War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738)
War
Poland
The Russians, commanded by Peter Lacy, quickly captured the capital city of Warsaw and installed Augustus as potential heir, forcing Stanisław 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 Stanisław was forced to flee once more, this time first to the city of Königsberg and eventually to France
The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe since the High Middle Ages. It was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world. Colonial conflicts with Great Britain led to the loss of much of its North American holdings by 1763. 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.. This ended major military activity in Poland itself, although it continued to be occupied by foreign troops as Augustus dealt with partisan supporters of Stanisław I. A group of nobles and aristocrats supporting Stanisław formed the Confederation of Dzików in late 1734, and under their commander, Adam Tarło, tried to fight the Russian
Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighbouring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China. Russia remains the third-largest empire in history, surpassed only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire. and Saxon troops, but their efforts were ineffective. 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. Unable to attack Austria
The Archduchy of Austria was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire and the nucleus of the Habsburg monarchy. With its capital at Vienna, the archduchy was centered at the Empire's southeastern periphery. The archduchy's history as an imperial state ended with the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. It was replaced with the Lower and Upper Austria crown lands of the Austrian Empire. directly, and unwilling to invade the intervening German states for fear of drawing Great Britain
The Kingdom of Great Britain was a sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of Union 1707, which united the kingdoms of England (which included Wales) and Scotland to form a single kingdom encompassing the whole island of Great Britain and its outlying islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. and the Dutch
The Dutch Republic was a confederation that existed from 1579, during the Dutch Revolt, to 1795. It was a predecessor state of the Netherlands and the first fully independent Dutch nation state. Although the state was small and contained only around 1.5 million inhabitants, it controlled a worldwide network of seafaring trade routes. The income from this trade allowed the Dutch Republic to compete militarily against much larger countries. It amassed a huge fleet of 2,000 ships, initially larger than the fleets of England and France combined. into the conflict, France consolidated its position in Lorraine, and withdrew its troops across the Rhine for the winter.
The emperor mobilized his active forces in response to the French attacks, and began the process of calling up troops from the states of the empire, establishing a defensive line at Ettlingen, near Karlsruhe. 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. Eugene, who was accompanied by Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. 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. Its capital was Berlin., made some attempts to relieve the siege, but never made any decisive attacks against the besieging army owing to its size and relatively poor quality of the troops under his command. Berwick was killed by a shell at Philippsburg.
French armies continued to advance along the Rhine, reaching as far as Mainz, but the growing imperial army, which came to include troops from Russia that had assisted with the capture of Danzig, was able to prevent France from establishing a siege there, and Eugene went on the offensive. 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. By November 3, the city of Milan itself had surrendered, although the Austrian governor, Count Wirich Philipp von Daun, still held the fortress. France's great general, the Duke de Villars, joined Charles Emmanuel in Milan on November 11. While Villars wanted to move immediately against Mantua to secure the Alpine passes against Austrian reinforcements, Charles Emmanuel, mistrustful of his French allies and their dealings with Spain
The Spanish Empire was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its predecessor states between 1492 and 1976. One of the largest empires in history, it was the first to usher the European Age of Discovery and achieve a global scale, controlling vast territory. It was one of the most powerful empires of the early modern period, reaching its maximum extent in the 18th century., sought to secure Milan. The army spent the next three months eliminating Austrian opposition from the remaining fortified towns in the duchy. Villars attempted to interest Don Carlos of Parma in joining the expedition against Mantua, but Carlos was focused on the campaign into Naples. Villars began to move against Mantua, but Charles Emmanuel resisted, and the army made little progress. In early May, an Austrian army of 40,000 under Count Claude Florimond de Mercy crossed the Alps and threatened to close in on the French army's rear by a flanking maneuver. Villars responded by retreating from Mantua and attempted without success to interrupt the Austrian army's crossing of the Po River. Villars, frustrated by Charles Emmanuel's delaying tactics, quit the army on May 27. He fell ill on the way back to France and died in Turin on June 17.
Mercy's forces made repeated attempts to cross the Parma River in June, but it was not until late in that month that they were able to cross the river and approach the city of Parma, where the allied forces, now under the command of French marshals de Broglie and Coigny, were entrenched. In a Battle of Colorno before and in a bloody battle near the village of Crocetta on June 29, the Austrians were beaten back, Mercy was killed, and Frederick of Württemberg, his second, was wounded. Charles Emmanuel returned the next day to retake command, and resumed his delaying tactics by failing to immediately pursue the retreating Austrians. The Austrians retreated to the Po, where they were reinforced by additional troops and placed under the command of Field Marshal Königsegg. After two months of inaction, during which the armies faced each other across the Secchia River, Königsegg on September 15 took advantage of lax security and executed a raid on Coigny's headquarters at Quistello, very nearly capturing Coigny and taking among other prizes Charles Emmanuel's china. Two days later the French withdrew to a position near Guastalla in response to Austrian maneuvers, but one detachment of nearly 3,000 men was surrounded and captured by the advancing Austrians. On September 19, Königsegg attacked the allied position at Guastalla, and in another bloody encounter, was beaten back, losing among others Frederick of Württemberg. Königsegg retreated across the Po, adopting a defensive position between the Po and the Oglio while Charles Emmanuel again did not capitalize on his victory. 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.
Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, 18th century engraving
In southern Italy, the Austrians, choosing a strategy of defending a large number of fortresses, were soundly defeated. Don Carlos assembled an army composed primarily of Spaniards, but also including some troops from France and Savoy. Moving south through the Papal States, his army flanked the frontline Austrian defense at Mignano, forcing them to retreat into the fortress at Capua. He was then practically welcomed into Naples by the city fathers, as the Austrian viceroy had fled toward Bari, and the fortresses held by the Austrians in the city were quickly captured. While maintaining a blockade of the largest Austrian holdings at Capua and Gaeta, a large portion of the allied army gave chase to the remaining Austrian forces. These finally attempted a stand in late May, and were defeated at Bitonto. Capua and Gaeta were then properly besieged while Austrian fortresses in Sicily were quickly subdued. Gaeta surrendered in August, and Capua held out until November when its commander, Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, finally negotiated surrender terms when he ran out of ammunition. The Jacobite pretender to the thrones of United Kingdom and France, Charles Edward Stuart, who was under 14 then, also participated in the French and Spanish siege of Gaeta, making his first exposure to battle.
The armies in northern Italy suffered significantly over the winter, with significant losses to disease and desertion. 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. They were also joined by Spanish forces in May, now available after the successes in the south. In response to this threat, Königsegg retreated into the Bishopric of Trent, but leaving the fortress city of Mantua well-defended. At this point divisions between the allies became clear, as Spain laid claim to Mantua, and also refused to guarantee Milan to Charles Emmanuel. In response, Charles Emmanuel refused to allow his siege equipment to be used against Mantua. As a result, the Franco-Spanish army was unable to do more than blockade the city. 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.
HISTORY
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "War of the Polish Succession", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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