater attempt at centralization began in 1849 following the suppression of the revolutions of 1848. For the first time, ministers tried to transform the monarchy into a bureaucratic state ruled from Vienna. The Kingdom of Hungary, in particular, ceased to exist as a separate entity, in this system, the Kingdom of Hungary was given sovereignty and a parliament, with only a personal union and a joint foreign and military policy connecting it to the other Habsburg lands. When Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed, it was not incorporated into either half of the monarchy, instead, it was governed by the joint Ministry of Finance. Austria-Hungary collapsed under the weight of the various unsolved ethnic problems that came to a head with its defeat in World War I, to these were added in 1779 the Inn Quarter of Bavaria, and in 1803 the Bishoprics of Trent and Brixen
15.
Electorate of Saxony
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Upon the extinction of the House of Ascania, it was enfeoffed to the Margraves of Meissen from the Wettin dynasty in 1423, who moved the residence up the Elbe river to Dresden. After the Empires dissolution in 1806, the Wettin electors raised Saxony to a kingdom, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa deposed the Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1180, the Wittenberg lands belonged to Alberts youngest son Count Bernhard of Anhalt, who assumed the Saxon ducal title. Bernards eldest son, Albert I, ceded Anhalt to his younger brother Henry, retained the ducal title and his sons divided the possessions into the duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg. Louis was succeeded by the Luxembourg king Charles of Bohemia, after being crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355, Charles issued the Golden Bull of 1356, the fundamental law of the Empire settling the method of electing the German King by seven Prince-electors. In this way, the country, though small in area, the electoral dignity was connected with it the obligation of male primogeniture, that is, only the eldest son could succeed as ruler. This forbade the division of the territory among several heirs, preventing the disintegration of the country, the importance of this stipulation is shown by the history of most of the fragmented German principalities which were not electorates. Late Alberts Ascanian relative Duke Eric V of Saxe-Lauenburg protested in vain, thus, in 1423, Saxe-Wittenberg, the Margraviate of Meissen and Thuringia were united under one ruler, and the unified territory gradually received the name of Saxony. The partition decisively enfeebled the Wettin dynasty in the rivalry with the rising House of Hohenzollern, the Protestant movement of the 16th century was largely effected under the protection of the Saxon rulers. The Elector did not become at once an adherent of the new opinions, owing to his intervention, Pope Leo X decided against summoning Luther to Rome in 1518, and the Elector secured for Luther Imperial safe-conduct to the 1521 Diet of Worms. When Luther was declared to be under the ban of the empire by Emperor Charles V. Lutheran doctrines spread first in Ernestine Saxony, in 1525, Frederick died and was succeeded by his brother, John the Constant. John was followed in 1532 by his son, John Frederick the Magnanimous, in 1542, he seized the Diocese of Naumburg-Zeitz, and confiscated the secular possessions of the Dioceses of Meissen and Hildesheim. The Catholic faith was forcibly suppressed, after the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, Elector John Frederick was placed under the Imperial ban and finally defeated and captured by Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Mühlberg on 24 April 1547. In the Capitulation of Wittenberg of May 19, he was obliged to yield former Saxe-Wittenberg with the dignity to his Albertine cousin Duke Maurice. The Saxon Electorate after the Wittenberg Capitulation consisted of former Saxe-Wittenberg and Meissen together, Maurice secretly shared in all the princely conspiracies against the Emperor, who only escaped capture by flight. During the same year, Charles V was obliged by the Peace of Passau to grant freedom of religion to the Protestant Estates, Maurice died in 1553 at the age of 32. His brother and successor Elector Augustus seized the Catholic dioceses of Merseburg, the last Bishop of Merseburg, Michael Helding called Sidonius, died at Vienna in 1561. In the same manner after the death of Julius von Pflug, the last Catholic Bishop of Naumburg, in 1564 and those cathedral canons who were still Catholic were only permitted to exercise their religion for ten years more
16.
Kingdom of Prussia
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It was the driving force behind the unification of Germany in 1871 and was the leading state of the German Empire until its dissolution in 1918. Although it took its name from the region called Prussia, it was based in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, the kings of Prussia were from the House of Hohenzollern. Prussia was a power from the time it became a kingdom, through its predecessor, Brandenburg-Prussia. Prussia continued its rise to power under the guidance of Frederick II, more known as Frederick the Great. After the might of Prussia was revealed it was considered as a power among the German states. Throughout the next hundred years Prussia went on to win many battles and it was because of its power that Prussia continuously tried to unify all the German states under its rule. Attempts at creation of a federation remained unsuccessful and the German Confederation collapsed in 1866 when war ensued between its two most powerful states, Prussia and Austria. The North German Confederation which lasted from 1867–1871, created a union between the Prussian-aligned states while Austria and most of Southern Germany remained independent. The North German Confederation was seen as more of an alliance of military strength in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, the German Empire lasted from 1871–1918 with the successful unification of all the German states under Prussian hegemony. This was due to the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, in 1871, Germany unified into a single country, minus Austria and Switzerland, with Prussia the dominant power. Prussia is considered the predecessor of the unified German Reich. The Kingdom left a significant cultural legacy, today notably promoted by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, in 1415 a Hohenzollern Burgrave came from the south to the March of Brandenburg and took control of the area as elector. In 1417 the Hohenzollern was made an elector of the Holy Roman Empire, after the Polish wars, the newly established Baltic towns of the German states including Prussia, suffered many economic setbacks. Many of the Prussian towns could not even afford to attend political meetings outside of Prussia, the towns were poverty stricken, with even the largest town, Danzig, having to borrow money from elsewhere to pay for trade. Poverty in these towns was partly caused by Prussias neighbors, who had established and developed such a monopoly on trading that these new towns simply could not compete and these issues led to feuds, wars, trade competition and invasions. However, the fall of these gave rise to the nobility, separated the east and the west. It was clear in 1440 how different Brandenburg was from the other German territories, not only did it face partition from within but also the threat of its neighbors. It prevented the issue of partition by enacting the Dispositio Achillea which instilled the principle of primogeniture to both the Brandenburg and Franconian territories, the second issue was solved through expansion
17.
