Stately quadrille

"**Stately quadrille**" is a term popularly used to describe the constantly shifting alliances between the Great Powers of Europe during the 18th century. The ultimate objective was to maintain the balance of power in Europe to stop any one alliance or country becoming too strong. It takes its name from the quadrille, a dance in which the participants constantly swap partners.

The most widely cited instance was in 1756, when Britain and Austria abandoned their 25-year-long Anglo-Austrian Alliance and instead made new alliances with their former enemies, Prussia and France, respectively. That was known as the Diplomatic Revolution.

## Background

Shifting alliances had long been a factor in European politics and were often regarded as responses to shifting power and threat. During the 16th century and the early 17th century, much of the emphasis in European politics had been on restricting the power of Spain.

In the second half of the 17th century, Spain was replaced by France as Europe's leading power. Several European coalitions were formed against Spain and France, culminating in the War of the Spanish Succession, from 1702 to 1713.

## Quadrille

In the years immediately after the war, Britain and France, which were widely considered to have been the leaders of opposing coalitions in the last war, formed an Anglo-French Alliance and recognised that they shared temporary, mutual interests. In the years that followed, they managed to defeat a resurgent Spain, formerly a French ally, in the War of the Quadruple Alliance. Spain sought an alliance with Austria and gained it in 1725.

By 1731 Britain and France were clearly drifting apart. A diplomatic initiative with Austria was begun by the British government, and a new Anglo-Austrian Alliance was created. Spain withdrew its friendship with Austria and eventually ended up allied to France again.

In 1733, however the Anglo-Austrian Alliance seemed under threat, when the British failed to assist the Austrians in the War of the Polish Succession. Austria had to rely heavily on Russia for assistance and was forced to make huge concessions to France in the 1738 peace treaty. Britain realised that its failure to intervene had allowed France to become too strong.

In 1740, Prussia, an emerging power, attacked Austria. Britain and France soon became embroiled in the war, which ended in a stalemate in 1748, but Austria appeared to have lost most in the war. Despite extensive British funding, it was increasingly disillusioned about the Anglo-Austrian Alliance and began looking for a replacement.

In 1756, Austria did what was considered unthinkable by many by abandoning its British connection to form a new alliance with France. Fearing that Continental Europe would be destabilised and led to war, Britain made an alliance with Prussia at the Convention of Westminster in the hope that a new balance of power would prevent war.

## Diplomatic Revolution

The **Diplomatic Revolution of 1756** was the reversal of longstanding alliances in Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. Austria went from an ally of Britain to an ally of France, while Prussia became an ally of Britain. The most influential diplomat involved was an Austrian statesman, Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz.

The change was part of the stately quadrille, a constantly shifting pattern of alliances throughout the 18th century, efforts to preserve or upset the European balance of power.

### Background

The diplomatic change was triggered by a separation of interests between Austria, Britain, and France. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, after the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, left Austria aware of the high price it paid in having Britain as an ally. Maria Theresa of Austria had defended her claim to the Habsburg throne and had her husband, Francis Stephen, crowned Emperor in 1745. However, she had been forced to relinquish valuable territory in the process. Under British diplomatic pressure, Maria Theresa had given up most of Lombardy and occupied Bavaria. The British also forced her to cede Parma to Spain and, more importantly, to abandon the valuable state of Silesia to Prussian occupation.

During the war, Frederick II ("the Great") of Prussia had seized Silesia, one of the Bohemian crown lands. That acquisition had further advanced Prussia as a great European power, which now posed an increasing threat to Austria's German lands and to Central Europe as a whole. The growth of Prussia, dangerous to Austria, was welcomed by the British, who saw it as a means of balancing French power and reducing French influence in Germany, which might otherwise have grown in response to Austria's weakness.

