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Episode 13 - The Diplomatic Revolution & War in Europe
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1756 is a busy year - not only have battles both large and small been taking place in North America, but now also Europe. A complex re-alignment of European alliances leads to a tense, dangerous situation, where old and new rivalries clash. While Britain and France continue to duel, every other major European power soon gets involved - but it is Frederick the Great of Prussia whose actions really begin the "Seven Years' War".
We'll also cover the Battle of Minorca, the first Anglo-French battle in Europe. No longer will this war be contained to the American frontier!
Intro & outro music - "Drums and Guns" by Village Volunteers Fife & Drum Corps
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Transcript
Episode Introduction: North American and European Aspects of the French and Indian War
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome back to Tales from the French and Indian War. I am your host, Jackson. And I'm your co-host, Matt. And today we are tackling a very, very broad and complex subject.
00:00:24
Speaker
But as the amateur historians that we are, we will attempt to give you just enough of an accurate summarization of everything that you'll learn something, hopefully.
00:00:36
Speaker
That was a great start for a confident episode. Hey, no, listen, new listeners aren't going to be starting with an episode on the diplomatic revolution and the invasion of Saxony. they're going to be starting at the beginning because I think most of our listeners are more interested in the North American side of things. So if you're listening at this point, you've been with us for a while probably. So I think you can give, you'll give us some grace.
Listener Engagement and Global Reach
00:01:01
Speaker
Yeah, and to add on that, Jackson, you know the reason we're doing this episode is to give our listeners kind of a peek at what's happening in Europe so we don't say two-tunnel vision on the North American continent. But I encourage all listeners to go out and find ah like a Seven Years War podcast that covers this on the European side. It's fascinating on that continent as well. And you know we're only covering kind of one half of the conflict. So, yeah.
00:01:31
Speaker
And I would definitely recommend the Armchair Historians' about one hour long video on the Seven Years' War. It is very good and one of the resources that I used when getting some background on everything that's going on in Europe at this time. i know we have And then you can go play the game. Yeah, exactly. We're just doing out here doing in product placement without getting paid. That's how you do it. That's how you make money, right? Exactly.
00:01:53
Speaker
um Before we begin, Matt, I got a couple, i guess, announcements or fun little comments here. ah One, for our listeners, if you listen to the episode about board and video games of the French and Indian War, ah we mentioned the game Muskets and Tomahawks at the very beginning of that episode, one of our favorites.
00:02:13
Speaker
We had on our Facebook page, one of our commenters who engages with the podcast a lot, Adam, he shared a picture in a comment under one of my posts for that episode showing some of the miniatures that he created in one of the game boards he was playing on. So if you had trouble visualizing what those kinds of games look like, go ahead and check out Adam's comment on our Facebook page for that.
00:02:37
Speaker
It's pretty neat, but that can help give you some visualization for that. So thanks Adam for commenting. Here's a little shout out. that's a good That's a good point, Jackson. Maybe we should upload some of like the miniatures that we've done onto that page as well so the listeners can see how we how we did our different regimens and stuff. that's like That's a good idea, though. I like that. Yeah, that ain't bad. A little educational aspect, too. Yeah.
00:03:00
Speaker
Okay, that's great. Yeah, going to have to write that one down. So anyway, ah that is one thing. One other little fun note. A few episodes ago, I mentioned how we had listeners, at least one listen, in every U.S. state except the Dakotas and Alaska. Well, as of like a week or two ago, we we checked off South Dakota, Matt. So ah we're getting closer.
00:03:22
Speaker
Thank you for the South Dakota listener amongst our audience. I appreciate that. Now we just need to expand our reach into Alaska. i think North Dakota will probably be the next to fall. Alaska is probably going to be the hardest one. Yeah, we've already got a foothold in South Dakota. Just got to launch north across the Missouri River.
00:03:40
Speaker
i just pulled up the maps here. We do have ah quite a few South American listeners, I'll say that. Really? Yeah, we have listeners across the world.
00:03:51
Speaker
Obviously, I think the most two popular countries outside of the U.S. are Canada and Canada. the UK. So thank you to all of our canadian Canadian and United Kingdom listeners. But yeah, we are also stretching into the Southern hemisphere. So this is a worldwide podcast. We're conquering the world just like the British and French empires at this time wished to do.
00:04:15
Speaker
yes how how fitting. All right. Let's go ahead and get into it.
Shifting Alliances: The Diplomatic Revolution
00:04:23
Speaker
Matt, I'm thinking we'll start with diplomatic revolution and get to Menorca. And then we will finish with the very interesting character, Frederick the Great, and how he kicks off the whole European shebang. Sounds good to me. so Yeah. So there is a term, it's called the diplomatic revolution. That is typically what is used to describe all of the the diplomatic changes that take place in Europe at this time. So what is important to understand is that before the Seven Years' War, before the French and Indian War, There have been some very, very long-standing alliance systems and just simply structural diplomatic elements of of European politics that have existed for a long time. And these structures suddenly, right before the war starts,
00:05:19
Speaker
change almost completely in the other direction. So I guess to to get into that, we'll just start with taking a look at France and Austria's relationship.
00:05:29
Speaker
So when we think of France in like the medieval, the Renaissance, the early modern period, the Napoleonic era, we always think, at least as Americans, we always think France, oh, they, and England, the British, you know, they were always going at it. They're the the bitterest rivals.