Charles III of Spain
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Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. While he was the son of Philip V of Spain, he was the eldest son of Philips second wife. In 1731, the 15-year-old Charles became the Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I, following the death of his childless granduncle Antonio Farnese. In 1734, as Duke of Parma, he conquered the kingdoms of Naples and of Sicily, and was crowned king on 3 July 1735, reigning as Charles VII of Naples and Charles V of Sicily until 1759. In 1738 he married Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony, daughter of Polish king Augustus III, Charles and Maria Amalia resided in Naples for 19 years. Charles succeeded to the Spanish throne on 10 August 1759, after the death of his half-brother King Ferdinand VI of Spain who left no heirs. As King of Spain Charles III made far-reaching reforms such as promoting science and university research, facilitating trade and commerce and he also tried to reduce the influence of the Church and avoided costly wars. His previous experience as King of Naples and Sicily proved valuable as King of Spain and he did not achieve complete control over the States finances, and was sometimes obliged to borrow to meet expenses. Most of his reforms proved to be successful and his important legacy lives on to this day, historian Stanley Payne wrote that Charles III was probably the most successful European ruler of his generation. He had provided firm, consistent, intelligent leadership, personal life had won the respect of the people. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht concluded the War of the Spanish Succession and reduced the political and military power of Spain, which the House of Bourbon had ruled since 1700. Moreover, the House of Savoy gained the Kingdom of Sicily, and the Kingdom of Great Britain gained the island of Minorca, in 1700, Charles father, originally a French prince, became King of Spain as Philip V. For the remainder of his reign, he attempted to regain the ceded territories. Elisabeth and Philip married on 24 December 1714, she proved a domineering consort. On 20 January 1716, Elisabeth gave birth to the Infante Charles of Spain at the Real Alcázar of Madrid and he was fourth in line to the Spanish throne, after three elder half-brothers, the Infante Luis, Prince of Asturias, the Infante Felipe, and Ferdinand. Because the Duke Francesco of Parma and his heir were childless, Elisabeth sought the duchies of Parma and she also sought for him the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, because Gian Gastone de Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany was also childless. He was a distant cousin of hers, related via her great-grandmother Margherita de Medici, the birth of Charles encouraged the Prime Minister Alberoni to start laying out grand plans for Europe. In 1717 he ordered the Spanish invasion of Sardinia, in 1718, Alberoni also ordered the invasion of Sicily, which was also ruled by the House of Savoy
18.
James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick
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Berwick was a successful general in the pay of Louis XIV of France. FitzJames was born at Moulins in France before his fathers accession to the throne and he was the son of James and his mistress Arabella Churchill, who was the sister to the English captain general and statesman John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. He was educated at the Stuarts expense in the College of Juilly, the Collège du Plessis, and he went into the service of Charles, Duke of Lorraine and was present at the siege of Buda. FitzJames was created Duke of Berwick, Earl of Tinmouth and Baron Bosworth by his father in 1687 and he then returned to Hungary and participated at the Battle of Mohács. Berwick returned to England and was made Governor of Portsmouth, King James made him a Knight of the Garter, and appointed him Colonel of The Blues to replace the Protestant Earl of Oxford. The post had been coveted by his uncle the Earl of Marlborough, officers were required to answer three questions designed by the king to test their loyalty. Berwick was with his father at Salisbury, when key units deserted to the Prince of Orange, but due to the invasion of the Prince of Orange and the subsequent Glorious Revolution, the installation never took place. Berwick in all conscience could not remain with the Colonel of The Blues Troop he had served since 1682, he refused to betray his old patronne. On 22 June 1691, Berwick was with the French generals command, St Ruth, at Aughrim, the defenders were surrounded on one side by peat bog, and on the other Kilcommodon Hill. General St Ruth was decapitated by a cannonball, but Sarsfield was too late to rescue the situation. He retired with Berwick to the safety of Limerick, which Ginckel besieged on 25 August. Under the terms of Treaty of Limerick, signed on 3 October and these soldiers became known as the Wild Geese, mercenaries forbidden from setting foot in Britain. James II created Berwick Colonel of the 1st Troop, Wild Geese, Berwick arrived too late at the siege of Cork with 4,000 French troops, but unable to effect a result, he withdrew, Marlborough marched west to Kinsale to deal with 18,000 Frenchmen. It was at time that he undertook a number of secret visits to England on behalf of the Jacobite cause. After his fathers exile, Berwick served in the French army under Marshal Luxemburg. He fought at the battles of Steenkerque, Luxemburg fell into King Williams trap set against superior numbers. But reinforcements failed the English, and the French rallied to send the Maison Militaire du Roi infantry downhill, Berwick was in the charge of the division that broke the English lines. They were driven from the field with heavy losses, Berwick was one of Luxemburgs principal officers, and in 1694 commanded the centre of a large French army
19.
Claude Louis Hector de Villars
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Villars was born at Moulins in a noble but poor family — his father was the diplomat Pierre de Villars. He entered the French army through the corps of pages in 1671, the next promotion would take time in spite of a long record of service under Turenne, The Great Condé and Luxembourg, and of his aristocratic birth. The reason was that he had incurred the enmity of the powerful Louvois, he was finally made maréchal de camp in 1687. He returned to France in 1690 and was given a command in the cavalry of the army in Flanders and it was Villars part in the next war, beginning with Friedlingen and Hochstadt and ending with Denain, that has made him most famous. For his part in the battle of Friedlingen he received the marshalate, and for the pacification of the insurgent Cévennes he received the Saint-Esprit order, Friedlingen and Hochstadt were barren victories, and the campaigns of which they formed were characterized by lost opportunities. Villars glory thus begins with the year 1709 when France, apparently helpless, was roused to an effort of self-defence by the stringent demands of the Coalition. In that year he was called to command the main army opposing Prince Eugène of Savoy, during the famine of the winter he shared the soldiers miserable rations. Villars, named for Marshal Villars, was built in Moulins, the 18th century historical monument was used as a cavalry barracks. It was partially destroyed during World War II and was restored by François Voinchet and he took the field for the last time in the War of the Polish Succession, with the title marshal-general of the kings armies, that Turenne had held before him. But he was eighty years old at this point. Villarss memoirs show us a fanfaron plein dhonneur, as Voltaire calls him and he was indeed boastful, and also covetous of honours and wealth. But he was described as an honourable man of high courage, moral and physical. He was famous for his love for men as wrote the Duchess of Orleans in her letters. The memoirs, part of which was published in 1734 and afterwards several times republished in untrustworthy versions, were for the first time completely edited by the Marquis de Vogüé in 1884–92, Marshal Villars and the War of the Spanish Succession, University of Kentucky Press
20.
Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
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Charles Emmanuel III was the Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death. He was born a Prince of Savoy in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his maternal grandparents were Prince Philippe of France and his first wife Princess Henrietta Anne, the youngest daughter of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. From his birth he was styled as the Duke of Aosta, at the time of his birth, Charles Emmanuel was not the heir to the Duchy of Savoy, his older brother Prince Victor Amadeus John Philip, Prince of Piedmont, was the heir apparent. Charles Emmanuel was the second of three males that would be born to his parents and his older brother died in 1715 and Charles Emmanuel then became heir apparent. As a result of his aid in the War of the Spanish Succession, Victor Amadeus was forced to exchange Sicily for the less important kingdom of Sardinia in 1720 after objections from an alliance of four nations, including several of his former allies. Yet he retained his new title of King, however, Victor Amadeus in his late years was dominated by shyness and sadness, probably under the effect of some mental illness. In the end, on 3 September 1730, he abdicated and he was not loved by Victor Amadeus, and consequently received an incomplete education. He however acquired noteworthy knowledge in the field along his father. In summer,1731, after having recovered from a fatal illness. The old king was confined to the Castle of Rivoli, where he died without any further harm to Charles. In the War of the Polish Succession Charles Emmanuel sided with the French- backed king Stanislaw I, after the treaty of alliance signed in Turin, on 28 October 1733 he marched on Milan and occupied Lombardy without significant losses. However, when France tried to convince Philip V of Spain to join the coalition, he asked to receive Milan and this was not acceptable for Charles Emmanuel, as it would recreate a Spanish domination in Italy as it had been in the previous centuries. While negotiations continued about the matter, the Savoy-French-Spanish troops attacked Mantua under the command of Charles Emmanuel himself. Sure that in the end Mantua would be assigned to Spain, the Franco-Piedmontese army was victorious in two battles at Crocetta and Guastalla. In the end, when Austria and France signed a peace, in exchange, he was given some territories, including Langhe, Tortona and Novara. Charles Emmanuel was involved in the War of the Austrian Succession, in which he sided with Maria Theresa of Austria, with financial and naval support from England. After noteworthy but inconclusive initial successes, he had to face the French-Spanish invasion of Savoy and, after a failed allied attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples, when the enemy army invaded Piedmont, in 1744 he personally defended Cuneo against the Spanish-French besiegers. The following year, with some 20,000 men, he was facing an invasion of two armies with a total of some 60,000 troops, the important strongholds of Alessandria, Asti and Casale fell
21.
Peter Lacy
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Count Peter von Lacy, or Pyotr Petrovich Lacy, as he was known in Russia, was one of the most successful Russian imperial commanders before Rumyantsev and Suvorov. During a military career spanned half a century, he professed to have been present at a total of 31 campaigns,18 battles. He died at Riga, of which he for years served as governor. Peter Lacy was born as Pierce Edmond Lacy on 26 September 1678 in Killeedy near Limerick into a noble Irish family, in an autobiography preserved by his descendants, Count Peter claimed that his father Peter was the son of John Lacy of Ballingarry. Count Peter also claimed Pierce Oge de Lacy of Bruff as a kinsman, in 1647 he was the only Lacy to be a member of the Supreme Council of Confederate Catholics, and in 1651 he was excluded from amnesty after the 1st Siege of Limerick. He was Deputy Governor of Limerick 1685–86, and one of the representatives of Killmallock in the Parliament of Dublin in 1689. At the age of 13, during the Williamite war in Ireland Peter was attached to the Jacobite defence of Limerick against the Williamites with the rank of Lieutenant, the Flight of the Wild Geese followed, with Peter, his father and brother joining the Irish Brigade in France. After his relatives lost their lives fighting for Louis XIV in Italy, after two years of service in the Austrian army, Lacy followed his commander, Charles Eugène de Croy, into the Russian service. His first taste of battle in Russia was the disastrous defeat at Narva, in which Lacy commanded a unit of musketeers. During the Great Northern War he was wounded on two occasions, gaining the rank of colonel in 1706. The following year he led a brigade at Poltava, in battle he greatly distinguished himself. From this point began his fame as a soldier and his next active service, still under Prince Repnin, was the siege of Riga. Lacy was reputedly the first Russian officer to enter the capital of Livland, in 1719 Apraksins fleet landed Lacy with 5,000 infantry and 370 cavalry near Umeå in Sweden, where they proceeded to devastate a dozen iron foundries and a number of mills. Soon promoted general, he entered the Military Collegium — as the Russian Ministry of Defense was then known – in 1723, three years later, Lacy succeeded Repnin in command of the Russian forces quartered in Livland, and in 1729 he was appointed Governor of Riga. These positions brought him in contact with the Duchess of Courland, during her reign, Lacys capacity for supreme command would never be doubted. The War of the Polish Succession again called him into the field, in 1733, Lacy and Munnich expelled the Polish king, Stanisław I, from Warsaw to Danzig, which was besieged by them in 1734. Thereupon the Irishman was commanded to march towards the Rhine and join his 13, to that end his corps advanced into Germany and, meeting the Austrians on 16 August, returned to winter quarters in Moravia with exemplary discipline. Lacy had reached the rank of Field Marshal with the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War, in 1738, Lacys corps again landed in Crimea and took the fortress of Çufut Qale near the Khans capital, Bakhchisaray
22.
