ABSTRACT
In 1778, Kaunitz declared that the overriding aim of his policy during the Seven Years War had been the ‘reduction of the house of Brandenburg to its original rank of second-rate power’. That had clearly not been achieved. In actual fact, the peace of Hubertusburg had stabilized the pentarchy of European great powers consisting of France, Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia. The highly militarized Hohenzollern state, which had so successfully withstood an overwhelming coalition, could even be regarded as a model case of efficient state formation and expansion.
