page_title: Franco-Austrian Alliance
section_title: Diplomatic Revolution
hierarchical_section_title: Franco-Austrian Alliance / Diplomatic Revolution
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz
context_page_description: The Franco-Austrian Alliance was a diplomatic and military alliance between France and Austria that was first established in 1756 after the First Treaty of Versailles. It lasted for much of the remainder of the century until it was abandoned during the French Revolution.
  The Alliance had its heyday during the Seven Years' War, when France and Austria joined forces to fight their mutual enemy, Prussia. Following the allies' defeat, the intimacy of the alliance weakened, and by the 1780s it had become something closer to a formality, and Austria even briefly considered the idea of entering the American War of Independence on Britain's side against France. By the time of the French Revolution, when France first declared itself a constitutional monarchy and then overthrew and executed its king, the alliance had already collapsed entirely, and Austria actively tried to restore the French monarchy by going to war with the new French Republic.
context_section_description: By 1754, six years after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had brought the previous war to an end, a new figure, Count von Kaunitz, had risen to power in Vienna as a close advisor of Maria Theresa. He was committed to ending the British alliance and looking for a new military partner. His friendship with the French ambassador, Choiseul, provided a close link between Paris and Vienna, and Choiseul indicated to Kaunitz that France was willing to consider a rapprochement with Austria despite the long history of conflict between the two states.
  In 1756, Britain signed a limited defensive alliance with Prussia, Austria and French were outraged at what they perceived as a betrayal by their respective allies. In response, Austria and France signed a defensive alliance of their own, the First Treaty of Versailles. It stipulated that if either was attacked by a third party, the other would come to its assistance. As Austria were now planning an attack on Prussia to retake Silesia, the treaty was seen as a way of preventing any other power from trying to intervene on the side of Prussia. The sudden political changes formed part of what became known as the stately quadrille.
caption: Wenzel Anton Count of Kaunitz-Rietberg was one of the major architects of the Franco-Austrian Alliance.
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