00:05:46
Speaker
And while there are certainly plenty of periods within that time frame where they were great rivals and they were fighting, the the around the 200 years or so leading up to this war, the one of one of France's main rivals, its more most bitterest rival was not so much Britain, but actually Austria. There's the the two ruling dynasties in charge of these two countries, the Bourbon-Valois, Bourbon-Valois, Bourbon-Valois, I don't know exactly ah how I ought to pronounce it when I'm speaking it' English, english but but but saying these French words. um
00:06:23
Speaker
That was the dynasty in charge of France. And then, of course, the Habsburgs, which I think everyone has heard about, they were in charge of Austria-Hungary and its empire. So you got France in Western Europe and then Austria-Hungary in Central Europe.
00:06:35
Speaker
And these are the two greatest continental powers in Europe. And they battle each other. both directly and through proxies and politics consistently for hundreds of years.
00:06:48
Speaker
But ah some of the events leading up to this war are going to cause them to become allies rather than enemies. ah To understand a little bit about how that that relationship suddenly changes, I mean, this is something as seismic as like the U.S. and China suddenly becoming allies, or the U.S. and Russia suddenly becoming allies. And it's that's not even a great comparison because – The US and Russia have really only been beefing for maybe 100 years tops since the communist revolution.
00:07:21
Speaker
And then for China, probably like 70 years since the communists took over. So this is like 200 years of rivalry, at least between France and Austria. But what
Frederick the Great: Opportunism and European Power Dynamics
00:07:31
Speaker
causes this change? What causes Austria to finally reach out to France and look for an alliance?
00:07:38
Speaker
Well, Matt, do you have any ideas? Is it the War of Austrian Succession? That is a huge factor. And ah the ah to summarize that, if you might remember from our first episode, we touched very briefly on it.
00:07:53
Speaker
But there is a rising power in Europe at this time, and that is Prussia, led by someone who became known as Frederick the Great. Spoiler.
00:08:04
Speaker
So Prussia, we'll have to back up a little bit to give the the proper context. So Prussia, 1740, I think would be the time. That's the time when the War of Austrian Succession starts. And I think it also coincides with when Frederick the Great ascends to the throne. Yep. Frederick the Great took the throne of Prussia in 1740.
00:08:23
Speaker
Okay, yeah. 1740 is a huge year because a lot is going on. One, Frederick the Great's father died, who he had a very difficult and like abusive relationship with.
00:08:34
Speaker
But he dies. Frederick the Great is now on the throne. That's one big event. And his father was also like very Spartan, I guess we could say. he just kind of stockpiled money, lived like a a military life, and didn't Unlike his father, he didn't really like spend much, so he has a huge treasury, but he was such a military man that Prussia's army has become extremely disciplined and very effective. So Frederick inherits ah excellent finances for Prussia and a very well-trained
00:09:05
Speaker
Army and he's also pretty young and just raring to go to kind of Establish his reputation to earn some glory. So there's quite a few things happening there and from Prussia just to jump in really quick to give us some of our US listeners some context here Prussia would be like if you had a state, because at the time, Prussia was just ah a small state within Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. So if you think of like a state like Ohio or something, for example, deciding to arm themselves to the teeth and then basically have military governor, that was kind of the threat that Prussia posed at this time. You know, they were a minor power as far as geopolitical skill, but not militarily. And eventually that military just, you know, As Jackson said, Frederick the Great's father stockpiled it, and comes into power with this this massive arsenal.
00:09:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. ah And there's a couple other things that are happening in 1740 that go in his favor too. So one of Prussia's, I guess, enemies or rivals is Russia, but I believe they were going through a kind of chaotic dynastical change or like a succession change. So in 1740, you know, if Prussia was going to make a move, the Russians wouldn't really be able to get involved because they're they're going through some internal political turmoil at that time.
00:10:23
Speaker
Also in 1740, Maria Theresa ascends to the throne of Austria-Hungary. And while there had been provisions made for like everyone to like accept that succession, going all the way back to the pragmatic sanction that we talked about in episode one, ah Frederick is going to use the ah more political instability of this new, regime not regime change, but new political leader in Austria-Hungary and using a pretense, he is going to just suddenly strike out and seize
00:11:02
Speaker
the the area of Silesia, which is a very, very prosperous province. It kind of coincides, I believe, with like Eastern Germany, a little bit of Poland, maybe even some of Czechia. I don't think it neatly falls into one of those countries, but I believe it's mostly Germany now.
00:11:20
Speaker
But at this point, this is an area, a very, very prosperous area that Austria holds. So Frederick the Great, he comes to the throne. He has all these assets. His rivals are in disarray. And if there's one word i could i could I could say to summarize Frederick the Great's character, it would be opportunistic.
00:11:39
Speaker
So he sees the opportunity. He's like, I'm going to win this province. going to get my glory. It's going to be easy. These Austrians are a joke. and he launches a war which true goes on to trigger all these different like alliance systems.
00:11:53
Speaker
France at that time is an ally of Prussia. They're going to be involved. They're rearing to go to hit Austria, and then, of course, the United Kingdom gets involved because they've got to protect Hanover. there Man, everything everything's interconnected in these European wars. It's so hard to just talk about one of them because I've already mentioned got mention Hanover. We've got we ought to talk about the Holy Roman Empire.
00:12:14
Speaker
Oh, you also to mention that that Frederick was the nephew of King George II. Oh my... not Yeah, not only are the events all related, all of the European monarchs are related.
00:12:25
Speaker
Like, within familial ties. Yeah, and I will say specifically the um the Prussians and the, I guess, the British at this time, those royal families had significant ties to one another, mainly because I believe King George's family, King George II, I believe his family came from Hanover. So they were kind of a German ruling class. Yeah. King king George II was even born and I think raised too in Hanover.