Prince Eugene of Savoy
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Born in Paris, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV. Based on his physique and bearing, the Prince was initially prepared for a career in the church. Following a scandal involving his mother Olympe, he was rejected by Louis XIV for service in the French army, Eugene moved to Austria and transferred his loyalty to the Habsburg Monarchy. Spanning six decades, Eugene served three Holy Roman Emperors, Leopold I, Joseph I, and Charles VI, however, the Princes fame was secured with his decisive victory against the Ottomans at the Battle of Zenta in 1697, earning him Europe-wide fame. Renewed hostilities against the Ottomans in the Austro-Turkish War consolidated his reputation, with victories at the battles of Petrovaradin, nevertheless, in Austria, Eugenes reputation remains unrivalled. Eugene died in his sleep at his home on 21 April 1736, Prince Eugene was born in the Hôtel de Soissons in Paris on 18 October 1663. His mother, Olympia Mancini, was one of Cardinal Mazarins nieces whom he had brought to Paris from Rome in 1647 to further his, the Mancinis were raised at the Palais-Royal along with the young Louis XIV, with whom Olympia formed an intimate relationship. Yet to her disappointment, her chance to become queen passed by. The King remained strongly attached to Olympia, so much so that many believed them to be lovers, after falling out of favour at court, Olympia turned to Catherine Deshayes, and the arts of black magic and astrology. Embroiled in the affaire des poisons, suspicions now abounded of her involvement in her husbands death in 1673. From the age of ten, Eugene had been brought up for a career in the church, in February 1683, to the surprise of his family, Eugene declared his intention of joining the army. The request was modest, not so the petitioner, he remarked, no one else ever presumed to stare me out so insolently. Denied a military career in France, Eugene decided to service abroad. One of Eugenes brothers, Louis Julius, had entered Imperial service the previous year, when news of his death reached Paris, Eugene decided to travel to Austria in the hope of taking over his brothers command. It was not a decision, his cousin, Louis of Baden, was already a leading general in the Imperial army, as was a more distant cousin, Maximilian II Emanuel. On the night of July 26,1683, Eugene left Paris, by May 1683, the Ottoman threat to Emperor Leopold Is capital, Vienna, was very real. With the Turks at the gates, the Emperor fled for the refuge of Passau up the Danube. It was at Leopold Is camp that Eugene arrived in mid-August, although Eugene was not of Austrian extraction, he did have Habsburg antecedents
23.
Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff
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Friedrich Heinrich Reichsgraf von Seckendorff was a Franconian field marshal and diplomat, in the service of the imperial Habsburg monarchy of Austria. Later he served as commander of the Bavarian army and fought Austria, Seckendorff was born in Königsberg, Franconia, into the Seckendorff family of nobility. His father was an official of Saxe-Gotha and his nephew was Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff and he studied law in Jena, Leipzig, and Leyden. In 1693, Seckendorff served in the army commanded by William III of England. He served under Prince Eugene of Savoy in the Great Turkish War, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Seckendorff led Ansbachs regiment and, at the head of his dragoons, conquered 16 standards in the Battle of Blenheim. Promoted to Oberst, Seckendorff participated in the battles of Ramillies and Oudenaarde, as the Polish envoy to the Hague, he participated in the negotiations of the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, in the same year he suppressed an insurrection in Poland. As a lieutenant general, Seckendorff commanded Saxon troops in the 1715 siege of Stralsund against King Charles XII of Sweden, Seckendorff reentered imperial service as a Feldmarschallleutnant in 1717. Under the command of Eugene of Savoy, Seckendorff led two Ansbach regiments against the Ottoman Turks at Belgrade, in 1718 he successfully fought against Spain in Sicily. Granted the title of Reichsgraf in 1719, Seckendorff was named Feldzeugmeister two years later, in 1726, at the instance of Eugene of Savoy, Seckendorff became the imperial ambassador at the Prussian court in Berlin. He gained the trust of King Frederick William I of Prussia, king, Seckendorff also bribed the minister of state, the influential Friedrich Wilhelm von Grumbkow, with an Austrian pension. Seckendorffs diplomatic skill also led to recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction by the courts of numerous German principalities, Denmark, in 1734, Seckendorff returned to the imperial army and became Governor of Mainz. As imperial general of cavalry during the War of the Polish Succession, in 1737, Emperor Charles VI made Seckendorff commander-in-chief in Hungary, at the same time giving him the baton of Feldmarschall. Although initially successful in the Austrian-Russian campaign against the Ottomans, he was forced to retreat across the Save River. His numerous enemies in Vienna brought about his recall, trial, following the death of Charles VII, Seckendorff negotiated a reconciliation between Austria and Bavaria in the Treaty of Füssen on 22 April 1745. Emperor Francis I reaffirmed all of Seckendorffs honors, and the retired to his estate at Meuselwitz in Thuringia. In 1757 the death of his wife, for whom, harsh and unamiable as he was, he had a deep and abiding affection, Frederick the Great directed Prussian hussars to abduct Seckendorff from Meuselwitz in December 1758 during the Seven Years War. After spending half a year in detention in Magdeburg, he was exchanged for Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau, returning to Meuselwitz, Seckendorff died at his estate in 1763. Frederick the Great despised Seckendorff, resenting the military diplomat for gaining the trust of Frederick William I and his involvement in the Prussian wedding plans
24.
Livonian War
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During the period 1558–1578, Russia dominated the region with early military successes at Dorpat and Narva. Russian dissolution of the Livonian Confederation brought Poland–Lithuania into the conflict while Sweden, Magnus attempted to expand his Livonian holdings to establish the Russian vassal state Kingdom of Livonia, which nominally existed until Magnus defection in 1576. This was followed by a campaign through Russia culminating in the long. Under the 1582 Truce of Jam Zapolski, which ended the war between Russia and Poland–Lithuania, Russia lost all its holdings in Livonia and Polotsk to Poland–Lithuania. The following year, Sweden and Russia signed the Truce of Plussa with Sweden gaining most of Ingria, by the mid-16th century, economically prosperous Old Livonia had become a region organised into the decentralised and religiously divided Livonian Confederation. Its territories consisted of the Livonian branch of the Teutonic Order, the prince-bishoprics of Dorpat, Ösel–Wiek, as well as Courland, the Archbishopric of Riga and the city of Riga. Together with Riga, the cities of Dorpat and Reval, along with the knightly estates, the only common institutions of the Livonian estates were the regularly held common assemblies known as landtags. As well as a political administration, there were also persistent rivalries between the archbishop of Riga and the landmeister of the Order for hegemony. As war approached, Livonia had a weak administration subject to internal rivalries, lacked any powerful defences or outside support, and was surrounded by monarchies pursuing expansionist policies. Frost notes of the region, Racked with internal bickering and threatened by the political machinations of its neighbours. Only the archbishopric of Riga successfully overcame resistance of the lesser nobles, Wilhelm and Christoph were to pursue Alberts interests in Livonia, among which was the establishment of a hereditary Livonian duchy styled after the Prussian model. At the same time the Order agitated for its re-establishment in Prussia, by the time the Livonian War broke out, the Hanseatic League had already lost its monopoly on the profitable and prosperous Baltic Sea trade. While still involved and with increasing sales, it now shared the market with European mercenary fleets, most notably from the Dutch Seventeen Provinces, a long bar of Danish territories in the south and her lack of sufficient year-round ice-free ports severely limited Swedens access to the Baltic trade. Through its absorption of the principalities of Novgorod and Pskov, the Tsardom of Russia had become Livonias eastern neighbour, the conflict between Russia and the Western powers was exacerbated by Russias isolation from sea trade. The new Ivangorod port built by Tsar Ivan on the shore of the Narva River in 1550 was considered unsatisfactory on account of its shallow waters. The Livonians eventually promised to pay this sum to Ivan by 1557, Ivan continued to point out that the existence of the Order required passive Russian support, and was quick to threaten use of military force if necessary. The Polish King and Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund II Augustus was wary of Russian expansionist aspirations, expansion of Russia into Livonia would have meant not only a stronger political rival but also loss of lucrative trade routes. Therefore, Sigismund supported his cousin Wilhelm von Brandenburg, archbishop of Riga, in his conflicts with Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, Sigismund hoped that Livonia, just like the Duchy of Prussia under Duke Albert, would become a vassal state of Poland–Lithuania
25.
