William Pitt and the Great WarRose, J. Holland (John Holland)
History
William Pitt and the Great War
Rose, J. Holland (John Holland)
Europe -- History -- 1789-1815; Great Britain -- History -- George III, 1760-1820; Pitt, William, 1759-1806
In this they had the rather doubtful acquiescence of Austria, provided
that they furthered the Belgic-Bavarian exchange so long favoured at
Vienna and resisted at Berlin. As we have seen, Pitt strongly opposed
the exchange; but, early in February 1793, Grenville and he heard that
the Emperor Francis II hoped to facilitate the transference of the
Elector of Bavaria from Munich to Brussels by adding Lille and
Valenciennes to his new dominion.[204] These tidings led them to adopt a
decision which was largely to influence the course of the war. They
resolved to commit Austria deeply to war with France by favouring the
acquisition of Lille and Valenciennes by the Hapsburgs provided that
they retained Belgium. This, however, was far from the wishes of that
Court, which longed for parts of Alsace and Lorraine, and viewed Belgium
merely as a sop to be flung to the Elector of Bavaria.[205]
Was there ever a more singular game of cross-purposes? Austria pursued
the war with France chiefly with the object of gaining Bavaria and parts
of Eastern France, Belgium (with Lille and Valenciennes) being allotted
to the Elector uprooted at Munich. Prussia and Russia promised to abet
this scheme as a set-off to their prospective plunder of Poland; but,
obviously, after securing their booty in the summer of 1793, they had no
interest in aggrandizing the House of Hapsburg. Further, England entered
on the Flemish campaign with motives widely different from those of
Austria. Pitt and Grenville sought to plant her more firmly at Brussels
by girdling her with the fortresses of French Flanders; but she sought
to recover Belgium only to fling it to the Elector. Finally neither
Russia nor the German Powers cared an iota about the security of
Holland. Their eyes were fixed on Warsaw or Munich. In truth, despite
all their protestations as to the need of re-establishing the French
monarchy, they were mainly bent on continuing the territorial scrambles
of former years. The two aims were utterly incompatible.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account