00:12:53
Speaker
Yes. um Before he, so he, and he's ruling Great Britain, but also he's the ruler of Hanover, this, which is now in like, I think Western or Northwestern Germany. um So the British Kings are inherently involved in all of these German continental European politics because the British Kings are from there and they still have territories there. So they can't afford to ignore what's going on in Europe and all these wars and everything. So that's how all these powers are are kind of intercon interconnected in the last war.
00:13:25
Speaker
A couple main results of the War of Austrian Succession. Prussia manages to hold on to Silesia and earns it. But the Prussian-French alliance starts to fray because, like I said, Frederick is an opportunist. So he doesn't care about abandoning allies in the middle of a war if he has what he needs. So he negotiates a separate peace with Austria, secures Silesia, and then leaves the war.
00:13:53
Speaker
And then France is like, oh, now I'm fighting Austria alone. Oh, lovely. Yeah. Later on, he rejoins the war to try to further secure and gain more territory against Austria-Hungary.
00:14:06
Speaker
And then he makes another separate peace again, leaving France out to try again. So um ah yeah, those are considered the first and second Silesian Wars, which are within the War of Austrian Succession.
00:14:20
Speaker
So the main results to to keep in mind... Prussia has now grown from a middle power to pretty close to a premier power in Europe after the war. And then, Frederick the great's kind of absolute rule and his opportunistic actions are causing friction, not just with Austria who now desperately wants to retake Silesia, but also with their allies, France for having abandoned them twice. And then of course the Russians don't like this larger growing power who can influence, uh,
00:14:52
Speaker
Poland and their border in Eastern Europe. ah And then so so everyone's kind of mad at Prussia and Frederick the Great by the end of this war. So he he technically wins, but on a larger scale, he's making a lot of enemies.
00:15:06
Speaker
Matt, do you think that's a pretty good summary of the important parts of the previous war, where where we left off with the previous war? Yeah, no, I think i think that is that's a great summary. It's funny, I think we actually have better knowledge about this now than when we did the original episode back in May or June last year. have to west say, I'm so sorry that I just was like, Matt, you summarize what's going on in the world at 1750 in Europe, and I'll do that for North America. Because, oh my gosh, researching this stuff is so difficult. Yeah, i think I think back then too, I bit off more than I could chew because i also did not realize the complexity. But now that that we've had time to digest it, I think we're able to explain it better and also focus on the more important parts of like the War of Austrian Succession and not all of the other things that don't matter, like the succession of titles and stuff like that, that you know we could spend all day on and the listeners would be confused and we would be confused. So I'm glad that
00:16:06
Speaker
I'm glad that our knowledge has developed to this the state. Yes, absolutely. All right. So that's the end of the War of Austrian Succession. Maria Theresa of Austria-Hungary desperately wants to retake Silesia. in And the next few years of Austria-Hungary's policies is basically like reorganizing the military, rearranging some diplomatic relations and preparing for an eventual war to retake Silesia. Okay.
00:16:32
Speaker
As part of this, so Austria is Maria Teresa and some of her ah like counselors are obsessed with retaking Silesia. So they are even willing, especially some of the more visionary ah visionary counselors like Kaunitz,
00:16:51
Speaker
they are willing to look at this hundreds of years rivalry rivalry with France and that dynasty and say, Hey, you know what? Right now, Prussia is Austria's greatest enemy and France, you know, that rivalry is not as important. We might even be able to to look past a lot of this brutal history between our two dynasties, but Prussia, they're the real problem. We need to focus on them as enemy number one, rather than France.
00:17:20
Speaker
So eventually, Austria is going to start opening some diplomatic ties, sending ambassadors over to Paris, put out some feelers for this kind of arrangement. It's going to take some years.
00:17:30
Speaker
But as we approach 1756, this is a eventually going to come to fruition. One of the reasons that this Austria-France rapprochement eventually happens is because of some other developments, what's going on with the United Kingdom.
00:17:48
Speaker
So the United Kingdom was on the opposite side of Prussia in the last war. But they, ever concerned with protecting Hanover, they start to seek some alliances to secure that area. So Prussia is a great choice because it's very close to Hanover. If a Germanic war starts out, Prussia can help defend Hanover.
00:18:07
Speaker
So they start exploring some relations with Prussia, also with Russia at the same time. they make They actually do make a ah deal with Russia, but shortly after that, they make one with Frederick the Great of
France's Dual Front War Strategy and Strain
00:18:23
Speaker
Prussia.
00:18:23
Speaker
Russia, Prussia, Russia, Prussia. But the the leaders of Russia are very, very anti-Frederick the Great, anti-Prussia. And once they find out like that Britain is working with them and getting close and signing deals with them, Russia cancels Russia.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah, their agreement, their alliance. um You're going sit where going to say something. yeah No, I was going to add in, um not really add in, but kind of get your take on this. When I was reading about Frederick the Great and the War of Austrian Succession and his type of diplomatic stance at this time, it kind of reminded me of Napoleon a bit. Maybe not as imperialistic as Napoleon was, but you see kind of, and I wanted your opinion, Jackson, if you thought this kind of they had parallels, but you see this kind of... um
00:19:11
Speaker
like a coalescence or this, you know, organization of European powers that would normally be allies that come to be allies because they need to defeat this rising military force as a huge threat. So the alarm builds bear bells you see are kind of ringing it across Europe.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah, i I'm not an expert on the Napoleonic period, but I do definitely see some parallels there with what you're saying. Like, yeah I mean, there's so many anti-France coalitions that form to try to stop Napoleon. And we're, I mean, Austria and France are like debating like an anti-Prussian league of Sweden, Russia, ah Austria, and then France. Originally, the the idea was France would just provide subsidies to help support this. But As we'll see, France eventually gets very involved in the ground war in Europe. but yeah ah So yeah, definitely some parallels there with a magnetic, charismatic, militaristic personality in charge of a European country who's expanding and then leagues forming to slow and stop this new power.