Smolensk War
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The Smolensk War was a conflict fought between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Hostilities began in October 1632 when Russian forces tried to capture the city of Smolensk, small military engagements produced mixed results for both sides, but the surrender of the main Russian force in February 1634 led to the Treaty of Polyanovka. Russia accepted Polish-Lithuanian control over the Smolensk region, which lasted for another 20 years, in 1632, Sigismund III Vasa, the king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, died. Swedish king Gustav II Adolph sent envoys to Russia and the Ottoman Empire to propose an alliance, the Commonwealth was not ready for war. In May the Senate of Poland agreed to increase the size of the army, but Grand Lithuanian Hetman Lew Sapieha objected, arguing that the current forces were enough, nonetheless the Field Lithuanian Hetman Krzysztof Radziwiłł recruited an additional 2,000 soldiers. Russias aim was to control of Smolensk, which it had ceded to the Commonwealth in 1618 at the Truce of Deulino. Smolensk was the capital of the Commonwealths Smoleńsk Voivodeship, but it had often been contested, a major supporter of the war was the Tsars father, Patriarch Filaret, who represented the anti-Polish camp at court. Inspired by the Zemsky Sobors call for vengeance and reclamation of lost lands, several towns and castles fell as the Russians advanced, and on 28 October 1632, Shein moved to begin the siege of Smolensk. Former Polish estimates of the size of the Russian forces varied from 25,000 through 30,000 to 34,500, recent research on 17th-century Russian archive documents showed that the size of the Russian army was 23,961. Compared to former Russian armies, Sheins army was significantly modernised, eight such regiments, totaling 14,000 to 17,000 men, comprised part of Sheins army. Commonwealth forces in Smolensk were composed of the Smolensk garrison, strengthened by the local nobility, the citys fortifications had also recently been improved with Italian-style bastions. Shein constructed lines of circumvallation around the fortress, using tunnels and mines, his forces damaged a long section of the city wall and one of its towers. Russian heavy artillery, mostly of Western manufacture, reached Smolensk in December 1632 with even heavier guns arriving the following March, after a preliminary artillery bombardment, Shein ordered an assault, which was repulsed by the Polish defenders. Nonetheless the siege was progressing, Smolensks fortifications were being eroded, by June 1633, some soldiers started to desert, and others talked of surrender. The Sejm had been informed about the Russian invasion by 30 October 1632, however, the process was delayed until the spring of 1633, when the Sejm officially sanctioned a declaration of war and authorised a large payment for the raising of a suitable force. Over 10,000 of the infantry would be organized based on the Western model, previously not common in Commonwealth armies. By February 1633, they had amassed around 4,500 soldiers, including over 2,000 infantry, and were engaged in raiding the rear areas of the Russian besiegers to disrupt their logistics. By the summer of 1633, the force, led personally by the king and numbering about 25,000, arrived near Smolensk
26.
Bar Confederation
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The founders of the Bar Confederation included the magnates Adam Krasiński, Bishop of Kamenets, Karol Stanisław Radziwiłł, Casimir Pulaski, Moritz Benyowszki and Michał Krasiński. Its creation led to a war and contributed to the First Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Some historians consider the Bar Confederation the first Polish uprising, at that point Habsburg Austria started to consider waging a war against Russia. He was also interested in protecting the weakening Ottoman Empire, which could be utilized in the event of a Prussian war either with Russia or Austria. Fredericks brother, Prince Henry, spent the winter of 1770–71 as a representative of the Prussian court at Saint Petersburg. After Henry informed him of the proposal, Frederick suggested a partition of the Polish borderlands by Austria, Prussia, thus Frederick attempted to encourage Russia to direct its expansion towards weak and non-functional Poland instead of the Ottomans. The recent Koliyivschyna peasant and Cossack uprising in Ukraine also weakened Polish position, under pressure from Prussia, which for a long time wanted to annex the northern Polish province of Royal Prussia, the three powers agreed on the First Partition of Poland. The Russians also withdrew from Moldavia away from the Austrian border, in 1767-1768, Russian forces forced the Polish parliament to pass resolutions they demanded. The articles of the confederation were signed on 29 February 1768 at the fortress of Bar in Podolia, priest Marek Jandołowicz was a notable religious leader, and Michał Wielhorski the Confederations political ideologue. The confederation, encouraged and aided by France, declared a war on Russia and its irregular forces, formed from volunteers, magnate militias and deserters from the royal army, soon clashed with the Russian troops and units loyal to the Polish crown. This marked the Ukrainian campaign, which lasted from April till June 1768, however, the simultaneous outbreak of the Koliyivschyna in Ukraine kept the Confederation alive. The Confederates appealed for help abroad and contributed to bringing about war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. The retreat of some Russian forces needed on the Ottoman front bolstered the confederates, the council proclaimed the king dethroned on 22 October 1770. The court of Versailles sent Charles François Dumouriez to act as an aid to the Confederates, the Confederates also began to operate in Lithuania, although after early successes that direction too met with failures, with defeats at Białystok on 16 July and Orzechowo on 13 September 1769. Early 1770 saw the defeats of confederates in Greater Poland, after the battle of Dobra and Błonie, on 19 February 1772, the agreement of partition was signed in Vienna. A previous agreement between Prussia and Russia had been made in Saint Petersburg on 6 February 1772, early in August Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops simultaneously entered the Commonwealth and occupied the provinces agreed upon among themselves. On 5 August, the three signed the treaty on their respective territorial gains on the Commonwealths expense. An attempt of Bar Confederates to kidnap king Stanisław II Augustus on 3 November 1771 led the Habsburgs to withdraw their support from the confederates, expelling them from their territories
27.
