While the primary focus of the War of the Austrian Succession was on Europe, the conflict took place in several other theaters across the world, most notably North America, the Caribbean, and India.
The fighting between the Roman Empire and France in their Caribbean possessions was one notable conflict of the war, as, in addition to both country’s powerful navies, both employed Privateers against each other in a hope of gaining an edge over their enemy by raiding their treasure ships and supply transports, which held gold and supplies important to the state, as well as the survival of the colonies themselves.
These privateers raided and plundered the any enemy ship they could find without rest, filling their pockets with its riches at the expense of the nation in question. The Imperial Navy and the French Navy also engaged in heavy fighting around their many islands, with the French gaining the upper hand early in the war.
In 1743, a French fleet of roughly 13 ships engaged a Roman fleet of nearly 20. Though outnumbered, they successfully sunk three Roman ships while only sustaining heavy damage to one. The remaining ships retreated to the port of Sozopolis in Martinique, the largest Imperial colony within the Caribbean, Sozopolis itself having a population of over 8,000.
The French navy blockaded all the major Roman ports with their newfound naval superiority, however Roman privateering continued at the great cost of France, and despite several attempts by the Royal Navy as well as French Privateers to end their raids, they were ultimately unable to stop the Greek Pirates.
Though Constantinople wished to sent more ships to the Caribbean to secure their interests there from France, they were constantly occupied by continuing conflicts in the Mediterranean, and were unable to spare a significant enough number of vessels to regain their dominance in the West Indies.
In North America, France and Britain fought over their vast colonial territories, with the war in generally swinging in favor of the British, whose far larger colonial population allowed them to raise more substantial armies independently.
In India, the war between France, Britain and the Empire was generally dominated by Britain and the Romans, who together were able to mostly keep the French navy at port, while the large Greek population of Mangalore allowed the Romans to defeat them on land with relative ease.
Back in mainland Europe, France had been driven out of North-Central Italy, and was currently confined to the west, where they attempted to fortify the passes against a much larger Greco-Austrian army under Roman Grand Domestic Georgios Curcuas.
However good fortune shown on France in the form of Marshal Saxe, who won the Battle of Fontenoy, which brought him no shortage of praise from the people of France. The arrival of the Roman Emperor and his soldiers afterwards concerned Saxe, however. This greatly shifted the numerical balance between the allies and France, and gave them a fighting chance once more.
Maurice de Saxe is considered one of the greatest Generals in French military history. Though Emperor Alexios VII was considered a capable and competent military commander, he lacked the sheer genius and tactical brilliance of Saxe.
Their numbers were fairly equal, and some argue that the allies had the advantage with Austria’s troops added to the equation. British troops had been mostly withdrawn from the Austrian Netherlands, due to the 45’ rebellion by the Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart, thus leaving the remaining allies to defend the Dutch territories from French attack, much to the chagrin of the Empire, Austria and the Netherlands.
A series of maneuvers were engaged by Saxe, in which he hoped to force the allies into a pitched battle on terrain favorable to his own army. The Emperor, now commanding his army, as well as those of Austria’s and the Netherlands engaged in a series of maneuvers with his enemy, but was in general outmaneuvered.
This lead to Saxe capturing the important fortress of Liege, as well as several others in the Austrian Netherlands, and nearly completely overrunning the allied armies in the region. However, the allies were not defeated in the Netherlands yet.
The Emperor once more lead his soldiers against Saxe in the Battle of Lauffeld, in which he successfully held off a strong attack by Marshal Saxe, and counterattacked, forcing the French into making an organized retreat after sustaining heavy casualties.
In Italy, Grand Domestic Curcuas had successfully defeated the Franco-Spanish army, now once again under the command of Infante Philip of Spain, at the Battle of Alessandria, in late 1746. This lead to the Franco-Spanish army retreating to the city of Aosta, where they strongly barricaded the passes leading to the city in hopes of holding out in Italy, and preventing a Roman entry into southern France.
Throughout 1747, the war seemed like it could go either way, with France generally winning in the north, while the allies did well in Italy. Though it was not without heavy casualties, the Franco-Spanish army was finally defeated at the Battle of Aosta on March 14th, 1748, where the majority of the army was captured, including Infante Philip himself, who was first to hand over his army‘s colors to Curcuas.
Total number of French captured was 20,000 men, which shocked King Louis XV enough to consider suing for a peace in the allies favor. However, Marshal Saxe won an equally crushing victory in the Netherlands in the siege of Maastricht, in which the city and its garrison surrendered after a long siege later in 1748.
The Emperor was unable to prevent the taking of the city, and also failed in a counterattack against the French there two weeks later. Despite his victory at Lauffeld a year earlier, he had been outmaneuvered by the genius of Saxe.
Grand Domestic Curcuas however was in a good position to invade Southern France, with the capture of the Franco-Spanish army in Italy, there was little left that would stop him from marching through it as he pleased.
With the loss of the Netherlands facing the allies, the potential invasion of Southern France looming over Louis XV’s head, as well as the arrival of a large Russian army near the Rhine, peace talks began. Though the Emperor wanted France to surrender its Indian colonies to the Empire, Louis XV was adamant about retaining them for France. In addition, the Empire’s ally, Britain, was against them acquiring new lands in India, fearing that their own growing domination of the sub-continent could be threatened by such an exchange.