00:20:17
Speaker
So yeah, I could see some parallels there.
00:20:20
Speaker
All right, so I think, oh, a little bit more about the Austria-France relationship. So once Britain and Prussia sign their alliance, that kind of really hurries things along and Austria and France will not be long in signing their own alliance. But of this agreement,
00:20:40
Speaker
it ends up benefiting Austria a lot more than it benefits France. So Austria, their with their previous ally, the u k they i mean they got some help with like subsidies. They got some help with Hanoverians on their side.
00:20:57
Speaker
But for the most part, Austria is not really concerned with what the UK is concerned with. The UK is concerned with, um and I don't even know if I should call it the UK at this point. it might have just been Great Britain, I think, technically.
00:21:10
Speaker
Great Britain is concerned with expanding its Navy, its maritime influence, its global trade, and its colonies. Austria is Austria hungry at this time isn't technically landlocked. I think they have access to the Adriatic Sea, but they have no colonial game. They have no interest in being a global maritime power. So any wars that like Britain gets involved in, they they have like no business there. And then Britain has limited access to help Austria all the way over in Central Europe as well.
00:21:40
Speaker
So by allying France, they're like, oh, France, their main power is their army. Their army is not that far from us, and it's not that far from Berlin and Prussia. So that's going to be a huge extra force in this anti-Prussian league. So all the better that France is going to be on our side.
00:21:58
Speaker
France, however, with this diplomatic revolution, ends up trying to have its cake and eat it too, I guess we could say. It's trying to fight Britain and North America in the colonial war.
00:22:10
Speaker
It's trying to develop its navy, but at the same time, it's also going to commit tremendous resources to the European war once it breaks out. And you can't really do both, especially because France, they knew They still had some work to do for their Navy.
00:22:27
Speaker
And they were hoping that hostilities in Europe wouldn't break out for a couple more years until like 1757 or 1758. By then they estimated their Navy would be on par with the British Navy.
00:22:39
Speaker
However, they don't get those extra couple years and they get embroiled in a very expensive, in terms of cost and lives, war in and Germany.
00:22:50
Speaker
And then they're going to, they they chase two rabbits and they lost them both, we can say. Frederick the Great said, hold my beer. Yeah. So that brings us to the eve of
The Battle of Menorca: Strategic Outcomes and Naval Strategies
00:23:04
Speaker
the war in Europe. There's one battle in Europe we're going to talk about before we get into Frederick's invasion of Saxony.
00:23:10
Speaker
So, Matt, do you want to get into the Battle of Menorca? Yes, I can. and Sorry, before, be I shouldn't have said, go ahead, and then, oh wait, i have one more comment.
00:23:24
Speaker
But I had read in one of my resources that Newcastle, who is still kind of the leader of the British government at this time, although he was going to soon be out, He was hoping that the war in North America would stay to North America and that like nothing would kind of erupt in Europe.
00:23:39
Speaker
But France, who's still like, well, we could say frankly, peeved about all the British invasions of their colonies in North America. They're going to like, no, we are getting our own punitive expedition. We're going to take something from Britain over here in Europe.
00:23:54
Speaker
And so Newcastle does not get his limited war and we get the action that we are about to see. Go ahead, Matt. Yes, so um the Battle Minorca took place on May 20th, 1756, which is exactly three days after Britain and France declared war on each other. And Jackson and I were talking about this before the episode, but it's important to distinguish who's actually at war at this point. So ah this is prior to Frederick the Great's invasion of Saxony, which we will get to after we discuss this. So all of those powers that Jackson was just talking about between, and I guess France will be at war Britain, but France is not yet at war with us or with ah Prussia. Austria-Hungary is not at war with Prussia. Russia is not involved yet.
00:24:41
Speaker
As far as declaration of war goes, it's only between Britain and France. ah Menorca was a small, I don't know how you say this word. it's Balearic Island. Balearic Island. One of those islands just to the east of Spain.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, we're talking in the Western Mediterranean here. So in 1713, Britain got Menorca from the Treaty of Utrecht, which is from the War of Spanish Succession, which I think we talked about way, way, way back. This was the war that preceded the War of Austrian Succession. We didn't really discuss it too much in detail, but I believe that Menorca was, was it a French island before it became a British island, Jackson? I would imagine it was a Spanish island.
00:25:26
Speaker
before but i do not really know okay yeah i guess that makes sense yeah well either way see we're not experts but regardless at this time it was a british island and it was an excellent harbor for the british they had port mahon or mahon i guess how you pronounce that uh which was a key strategic base for the royal navy and mediterranean So in May of 1756, a French force of about 15,000 troops under, dur and i jackson I'll probably butcher this name, but I think it's Dux de Richelieu.
