ABSTRACT

For 1743 the Austrians were anxious to bring the Pragmatic Army into Germany, hoping in this way to bring pressure to bear on the minor Powers and influence them in favour of Austria. On the way 16,000 Hanoverians joined them; on the Main, which Stair reached early in May, they were overtaken by 12,000 Austrians from the Netherlands, whose places in the fortresses had been taken by Hessians in British pay. Lobkowitz, who ought never to have let them get through, also failed to pursue properly, but his culminating error was in allowing Chevert to capitulate with the honours of war and to retire to Eger. Cardinal Tencin, who came nearer than the other ministers to succeeding Fleury as First Minister, was more inclined towards throwing the strength of France into the scale on the side of Spain in the West Indian war then raging, but he did not oppose de Noailles' war policy in Germany.