This proved to be a major rift in the friendship between Britain and the Roman Empire, a rift which had started to grow when the Empire refused to go to war with Britain against Spain in 1739.
Finally, the Emperor backed down after much pressure from the other allies, and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was signed between the powers. It was essentially a status quo, with the captured French colonial territories in America being returned to them, much to the chagrin of the British colonials.
The Austrian Netherlands were likewise returned to their owners, with the only major territorial change in the war being Prussia’s acquisition of Silesia. Though the war may have seemed to accomplish little for either side, it showed that Prussia was the newest Great Power of Europe.
In addition, it greatly weakened the friendship between the Empire and Great Britain, and while the two continued to maintain their alliance for the time being, tensions grew heated between them. The British American colonies also felt slighted by the return of the captured French territories, which had been gained at the expense of their blood and sweat, as was the first real sign of dissent among the colonials.
The tensions between the Great Powers that started the war had not been resolved, and little had been truly accomplished. Though, in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, the Empire’s dominion over Italy was finally acknowledged by all the Great Powers, including France and Spain, finally securing the territory from foreign interest.
The Emperor returned to Constantinople with little to show his people after six years of war, which caused increased tension between him and the Bourgeoisie in Agora Nymfon, more beginning to oppose him, as it was they who financed most of the war.
Grand Domestic Curcuas, however, was praised as a hero for his actions in Italy, and in particular was loved by the Italians whom he had included within his army, often as officers of important rank. The Emperor, in gratitude for his service, had a magnificent bronze statue of Curcuas erected in Rome, close to the old Coliseum.
None of the powers were happy with the outcome of the war, excluding Prussia. They had sacrificed more men for no gain at all. Tensions only continued to grow between them, and now, the alliances that were seemingly set in stone before, were becoming undone. Britain’s growing power was becoming a threat to its continental brethren, and their interests began to conflict with each other.
But for the time being, there was peace, albeit a tense one. Emperor Alexios used this time to combat the growing inflation within the Empire, caused by the constant flow of riches from its colonies. The Empire had been minting literally millions near-solid gold coins for hundreds of years, displaying their wealth and prestige.
This had began to take its toll however. Gold was becoming harder to mine, and the price of goods were beginning to rise as the coins began to slowly become impure, other metals such as copper being used along with the gold, diluting the coins worth.
Alexios attempted to counter this by commissioning new explorers to search his overseas holdings for new gold veins. This met with limited success, with new gold sources being discovered Africa and in the Empire’s small South American holdings. Still, it served to hold off the Empire’s inflation for a period of time, and allowed the Emperor to focus his efforts elsewhere.
One area of focus for the Emperor was strengthening the Empire’s naval presence in the Caribbean. He was determined to never be bested by France on the sea again, and sent nearly 30 new ship of the lines to the West Indies in order to bolster the Empire’s presence there, as well as to better protect their islands from Piracy.
Grand Domestic Curcuas meanwhile, worked to improve the readiness of the Imperial Army. One reason the Empire was forced to engage in a long and protracted war in Italy was that the Imperial Army was unprepared for the French invasion.
Curcuas had several new fortresses erected in Italy at strategic locations, in particular near the border between the Empire and France, and moved the Stratos Italias and its Strategos from Rome, to Parma, much closer to Northern Italy.
This would prevent France from simply entering Italy and marching across it unopposed for several months as it had in the previous war. He also expanded the 19th Legion further, increasing its ranks to 10,000 men, and renaming it the White Guard, (Leykia Froyra) much to the chagrin of the Varangian Guard, who felt it was a direct affront to them.
He rigorously drilled and trained every regiment of the White Guard to near-perfection, desiring them to be the best soldiers in all of Europe. Service in the White Guard was voluntary, but an invitation to the prestigious Guard was rarely refused.
Each of the 10,000 men were selected by the Grand Domestic based on their experience and displays of valor. Because of the relatively primitive technology of the time, groups of soldiers were often taken from a notably prestigious regiment due to Curcuas being unable to gain detailed information on every single soldier.
Those who were ‘unworthy’ however were quickly found, as the rigorous drilling and harsh but effective discipline left only the best and most determined men standing. Though all of the White Guard were considered to be by far the finest soldiers in the Empire, if not Europe, the absolute best out of these was the 1st ‘Beliarious’ regiment, named in honor of Curcuas’ old Grand Domestic, and mentor.
To be a member of 1st was considered to be the highest honor that could be achieved by a peasant, and was arguably as prestigious as being a member of parliament for a Bourgeoisie. The Officer in command of the 1st was automatically given the title of Komes (Count) upon his promotion, though without land attached.
The rest of the 1740s were mostly uneventful for the Empire, aside from the events mentioned above, but this was merely the calm before the storm, for the War of the Austrian Succession was merely a prelude; the real war had yet to begin…
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I'm not sure if Leykia Froyra is correct or not, so any Greek speakers feel free to correct me on that. Otherwise, read and reply.
