ABSTRACT
During the war of the Austrian Succession France saw hostile armies on its territory only in 1744, when Austrian forces invaded Alsace, and in 1747-8, when Austrian and Piedmontese ones were in occupation of part of Provence. Even the qualities and achievements of the Prussian army could not protect Frederick II in 1745 from fears of this kind; while Sardinia-Piedmont, militarily much the strongest of the Italian states, nevertheless during the war saw much of its territory more than once overrun by French and Spanish forces. In wartime, even more than in time of peace, the cost of the armed forces dominated government expenditure in every state. In Britain during the Austrian Succession war, 64 per cent of all the money the government spent went to meet the cost of the war; but this was by no means an intolerable burden. A merchant might reap windfall gain from the opportune arrival of a convoy from America or the West Indies.