French invasion of Russia
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Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia, Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish War to gain favor with the Poles and provide a political pretext for his actions. The Grande Armée was a large force, numbering 680,000 soldiers. Napoleon hoped the battle would mean an end of the march into Russia, plans Napoleon had made to quarter at Smolensk were abandoned, and he pressed his army on after the Russians. As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns and this was intended to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. The actions forced the French to rely on a system that was incapable of feeding the large army in the field. Starvation and privation compelled French soldiers to leave their camps at night in search of food and these men were frequently confronted by parties of Cossacks, who captured or killed them. The Russian army retreated into Russia for almost three months, the continual retreat and the loss of lands to the French upset the Russian nobility. They pressured Alexander I to relieve the commander of the Russian army, Alexander I complied, appointing an old veteran, Prince Mikhail Kutuzov, to take over command of the army. However, for two more weeks Kutuzov continued to retreat as his predecessor had done, on 7 September, the French caught up with the Russian army which had dug itself in on hillsides before a small town called Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow. The battle that followed was the bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars until that point, involving more than 250,000 soldiers, the French gained a tactical victory, but at the cost of 49 general officers and thousands of men. The Russian army was able to extricate itself and withdrew the following day, Napoleon entered Moscow a week later. In another turn of events the French found puzzling, there was no delegation to meet the Emperor, the Russians had evacuated the city, and the citys governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, ordered several strategic points in Moscow set ablaze. Napoleons hopes had been set upon an end to his campaign. The loss of Moscow did not compel Alexander I to sue for peace, Napoleon stayed on in Moscow looking to negotiate a peace, his hopes fed in part by a disinformation campaign informing the Emperor of supposed discontent and fading morale in the Russian camp. After staying a month Napoleon moved his army out southwest toward Kaluga, the French advance toward Kaluga was checked by a Russian corps. Napoleon tried once more to engage the Russian army for an action at the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. Despite holding a position, the Russians retreated following a sharp engagement
28.
November Uprising
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The November Uprising, Polish–Russian War 1830–31, also known as the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when the young Polish officers from the local Army of the Congress Polands military academy revolted, led by lieutenant Piotr Wysocki and they were soon joined by large segments of societies of Lithuania, Belarus, and the Right-bank Ukraine. Despite local successes, the uprising was crushed by a numerically superior Imperial Russian Army under Ivan Paskevich. Tsar Nicholas I decreed that henceforth Poland was a part of Russia, with Warsaw little more than a military garrison. After the Partitions of Poland, Poland ceased to exist as an independent political entity at the end of 1795, however, the Napoleonic Wars and Polish participation in the wars against Russia and Austria resulted in the creation the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807. The Congress of Vienna brought that states existence to an end in 1815, and essentially solidified the long-term division of Poland among Russia, Prussia, United with Russia through a personal union with the Tsar as King of Poland, the province could elect its own parliament and government. The kingdom had its own courts, army and treasury, over time, however, the freedoms granted to the Kingdom were gradually taken back and the constitution was progressively ignored by the Russian authorities. Alexander I of Russia never formally crowned himself as King of Poland, instead, in 1815, he appointed Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich as de facto viceroy, disregarding the constitution. Soon after the Congress of Vienna resolutions were signed, Russia ceased to respect them, in 1819 Alexander I abandoned liberty of the press in Congress Kingdom and introduced censorship. As a result, after 1825 sessions of Polish Sejm were conducted in secret, Nicholas I of Russia formally crowned himself as King of Poland on 24 May 1829 in Warsaw. He abolished Polish social and patriotic organizations, the opposition of the Kaliszanie faction. Although married to a Pole, he was considered as an enemy of the Polish nation. Also, his command over the Polish Army led to conflicts within the officer corps. These frictions led to various conspiracies throughout the country, most notably within the army, the final spark that ignited Warsaw was a Russian plan to use the Polish Army to suppress Frances July Revolution and the Belgian Revolution, in clear violation of the Polish constitution. The rebels managed to enter the Belweder, but Grand Duke Constantine had escaped in womens clothing, the rebels then turned to the main city arsenal, capturing it after a brief struggle. The following day, armed Polish civilians forced the Russian troops to north of Warsaw. This incident is called the Warsaw Uprising or the November Night. Taken by surprise by the unfolding of events during the night of 29 November
29.
January Uprising
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The January Uprising was an uprising in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the Russian Empire. It began on 22 January 1863 and lasted until the last insurgents were captured in 1864, the uprising began as a spontaneous protest by young Poles against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. It was soon joined by high-ranking Polish-Lithuanian officers and various politicians, the insurrectionists, severely outnumbered and lacking serious outside support, were forced to resort to guerrilla warfare tactics. Public executions and deportations to Siberia led many Poles to abandon armed struggle and turn instead to the idea of work, economic. After the Russian Empire lost the Crimean war and was weakened economically and politically, in Vilna alone 116 demonstrations were held in 1861. In August 1861, protests in Vilna ended in clashes with the Imperial Russian Army, in spite of Russian police and Cossack interference, a symbolic meeting of hymn-singing Poles and Lithuanians took place on the bridge across the Niemen River. Another mass gathering took place in Horodło, where the Union of Horodło had been signed in 1413, the crowds sang Boże, broń Polskę in Lithuanian and Belarusian. In the autumn of 1861 Russians had introduced a state of emergency in Vilna Governorate, Kovno Governorate, after a series of patriotic riots, the Russian Namestnik of Tsar Alexander II, General Karl Lambert, introduced martial law in Poland on 14 October 1861. Public gatherings were banned and some leaders were declared outlaws. The future leaders of the uprising gathered secretly in St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Vilna, Paris, after this series of meetings two major factions emerged. The Reds represented united peasants, workers, and some clergy, while The Whites represented liberal minded landlords, in 1862 two initiative groups were formed for the two components of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. To deal with these units the Russian government had at its disposal an army of 90,000 men under General Ramsay in Poland. It looked as if the rebellion would be crushed quickly, the die was cast, however, the provisional government applied itself to this great task with fervor. It issued a manifesto in which it pronounced all sons of Poland are free and equal citizens without distinction of creed, condition and rank. The revolutionary government did its very best to supply with provisions the unarmed and scattered guerrillas who, during the month of February, met the Russians in eighty bloody encounters. Meanwhile, it issued an appeal to the nations of western Europe, pope Pius IX ordered a special prayer for the success of the Catholic Polish in their defence against the Orthodox Russians, and was very active in arousing sympathy for the Polish rebels. In Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, northern Ukraine and western Russia the uprising started on February 1,1863, a coalition government of the Reds and the Whites was formed. It was led by Zygmunt Sierakowski, Antanas Mackevičius and Konstanty Kalinowski and they fully supported their counterparts in Poland and adhered to the same policy
30.