### Westminster Convention

Main articles: Anglo-Prussian alliance (1756)
The results of the War of Austrian Succession made it clear that Britain no longer viewed Austria as powerful enough to check French power but was content to build up smaller states like Prussia. Therefore, Britain and Prussia, in the Westminster Convention (16 January 1756), agreed that Britain would not aid Austria in a renewed conflict for Silesia if Prussia agreed to protect Hanover from France. Protection of Hanover was important to Britain because it was a possession of its king, George II (who was born and raised in the Electorate). Britain felt that with Prussia's growing strength, it would be more apt to defend Hanover than Austria.

Meanwhile, Austria was determined to reclaim Silesia and so the two allies found themselves with conflicting interests. Maria Theresa recognized the futility of renewed alliance with Britain and so set out to align Austria with France, which could replace Britain as a valuable ally. Maria Theresa knew that without a powerful ally such as France, she could never hope to reclaim Silesia from Frederick.

The agreement was followed by a more direct Anglo-Prussian Convention in 1758.

### First Treaty of Versailles

Main articles: Treaty of Versailles (1756)
Maria Theresa sent her foreign policy minister, Count Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, to France to secure an alliance to enable Austria to reclaim Silesia. Kaunitz approached Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV's mistress, to intervene in the negotiations. However, Louis XV proved reluctant to agree to any treaty presented by Kaunitz.It took renewed aggression between France and Britain for Louis to align with Austria.

Furthermore, Habsburg possessions no longer surrounded France; instead, Frederick II had managed to end the prospect of Habsburg-German dominion bordering French lands. Therefore, France no longer saw Austria as an immediate threat and so entered into a defensive alliance with Austria. In response to the Westminster Convention, Louis XV's ministers and Kaunitz concluded the First Treaty of Versailles (1 May 1756) in which both sides agreeing to remain neutral and to provide 24,000 troops if either got into conflict with a third party.

### Second Treaty of Versailles

Main articles: Treaty of Versailles (1757)
Maria Theresa's diplomats, after securing French neutrality, actively began to establish an anti-Prussian coalition. Austria's actions alerted Frederick II, who decided to strike first by invading Saxony, commencing the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). Frederick's actions were meant to scare Russia out of supporting Austria, both of which had formed a defensive alliance in 1746.

However, by invading Saxony, Frederick had inflamed his enemies; Russia, under the direction of Empress Elizabeth, sent an additional 80,000 troops to Austria. One year after the signing of the First Treaty of Versailles, France and Austria signed a new offensive alliance, the Second Treaty of Versailles, on 1 May 1757.

Austria promised France the Austrian Netherlands, but in return, Maria Theresa would receive Parma, 129,000 French troops and the promise of 12 million livres every year until Silesia was returned to Austria.

### Aftermath

As a result, Britain and Prussia faced Austria, France and Russia. Despite the reversal of alliances, however, the basic antagonisms remained: Prussia versus Austria and Britain versus France. The war ended in a victory for Britain and Prussia, aided by the miracle of the House of Brandenburg and Britain's control of the seas, which was enhanced by success during its 1759 *annus mirabilis*. France, Austria and their European allies ultimately were unsuccessful in their aims.

However, the Anglo-Prussian alliance proved to be short-lived largely because Britain withdrew financial and military support for Prussia in 1762; Prussia subsequently allied with Russia instead. The dissolution of the alliance and the pre-eminent rise of Britain left it with no allies when the American Revolutionary War broke out.

## Decline

The concept began to fade in the second half of the 18th century, as Britain and France became the dominant European powers. The failure to prevent the Seven Years' War, in which over a million died, was a major factor. States began to seek a more stable and longlasting series of alliances: one of the most successful in the second half of the century was the Bourbon Family Compact between France and Spain, which endured throughout a number of major European conflicts, including the Wars of Austrian and Polish Successions and the Seven Years' War and endured past the American War of Independence in which French and Spanish support contributed towards British defeat.

After the Napoleonic Wars, a Concert of Europe was set up to create a forum for discussion rather than create shifting alliance patterns, which had a tendency to cause major wars. This was successful through most of the 19th century, until the First World War collapsed the post-Napoleonic system amid increasingly acute nationalist tensions, which led to the formation of Germany and the collapse of the Austrian, Russian, and Ottoman empires.