The agreement at Utrecht to ensure France and Spain remained separate meant despite the close relationship between Louis XV and his uncle Philip V of Spain, the two countries were opponents in the 1718 to 1720 War of the Quadruple Alliance.
Deposed by Stanislaus Leszczyński in 1705, he returned four years later and Stanislaus fled to France, where his daughter Maria married Louis XV of France in 1725.
When Cardinal Fleury became French chief minister in 1726, he sought a closer relationship with Spain, helped by the birth of Louis, Dauphin of France in 1729, which seemed to ensure the countries would remain separate. Fleury supported Stanislaus, hoping to weaken Austria and secure the Duchy of Lorraine, a strategic possession occupied by France for large parts of the previous century.
When Cardinal Fleury became French chief minister in 1726, he sought a closer relationship with Spain, helped by the birth of Louis, Dauphin of France in 1729, which seemed to ensure the countries would remain separate. Fleury supported Stanislaus, hoping to weaken Austria and secure the Duchy of Lorraine, a strategic possession occupied by France for large parts of the previous century.
The British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole justified Britain's non-intervention by insisting that the Anglo-Austrian Alliance agreed at the 1731 Treaty of Vienna was a purely defensive agreement, while Austria was in this instance the aggressor.
In the secret 1732 Treaty of the Three Black Eagles, Russia, Austria and Prussia, agreed to oppose the election of either Stanislaus or Augustus III and to support Manuel of Portugal instead. The dispute coincided with the breakdown of the Anglo-French Alliance, which had dominated Europe since 1714.
The War of the Polish Succession (Wojna o sukcesję polską; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a Polish civil war over the succession to Augustus II of Poland, which the other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests.
Augustus failed in an attempt to settle the Polish crown on his son, Augustus III, leading to a contest for the throne when he died in 1733.
At the same time, Philip wanted to regain territories in Italy ceded to Austria in 1714, which led to the 1733 Pacte de Famille between France and Spain. ==Death of Augustus II== Augustus II died on February 1, 1733.
Throughout the spring and summer of 1733, France began building up forces along its northern and eastern frontiers, while the emperor massed troops on Polish borders, reducing garrisons in the Duchy of Milan for the purpose.
Teodor Potocki, Primate of Poland and interrex following the death of Augustus, called a convocation sejm in March 1733.
Delegates to this sejm passed a resolution forbidding the candidacy of foreigners; this would explicitly exclude both Emmanuel of Portugal and Augustus II's son, Frederick August II, the Elector of Saxony. Frederick August negotiated agreements with Austria and Russia in July 1733.
The French, not wishing to provoke Britain, carefully chose not to campaign in the Austrian Netherlands and avoided campaigning in parts of the Holy Roman Empire that might draw either power into the conflict. On Austria's southern border, France in November 1733 negotiated the secret Treaty of Turin with Charles Emmanuel and prepared for military operations in northern Italy.
Divisions within the empire also affected the raising of troops in 1733, as Charles-Albert of Bavaria, who harbored ambitions to become the next Holy Roman Emperor, signed a secret agreement with France in November 1733, and tried, with limited success, to dissuade other rulers within the empire from the Wittelsbach family from providing troops to the emperor under their treaty obligations.
. ==External links== The war of the Polish succession by Vajiravudh, King of Siam, 1901 Another German source 1730s conflicts 18th-century conflicts Wars involving the Holy Roman Empire Polish 1733 Wars involving the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Military history of Italy Warfare of the Early Modern period Polish–Russian wars Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth–Russian Empire relations 1730s in the Holy Roman Empire 1730s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
On 9 April 1734, a Reichskrieg (imperial war) was declared against France, obliging all imperial states to participate. ==War== ===Poland=== The Russians, commanded by Peter Lacy, quickly captured the capital city of Warsaw and installed Augustus as potential heir, forcing Stanislaus to flee to Danzig (present-day Gdańsk), where he was besieged for some time by a Russian-Saxon army that came under the overall command of Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Münnich.
Danzig capitulated in June 1734, and Stanislaus was forced to flee once more, this time first to the city of Königsberg and eventually to France.
