Home › CHAPTER XX › CHAPTER XX: French
CHAPTER XX: French
The Rajah of Tanjore and other independent chiefs joined them. The French lost most of their acquisitions: Mohammed Ali's claim was acknowledged; and a treaty was entered into between the French and English, that neither party should in future interfere with the affairs of the native princes. Time proved how useless was such a stipulation!
The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was not of long duration. France and England were still at war in the East Indies, and their differences in respect to the boundaries of their respective colonies in North America still remained for adjustment. Another war in Europe was the inevitable consequence; and from the term of its duration it obtained the name of "the seven years' war." England united with Prussia; and an alliance between the emperor, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony was immediately concluded : A.D. 1756. The commencement of the campaign had a discouraging aspect for the king of Prussia; the Russians were advancing through Lithuania, a Swedish army occupied his attention in Pomerania, and the united forces of the French and and imperialists were advancing through Germany. With his characteristic boldness, Frederic anticipated the attack of his numerous foes, and invaded both Saxony and Bohemia; making himself master of Dresden, routing the Austrians at Lowesitz, and compelling 17,000 Saxons to lay down their arms at Parma. In the ensuing campaign the marshal d'Estrees crossed the Rhine, with 80,০০০ men, to invade Hanover. The Hanoverians and Hessians, under command of the duke of Cumberland, were driven out, and the French became masters of the electorate. Unawed by the formidable preparations of his enemies, Frederic again assumed the offensive, and penetrated into Bohemia; but a victory obtained at Kolin, by the Austrian general Daun, compelled him to retreat hastily into his dominions, which were now threatened in every direction. The French had rapidly advanced upon Magdeburg; the victorious Russians threatened the north of Silesia, whilst the Austhe Austrians had attacked the south, and even penetrated to Berlin, where they levied heavy contributions; and the prince of Brunswick Bevern had delivered up Breslau. In this extreme emergency, Frederic could scarcely expect to acquire, any further fame; but, with his accustomed energy, he hastened to Dresden, assembled an army, and with half the number of his French and German opponents, gave them battle at the village of Rosbach, and obtained over them a most brilliant victory. His loss amounted to only five hundred men, while that of the enemy was nine thousand, in killed, wounded, and prisoners. In four weeks after he had obtained the far more important victory at Lissa, and recovered Breslau.
During the campaign of 1758, the Prussian monarch recovered Schweidnitz and invested Olmutz. In the meantime prince Ferdinand of Brunswick crossed the Rhine, defeated the French at Crevelt, and penetrated to the very gates of Louvain in Brabant. No commander, perhaps, ever endured the vicissitudes of fortune in more rapid succession than did Frederic in this campaign; but though he was several times in the most imminent peril, he at length compelled his formidable rival , marshal Daun, to raise the sieges of Dresden and Leipsic, and to retire into Bohemia, while Frederic himself entered the former city in triumph.
It is in crises like these that the destiny of states is seen to depend less upon the extent of their power, than upon the qualifications of certain eminent individuals, who possess the talent of employing and increasing their resources, and of animating national energies. This was in a special degree the case of Peter the Great .