00:26:04
Speaker
Richelieu. okay That's a very hard word to pronounce. ah I don't fault you at all. yeah Yes. He brought about 15,000 troops and an amphibious landing on Menorca. The British at that time on this port island had about 2,800 3,000 men. ah They were commanded by William
00:26:27
Speaker
They were quickly overrun. They withdrew to the fortified castle on the island, which was called St. Philip's Castle at the time. Real quick. Yes. Do you have anything about the naval battle or are you going that after? So the naval battle comes after. Oh, good. Yeah, so there's a land invasion first, and then the British garrison of the island retreats into this St. Philip's Castle, which is at Port Mahon, that then eventually comes under siege by the French force on the island. So then the naval battle, as Jackson mentioned, comes from when the British government sends Admiral John Bing, I think is how you pronounce his name. It's B-Y-N-G. Yeah, I would think it would be Bing, but who knows. He was only an Admiral. He was promoted only to an Admiral for this mission. So I think before that he would have been whatever is lower than Admiral, but not an Admiral.
00:27:27
Speaker
he's He was sent with a force of about 13 ships with a line, plus some frigates, and then some like troop reinforcements on their on their ships. 13 ships to the line, though, is a pretty significant force. as As I think Jackson and I have talked about before, a ship of the line is the the best ah ship any of these colonial powers would have had at the time. Think of like, ah you know, if you're thinking World War II equivalent, it's like a battleship.
00:27:55
Speaker
um Yeah. Lots of firepower. Very expensive. Exactly. um So then once Bink gets to Menorca, he encounters a French fleet of about 12 ships of the line in additional frigates. So we're talking about pretty pretty equal strength forces here, although as Jackson mentioned, the British Navy was generally... better both in both in size but also in in firepower capabilities so it's safe to assume the British ships of the line were a little bit superior to the French ships of the line so the British were definitely they had the the numerical advantage and the weaponry advantage here Jackson I'm not even gonna try to pronounce the French yeah gar sun yeah Okay, thank you for that. I was looking at that before the episode. I'm like, ah how would I even begin to do that? um
00:28:48
Speaker
So they were, this the French fleet was kind of protecting the siege operations happening on the island. So Bing had a in a way break the break the is you call it barricade of French ships. But his approach was poorly executed when ah when he sent it ships in. So the British fleet kind of came in at a weird angle where only a few leading ships of the line could actually properly engage with ah the anchored French ships.
00:29:20
Speaker
It was a very brief battle because the first ships of the line that went in got nearly destroyed. They were not sunk, but nearly destroyed. And then the British withdrew. There were about 40 45 killed sailors on each side around one hundred and wounded on either side so it it was a pretty even battle um but in all in all circumstances it was a french victory uh it was a strategic victory because they were able to capture uh that fort on the but on the island of menorca and then take over that port from the british so yeah that's the that's the entire battle of menorca um it's good one little comment about uh yes some some deeper looks into how naval combat sometimes looked for the british and french this point if you don't mind me jumping in yes please So I had watched a video about the naval engagement here.
00:30:18
Speaker
it was in French, so there's a couple terms that I don't actually know what the English would be. ah So you'll have to bear with me a little bit. But there's two different philosophies, it seemed like, for naval combat at this time. There was like like approaching or and disengaging from he's a these naval battles.
00:30:39
Speaker
There was, what was in French was au vent, like in the wind or or with the wind, where like fleets would be approaching at a certain angle with the wind, not exactly right behind them, but like angled and behind them, pushing them like forward towards the enemy and that would help for attacking for and then also because of like the way the winds and the waves would work when the ships would fire they would target the holes more likely and cause more damage likely to sink enemy ships and then on the opposite side of that there was what was called sous le vent or like under the wind
00:31:16
Speaker
with that same like angled wind is coming out the opposite way. And this makes attacking more difficult, but it makes disengaging and retreating away much easier with the way the wind's going.
00:31:29
Speaker
So as these two lines of ships would approach and then battle, one would usually be coming vent, or like, I guess, with the wind, and then the other sous le vent, like under the wind. Okay.
00:31:40
Speaker
um This under the wind way, which the French preferred because they were usually more outgunned or outnumbered on the ocean. Not only could they disengage better and you salvage their ships, but also the with the wind and the waves and the rocking of the ships, it also allowed targeting the enemy enemy's masts easier, which can disable and slow down the enemy fleet and help them to disengage. So the British preferred this more aggressive Auvent style, and then the French preferred the more like tactically flexible or allowing them to withdraw sous-levent style. And at this battle, both of those philosophies were used or there's those naval tactics were used.
00:32:23
Speaker
Oh, well, that's very helpful. No, that that makes sense, though, kind of, you know, talking about the outcome of this battle. and And, like, I read, too, that, like, at any time in this battle, there was only, like, I think approximately half of the British fleet were engaged in the battle. Most of them were either not engaged because they were too far away or they were blocked by their ships. So... Even though the British had the no numerical and firepower advantage, the tactics just did not work out in their favor.
Political Repercussions in Britain Post-Menorca
00:32:55
Speaker
Yeah. Do you want to talk about what happened to our lovely Admiral Bing at the end of this? Yes. Yes. I'll get to that. So first I want to talk about, so the French siege, I said they were sieging St. Philip's castle on June 29th, that siege lifted. Um,
00:33:13
Speaker
And the garrison surrendered. I think around 60 British were killed in the fort, around 150 wounded. And yeah, then the island remained French until it was later returned to Britain at the Treaty of Paris in 1763. But throughout the entirety of the Seven Years' War, it remained in French hands. So this was a ah huge hamstring to the British fleet and their capabilities in Mediterranean. um And, you know, it's a nice French victory on this continent. You know, we haven't heard enough French victories in the last few episodes. glad I know.