Soviet invasion of Poland
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The Soviet invasion of Poland was a Soviet military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on 17 September 1939. On that morning,16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west, the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland was secretly agreed in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed on 23 August 1939. The Red Army, which outnumbered the Polish defenders, achieved its targets by using strategic. Some 230,000 Polish prisoners of war had been captured, the campaign of mass persecution in the newly acquired areas began immediately. In November 1939 the Soviet government ostensibly annexed the entire Polish territory under its control, the Soviet campaign of ethnic cleansing began with the wave of arrests and summary executions of officers, policemen and priests. Soviet forces occupied eastern Poland until the summer of 1941, when they were out by the invading German army in the course of Operation Barbarossa. The area was under Nazi occupation until the Red Army reconquered it again in the summer of 1944, the Soviet Union enclosed most of the annexed territories into the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. After the end of World War II in Europe, the USSR signed a new border agreement with the Polish communists on 16 August 1945. The USSR played a double game secretly engaging in talks with Germany. The terms were rejected, thus giving Josef Stalin a free hand in pursuing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Adolf Hitler, the non-aggression pact contained a secret protocol dividing Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence in the event of war. One week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, German forces invaded Poland from the west, north, Polish forces gradually withdrew to the southeast where they prepared for a long defence of the Romanian Bridgehead and awaited the French and British support and relief that they were expecting. On 17 September 1939 the Soviet Red Army invaded the Kresy regions in accordance with the secret protocol, at the opening of hostilities several Polish cities including Dubno, Łuck and Włodzimierz Wołyński let the Red Army in peacefully, convinced that it was marching on to fight the Germans. General Juliusz Rómmel of the Polish Army issued an order to treat them like an ally before it was too late. The result of the Paris Peace Conference did little to decrease the territorial ambitions of parties in the region, the border skirmishes of 1919 progressively escalated into the Polish–Soviet War in 1920. Following the Polish victory at the Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets sued for peace, the parties signed the formal peace treaty, the Peace of Riga, on 18 March 1921, dividing the disputed territories between Poland and Soviet Russia. In the aftermath of the agreement, Soviet leaders largely abandoned the cause of international revolution. The Conference of Ambassadors and the community recognized Polands eastern frontiers in 1923. Germany marched into Prague on 15 March 1939, in mid-April, the Soviet Union, Britain and France began trading diplomatic suggestions regarding a political and military agreement to counter potential further German aggression
31.
Siege of Kehl (1733)
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The Siege of Kehl was one of the opening moves of the French Rhineland campaign in the War of the Polish Succession, at the fortress town of Kehl in the upper Rhine River valley. A large French army under the command of the Duke of Berwick besieged and captured the fortress, which was lightly garrisoned and in poor condition. On the death of Augustus II on 1 February 1733, the Polish throne was claimed by both his son, Augustus III, and by Stanislas I, father in law of Louis XV. Whilst a body double ostensibly left Brest by sea, Stanilas crossed Germany incognito, on 12 September Stanislas was elected king of Poland by the diet. On his election Russia and Austria invaded Poland, by 22 September Stanislas, who did not have a proper army, had to take refuge in Danzig, there to await the French help he had been promised. On 5 October, Augustus III was proclaimed king under protection from Russian forces at Warsaw, great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, Denmark and the Republic of Venice recognised that Austro-Russian aggression against Poland was the casus belli and pledged to remain neutral. Spain, coveting the Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia, which coveted the Duchy of Milan, the village and fortress of Kehl was located near the Margraviate of Baden, just across the Rhine River from the French city of Strasbourg. Nominally the responsibility of the emperor, maintenance and defense of the fortress belonged to the Swabian Circle, when the war broke out, numerous works to repair and expand the fortress were underway, but key defenses near the Rhine were incomplete. On 12 October, French troops under Belle-Isle and Silly marched into the Duchy of Lorraine and seized its capital, also on 12 October, Berwick ordered troops from the Strasbourg encampment to cross the Rhine. At a point near Auenheim, about 4 kilometres below Kehl, they constructed a ship bridge, near Goldscheuer,7 kilometres above the fortress, they began constructing another bridge. Two days later, the bulk of the Berwicks army had crossed the Rhine, Berwick first ordered the construction of a line of circumvallation. Local villagers were among those pressed into service for its construction, Berwicks quartermasters also made demands to the surrounding villages for the delivery of provisions to the besiegers. The Duke of Württemberg signed an agreement that he characterized in reports to the emperor as being concluded under the greatest duress. On 18 October Phull issued detailed instructions to his commanders concerning the tactics of defense, the French began digging siege trenches on the night of 19 October. By 21 October the siege lines reached an unfinished lunette on the Rhine-facing side of the fortress, the defenders were by this time reduced to musket fire and grenades, as most of their artillery had been dismounted or destroyed by enemy fire. On 23 October the French opened fire not only on the hornwork, after two failed assaults by Berwicks grenadiers, they succeeded in briefly occupying the hornwork, it was reoccupied by the Germans the next day. The defenders attempted a sortie against the French positions near the hornwork, by 27 October, the French had established numerous batteries and were mercilessly battering the main fortification. About 4 pm on 28 October, the French barrage started a fire on the hornwork that was enough that its commander requested permission from Phull to withdraw
32.