A group of nobles and aristocrats supporting Stanislaus formed the Confederation of Dzików in late 1734, and under their commander, Adam Tarło, tried to fight the Russian and Saxon troops, but their efforts were ineffective.
In the spring of 1734 French maneuvers successfully flanked this line, and Prince Eugene of Savoy was forced to withdraw these forces to the imperial encampment at Heilbronn.
This cleared the way for the French army under the Duke of Berwick to besiege the imperial fort at Philippsburg, which fell after a siege of two months in July 1734.
When he finally withdrew most of the allied army to Cremona, the Austrians advanced on the north bank of the Po as far as the Adda before both armies entered winter quarters in December 1734. In southern Italy, the Austrians, choosing a strategy of defending a large number of fortresses, were soundly defeated.
When Charles Emmanuel withdrew his forces from the area, the allies were forced to retreat, and the beleaguered Austrians capitalized, eventually recovering most of Milan against little opposition in November. ==Peace settlement== As early as February 1734 the British and Dutch had offered to mediate peace talks between the various parties of the conflict.
Great Britain's unwillingness to support Habsburg Austria demonstrated the infirmity of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. Although a preliminary peace was reached in 1735, the war was formally ended with the Treaty of Vienna (1738), in which Augustus III was confirmed as king of Poland and his opponent Stanislaus I was awarded the Duchy of Lorraine by France.
A force of 30,000 under Friedrich Heinrich von Seckendorff crossed the Rhine and began pushing the French back toward Trier, defeating them at Clausen in October 1735, in one of the last battles before preliminary peace terms were reached. ===Italy=== French and Savoyard troops numbering over 50,000, under the command of Charles Emmanuel, entered Milanese territory as early as October 24, against minimal resistance, as the Austrian forces in the duchy numbered only about 12,000.
For the 1735 campaign the allied forces in northern Italy came under the command of the Duke de Noailles, elevated to Marshal after his successful contributions to the Rhine campaign.
By early 1735, proposals were being circulated.
As 1735 progressed with the Austrians being in no real position to continue the fight, and the French concerned by the possible arrival of Russian reinforcements on the Rhine (which did eventually occur), negotiations continued through the summer of 1735. A preliminary peace was finally concluded in October 1735 and ratified in the Treaty of Vienna in November 1738.
In what became known as the Pacification Sejm, held in June–July 1736, Augustus was confirmed as king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. ===Rhineland=== Following France's October 10 declaration of war, it began military operations three days later, invading the Duchy of Lorraine and besieging the imperial fortress at Kehl, across the Rhine River from Strasbourg, gaining control of both objectives in a few weeks.
The acquisition of Lorraine for the former Polish king, however, proved of lasting benefit to France, as it passed under direct French rule with Stanislaus' death in 1766. Stanislaus signed the act of abdication in 1736, while Augustus III pronounced a general amnesty.
As 1735 progressed with the Austrians being in no real position to continue the fight, and the French concerned by the possible arrival of Russian reinforcements on the Rhine (which did eventually occur), negotiations continued through the summer of 1735. A preliminary peace was finally concluded in October 1735 and ratified in the Treaty of Vienna in November 1738.
This proved a hollow guarantee, however, as the French decided to intervene to partition the Habsburg Monarchy after all following the death of Charles in 1740.
The acquisition of Lorraine for the former Polish king, however, proved of lasting benefit to France, as it passed under direct French rule with Stanislaus' death in 1766. Stanislaus signed the act of abdication in 1736, while Augustus III pronounced a general amnesty.
. ==External links== The war of the Polish succession by Vajiravudh, King of Siam, 1901 Another German source 1730s conflicts 18th-century conflicts Wars involving the Holy Roman Empire Polish 1733 Wars involving the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Military history of Italy Warfare of the Early Modern period Polish–Russian wars Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth–Russian Empire relations 1730s in the Holy Roman Empire 1730s in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Poland also surrendered claims to Livonia and direct control over the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia, which, although remaining a Polish fief, was not integrated into Poland proper and came under strong Russian influence which only ended with the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. ==Background== After the death of Sigismund II Augustus in 1572, the King of Poland was elected by the Szlachta, a body composed of the Polish nobility, in a specially-called election sejm.
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