00:33:47
Speaker
Oh, I've got, ah oh, sorry. We got to talk about what happened to Admiral Bing. And then I've got something to add on right after that. Yes. So Admiral Bing, um you know, maybe if we talk about tactical blunder, Maybe it wasn't ah that big of one or not the largest one that we've seen already, but ah the British public was outraged by it. He was court-martialed for his behavior here.
00:34:14
Speaker
He was actually court-martialed specifically for, in quotes, failing to do his utmost against the enemy, which was under the Articles of War that Britain had passed in regards to this war. And yeah that was a phrase in there they pointed to. And I think it was not so much more that he lost the naval battle, but the fact that he didn't, you know, return to port repair and then go back at it again. he thought his ships were too far gone for repair or at least to fight again um in any near term. So he kind of just withdrew.
00:34:48
Speaker
He appealed for mercy from King George II, but regardless, he was found guilty and he was executed by firing squad on board of his own ship at Portsmouth in England on March 14th of 1757. So this would be the next year. um it also uh fun note the his harsh punishment inspired voltaire's famous set satirical line in i don't know uh candid is that how you would say that's a classic classic but he says in this country it is good from time to time to kill an admiral to encourage the others so yeah
00:35:28
Speaker
Yeah. pork guy Poor Poor, poor guy. I've got here is a note actually wrote a couple of years ago when was first starting to really dig in to the French Nini War. But one of the books, it went into the reactions of the British and French publics after the capture of Menorca. So on the one side, you France, who at the beginning of this war is very apprehensive. They were dreading the war. They weren't quite prepared. It wasn't a great time for a war.
00:35:54
Speaker
So they go crazy with celebrations. You know, they take Port Mahon, they take Menorca. The poets are making poems about Richelieu, who took the castle, about the Galisson. Yeah, there are plays influenced by this victory.
00:36:11
Speaker
Lots of propaganda, especially for France. you know They were attacked first by Britain. I guess several times they were attacked by Britain in the New World. So they have kind of like the moral high ground here. So then getting another victory, this time over in the European side of things. you know People are going crazy.
00:36:27
Speaker
There's feasts held across all France. a Very big victory, not just strategically like we mentioned, but also psychologically for the French public and the French government. However, on the other side in Great Britain, ah you know we mentioned how Great Britain punished the admiral, who was probably more of a scapegoat than a legitimate, I guess, criminal.
00:36:47
Speaker
and He was killed. ah But also when the news of this defeat came out, like shops were closed and, quote, honest folk, quote, stayed off the street. it was a seen as kind of ah like the government was seen as failing or corrupt. Yeah.
00:37:04
Speaker
and Because I guess another part of it too, which I hadn't realized until I'm rereading this note here, but the British government were expecting an attempt by France to invade England, but really that was just a diversion for this French attack in Menorca.
00:37:20
Speaker
So completely other side of ah of the front. So... this This ended up leading to Newcastle's resignation. So that around this time, like summer of 1756 is when Newcastle, has played a big role in our North American story.
00:37:36
Speaker
Now he, for the most part, exits the scene. This also allows some of the opposition party in Britain at this time, which I think would they were called the Patriots, or at least in French, in the source i was reading, they were called Les Patriotes. So I imagine in English it would be the Patriots.
00:37:53
Speaker
um led by William Pitt, who is going to be a big ah factor later on. That party starts gaining ground because they are really like, we need to put the interest of Britain first. We need to prioritize the naval and colonial war. And we do not need ah you know this the establishment party of like the monarch and the upper councillors, some of the longtime politicians.
00:38:18
Speaker
They were very much like... Hanoverian focused, very German war focused. people like William Pitt are now going to rise in prominence and power after British defeat, after British defeat.
00:38:32
Speaker
And that's going to lead to some huge changes, but not quite yet. In like another year or two, that's when we're really going to see the fruition of these these two clashes in British policy. Jeez, all it takes is one defeat in the Eastern Hemisphere to yeah throw the British government for a loop and cause a change in leadership. That's crazy. Despite all the losses they've had in the Western Hemisphere that we've already talked about for the last year. Yeah.
00:38:58
Speaker
yeah Well, you know, Britain isn't the only power that likes to attack without declaring war. It's time to talk about the other power that likes to attack without declaring war.
Frederick's Invasion of Saxony and Broader European Conflict
00:39:10
Speaker
yes So later that same year, 1756, we're still there. So again, this is about when this takes place. This is like when the Battle of Oswego is taking place, when the Battle of Catanning is taking place, some of these other things that we've talked about recently.
00:39:29
Speaker
um But back over the ocean in Europe, Frederick the Great, he senses something is going on. He senses that there is a coalition, a league being formed against him.
00:39:41
Speaker
And he's expecting, which is most likely correct, given I think what we know now, that in 1757, Austria is going to be ready, Russia is going to be ready, and they are going to attack him.
00:39:56
Speaker
So he's thinking, oh, and Sweden as well has been kind of involved in this anti-Prussian league. And they've got some territory very close to Prussia. So Frederick says, you know what, if these guys are going to attack me, well, I'm not just going to sit around and wait for it. I'm going to attack them first.