Battle of Bitonto
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The Battle of Bitonto was a Spanish victory over Austrian forces near Bitonto in the Kingdom of Naples in the War of Polish Succession. The battle ended organized Austrian resistance outside of a number of fortresses in the kingdom. King Philip V of Spain had always aimed to reconquer Naples and Sicily, in 1714 he married Elisabeth Farnese, who had dynastic interests in Italy. Under her influence he had attempted without success to recover the Italian holdings in the War of the Quadruple Alliance, in the fall of 1733 Spain and France signed the Treaty of the Escorial, the first of several Bourbon Family Compacts. The treaty pledged mutual protection and aid, and provided for the allies to work together for the conquest of Habsburg territories on the Italian peninsula. From there,21,000 men marched unopposed through the Papal States towards Naples, where Charles entered the city virtually uncontested, and proclaimed himself king of the Two Sicilies on May 7,1734. Austrian garrisons in the fortresses at Gaeta and Capua were blockaded by 6,000 men, the retreating Austrians were reinforced by troops that arrived from the island of Sicily, and a shipload of recruits that arrived at Taranto. Belmonte, aware that the Spanish were likely to get reinforcements from their fleet, placing inexperienced troops in the town itself, he adapted low walls and two monasteries as a defensive line and awaited the Spanish. Montemar was, according to reports Belmonte received later, reinforced by 3,000 men, after a few feints in which the Spanish attempted to draw the Austrians out of their defenses, the attack commenced. Around 10 am the Austrian cavalry finally gave way, with most of it beginning a retreat toward Bari. The rest of the Austrian collapsed, with some following the cavalry and others trying to escape to the north. Defenders in the two held their ground, and those defenses were taken by storm. The garrison in the city surrendered the day, owing to a shortage of ammunition. Belmonte attempted to reorganize the remaining forces at Bari, but opposition from the local population and he ended up surrendering 3,800 men to the local authorities. Several hundred troops that escaped the battle to the managed to reach Pescara. Other cities in the kingdom recognized Spanish rule, with only two Austrian-held fortresses continuing resistance until autumn, Gaeta, blockaded early in the conflict, was placed under siege and held out until August. Traun defended Capua until November 30, when he finally surrendered, the return of the Two Sicilies to Spain was confirmed by the Treaty of Vienna in 1738, which ended the war. Charles named Montemar Duke of Bitonto and commissioned Giovanni Antonio Medrano to erect an obelisk on the battlefield to commemorate the battle, history of the kingdom of Naples, 1734-1825 Historical document about spanish victory in Bitontos battle Spanish cavalry in the War of the Austrian Succession BATALLA DE BITONTO
33.
Siege of Trarbach
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The French, led by Marshal Belle-Isle, were victorious, and destroyed the fortress. Geschichte des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts, Volume 2
34.
Siege of Philippsburg (1734)
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The Siege of Philippsburg was conducted by French forces against forces in the fortress of Philippsburg in the Rhine River valley during the War of the Polish Succession. The Duke of Berwick led 100,000 men up the Rhine Valley in opposition to Austrian forces, of which 60,000 were detached to invest the fortress at Philippsburg, beginning on 1 June 1734. A relief column of 35,000 under the aging Prince Eugene of Savoy was unsuccessful in actually relieving the siege, on 12 June Berwick was killed by a cannonball while inspecting the trenches, and command of the besiegers fell to Marshals dAsfeld and Noailles. The fortress surrendered one month later, and the garrison withdrew to the fortress of Mainz with the honours of war, dAsfeld was promoted to Marshal of France for his role in the campaign, Wuttgenau was promoted to lieutenant general for his spirited defense of the fortress. On the death of Augustus II on 1 February 1733, the Polish throne was claimed by both his son, Augustus III, and by Stanislas I, father in law of King Louis XV of France. Whilst a body double ostensibly left Brest by sea, Stanislas crossed Germany incognito, on 12 September Stanislas was elected king of Poland by the diet. On his election Russia and Austria, both of whom backed Augustus III, invaded Poland, by 22 September Stanislas, who did not have a proper army, had to take refuge in Danzig, there to await the French help he had been promised. On 5 October, Augustus III was proclaimed king, protected by Russian forces at Warsaw, great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Sweden, Denmark and the Republic of Venice recognised that Austro-Russian aggression against Poland was the casus belli and pledged to remain neutral. Spain, coveting the Kingdom of Naples and Sardinia, which the Duke of Milan wanted, sided with France, in the fall of 1733 the French army crossed the Rhine and besieged Kehl, near Strasbourg. Although they captured and occupied the fortress, most of the army was withdrawn to the west bank of the Rhine due to the onset of winter in December. During the winter, Austrian field marshal Prince Eugene of Savoy began gathering forces of the empire at a camp near Heilbronn to oppose the French. By the spring of 1734 these forces were significantly smaller than those of France. Freiherr Gottfried Ernst von Wuttgenau was given command of the fortress at Philippsburg in December 1733, the fortress was in deplorable condition, and its moat had in places been filled to the point where the ramparts could easily be approached. By the spring of 1734 these preparations were complete, although the garrison was short of ammunition and experienced artillery personnel. In late May 1734, the French began surrounding the fortress at Philippsburg, a total of 46 battalions were deployed, with 14 on the left bank of the Rhine, and the balance on the right bank, cutting the land approaches to the fortress. Of the troops on the bank, half were dedicated to the siege. On May 26 they began digging the outer trench surrounding the fortress with a complement of 12,000 men, the siege works progressed under Berwick until June 12, when he was felled by a lucky shot while examining siege works at a forward position. Command of the army then came to dAsfeld
35.
Siege of Gaeta (1734)
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For other sieges of this city at different dates, see Siege of Gaeta. The Siege of Gaeta was a siege during the War of Polish Succession fought at Gaeta, the Habsburgs at Gaeta withstood four months of siege from the Bourbon armies under the Duke of Parma. They were defeated on 6 August 1734 when the Spanish and French stormed the city, twenty-seven years earlier, Austrian troops under Count Wirich Philipp von Daun had laid siege to Gaeta during the War of the Spanish Succession. The Jacobite pretender Charles Edward Stuart was present for a time as an observer, history of the kingdom of Naples, 1734-1825
Duchy of Parma
Duke of Parma
Duke of Fitz-James †
King Charles Emmanuel III
Peter Lacy
Eugene of Savoy
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Polish Succession War". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 