00:40:15
Speaker
You know, he had victory in the last war, so he's expecting to kind of stomp over the Austrians again in this war. I wanted to add to Jackson that his fears, one, they were warranted, as we'll see. And then two, I think it's important to understand that this is threats coming from all around Prussia. you have Russia on one side, have Austria-Hungary in the south, and then France... although they are separated by Hanover, not too far away on the east. Or on the west. So you're thinking about this. He's surrounded by three very aggressive and hostile... And Sweden to north. And Sweden to the north. So yeah, I mean, it makes his decision make a little bit more sense. And his only ally is, you know, across the water. Yeah, they're across the sea. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:06
Speaker
So yeah, he is feeling like a cornered animal and he's lashing out. So in the on August 29th, 1756, Frederick the Great invades Saxony, which is a large a member state of the Holy Roman Empire to his south. It's kind of been a rival, not so much in terms of like like warring against each other, but both in terms of like Prussia is a rising power and wants to rise even further. And Saxony is also a pretty substantial power in the area who also wants to keep jockeying for higher position within the Holy Roman Empire. Sorry to keep jumping in Jackson. yeah So I looked at a map of of Europe at this time. so I can better understand Saxony and Silesia are like the two. It's easy to picture this way, like two buffering states between Prussia and Austria-Hungary. So you have Silesia, which was already mostly occupied by Prussia. And then Saxony is this other, I guess, somewhat buffering state. So you think it's very similar to like, if you think World War II, like Nazi Germany with Belgium and France, it's the same thing. He would have to go through Saxony to get to Austria-Hungary anyways. And you see, that's kind of how he pockets some of his intention by saying that oh they're just they're in between us they're in the way they gotta go yeah and of course there's a lot of deeper politics to this that we just can't really get into like we can't even we don't have time to talk about the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and how they're like related to Saxony and like all this you know everything's related so no no we're not going we're not doing back to back European deep dives no I forbid it
00:42:58
Speaker
So, ah yes, thank you for that that geography background. That'll be helpful for listeners. So, yeah, Prussia is kind of like Berlin, eastern, northeastern, modern Germany. And then, yeah, below it, Silesia and then Saxony. So Frederick the Great sends 70,000 men to attack Saxony in 1756. This is before any declarations of war. So I guess we had retired that drinking game, but we can bring it out one more time by saying without a declaration of war yes um
00:43:29
Speaker
So yeah, he's hoping to get another surprise attack, another quick victory. He made initial success. He pillages Saxony. He drains five sixths of its annual income for the future war effort.
00:43:44
Speaker
And he also absorbs 17,000 out its captured soldiers in some of these opening battles. And absorbs them into the Prussian army to fight for them.
00:43:56
Speaker
um But he doesn't quite get the success he's hoping for because he didn't want to just knock out Saxony and take Dresden. He also wanted to push into Bohemia in the same season, which is kind of corresponds with modern day Czechia.
00:44:10
Speaker
um And I believe at this time that was yeah that was an Austro-Hungarian area at this time. So he doesn't just want to knock out the buffer state. He also wants to occupy Bohemia, which is a pretty large area surrounded by mountains.
00:44:25
Speaker
However, Austrians who are have reorganize their military and providing a bit more of a challenge, they end up holding them off in Bohemia.
00:44:35
Speaker
And then a lot of those captured and conscripted Saxon soldiers of kind of naturally end up mutinying or deserting within that year. So Frederick has now lit the powder keg in Europe and activating all these different alliance systems. I think because of this, France is now fully in the war against Persia. Persia? Prussia. Persia's not involved. Yeah, this was kind of, like I said, similar to Belgium where it caused a lot of the semi-neutral countries to...
00:45:04
Speaker
Now declare war. i think I don't know if Russia declared war now, but I know Russia took like a pretty hard stance itgainst against this action. it was kind of the end of the line for them. It's not a good look, you know, just no declaration war invading neutral powers and starting a war isn't usually a good look internationally. Especially because he said that, I believe, i read this somewhere, I'm trying to find it in my notes, but I think that Frederick claimed that he was just moving troops through initially, and then he ordered them to go seize towns and stuff. and So he framed it as like, oh, they you know just marching through, nothing to worry about here, but he had 58,000 troops. Yeah. Yeah. And not only is this like bad enough for kind of involving all the European powers, but you know going to say how we were talking about how everyone in the European different monarchies and governments are all related. Well, guess who the ah some of the royals in Saxony were married to?
00:46:07
Speaker
the eldest son of Louis Cainz, Louis XV of France. So it's not just an attack on a neutral power, just like just that. It's also an attack on basically the French dynasty, the French ruling family who has married into royalty from Saxony. So that almost like almost itself demands France to get involved, but France and Austria have already signed this alliance, so it's extra guarantee that France France and Prussia are now going to go to war. Sweden and Russia are going to join.
00:46:42
Speaker
ah And so kind of similar with Britain in 1755, when Newcastle and Cumberland had come up with a plan to quickly take New France without you know no issues.
00:46:54
Speaker
And then they end up saying, we either did too little or too much, but definitely not the right amount of stuff. Kind of the same with Frederick the Great here. He gets a victory in Saxony, but he does not get to take Bohemia.
00:47:08
Speaker
And now everybody's moving against him. I bet he was probably thinking, hmm, did I do too little or too much here? Yeah. And he's going to be in a difficult spot. You know, i the more I was thinking about this, too, if I was in Frederick the Great situation, I i feel like I probably would have done the same thing as he did. ah You know, it's not a good look invading a neutral power, but the same time, it was, one, his military that was causing a lot of aggression against him that Europe didn't like how much they had militarized. And I wanted to like see it.
00:47:40
Speaker
see him backing down at that point but then also two that as we talked about a multi-front attack from any of those powers and Saxony at the time was kind of a staging ground for the Austrian Empire right on your border I mean that's that's that could be the death of your of your country in the matter of weeks if not months so he would like Jackson said he was really kind of a caged animal and the invasion of Saxony is the result of that Yeah.
00:48:10
Speaker
And that was what brings war broadly across all of Europe, involving multiple powers. So we're not just seeing fighting in
Global Expansion of the War and Future Episodes Teaser
00:48:20
Speaker
North America. From this point on in the podcast, there's going to be continual fighting in Europe.
00:48:27
Speaker
Fighting is going to break out in India pretty soon between the French and British, ah both their like trading companies and forces there, but also their allies, their native... not native Indian as a native American, but Indian Indian native allies.
00:48:41
Speaker
ah There's fighting going to be in the Caribbean. There's going to be fighting even later on in the East Indies in West Africa. So from this moment on, it's not just France and Britain fighting. It's all the big powers of Europe fighting.
00:48:57
Speaker
And this North American war, this war that started in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, It is now spread across the entire world. Jackson, I want to add in a fun fact that I learned about Frederick the Great. um Well, I'll ask you this. Was his title at this time King of Prussia?
00:49:18
Speaker
Oh, okay. So i read ah so originally it was king in Prussia. yes Because Prussia was like an area broader than what the state of Prussia, of Brandenburg, ah of what they, are like there was some Prussia within like Poland or something. Yeah. But then eventually, why he gets all of the area and calls himself the king of Prussia. Yeah, so this is after the partition ah first partition of Poland in 1772. He gets the title of king of Prussia. Well, he declares himself that. um
00:49:53
Speaker
But the king in Prussia thing, you're right. It's kind of weird because of how the Prussia boundaries were. But this resulted from, I believe, his father when he... yeah um yeah I think he petitioned the and put the the current emperor of the Holy Roman Empire at that time to like form Prussia as more of an actual like state rather than just so a territory.
00:50:20
Speaker
and But then the it was kind of a a give and take sort of thing where instead of calling himself the king of prussia he's just the king in prussia so he's still subject to the holy roman empire's rule but you know yeah more autonomy more power more status from that from that move that kind of remaining retitling but Frederick the Great says, nah, my my title is King of Prussia. so Well, you want to know another another fun fact related to that? There is a town in eastern Pennsylvania called King of Prussia.
00:50:54
Speaker
Like, that's just the name. King of Prussia. Oh, i yeah, I think I drove past that in the last year or so, and I was like, oh, that's interesting. Yeah. I'm betting, immigrant I don't know. Yeah. Was it Prussian immigrants that really love Frederick or his Frederick's father? i have no idea.
00:51:10
Speaker
Don't know that. If we have any listeners in King of Prussia, please let us know in the comments about the name of your town and where that comes from. uh and then lastly our last fun fact about frederick we could do a whole episode we do a whole podcast on this guy um but he jess and i talked about this before the episode too he was a man of great contradictions so he was as we talked about very militaristic but he was also uh an enlightenment thinker um and i think it was was voltaire it was one of the enlightenment thinkers voltaire is one of his friends yeah Yeah, he promoted religious tolerance. So he welcomed Catholics, Jews, into and I think Huguenots as well. Yeah, that'd be the French Protestants.
00:51:56
Speaker
Yeah, ah you know, he reduced the concept of torture in the Prussian legal system. he supported freedom of the press and encouraged immigration because he saw it as a boost to the economy. um And he also, i think, was heavy in infrastructure. Like, he built a lot of canals and lowered tariffs internally in Prussia. So, like, he was... You know, a man of ah two sides. One, what you don't want to get on his bad side. And then two, you know, yeah i think he did a lot of good for Prussia. And I think he's generally remembered pretty fondly within Germany and most of Europe. up so I guess our German listeners can tell us that. We have we have we have a few German listeners. ah Please tell us, what do you think of Frederick the Great? And what is he generally remembered as in in the in the modern state of Germany? Good or bad? Or just no one talks about him because nobody but nerds like history.
00:52:54
Speaker
So yeah, that is, wow. We reached 53 minutes this far. I didn't really expect it to be that long, but there's just so much you can go into with this stuff. So listeners, if you made it this far, thank you. Hopefully that wasn't just complete ah gibberish and that you at least learned a couple things. I know I definitely learned a lot just researching for this, um but yeah.
00:53:17
Speaker
Yeah. I think ah we're going to go back to North America. Don't worry. um and the next few episodes, there's, I've got a fun idea for the next one. Matt does not know yet. i probably will tell him right after this, but very I won't tell you guys in case we decide to pivot and then I'll have to go back on my word and say, actually, here's another detour episode. So yeah, I think, I think that's, that's all I've got for this one, Matt. You have anything to add here at the end?
00:53:45
Speaker
No, not really. I guess we'll see if Jackson's episode idea is fun or not. If you're not listening to this live and you jump to the next one, you'll be able to tell right away. And I apologize if it's not. So I guess we'll see you guys in the next fun episode. The next episode will be like different kinds of grass in the upstate New York area in the 1750s. How the soil composition played a role. Yes, exactly. but You know who the real victor of the French and Indian War was? It was the population of rats that crossed on the ships and landed in the New World.
00:54:23
Speaker
The next 20 episodes we're going to be talking about the the flora and fauna of America. Yes. All right. Well, we thank you guys for listening.
00:54:34
Speaker
We hope to get cope to keep up the cadence of two episodes a month. So hopefully we'll see you in a couple weeks here. But yeah, stay safe and see you soon.
00:54:45
Speaker
See you.