ABSTRACT
Britain appeared close to war in 1726. War plans were drawn up and there was discussion of the threat of foreign support for Jacobite action, although an Austrian invasion of Hanover appeared a more serious challenge. There was also concern about Britain's alliance system. The Holstein interest presented the expulsion of the Hanoverians from Bremen and Verden as necessary to the peace of Europe. The Papal nuncio in Vienna pressed his Parisian counterpart for negotiations between Austria and France, in parallel to an Austrian approach to the French government, an approach of which the British were aware. Fleury's background led to hopes of support from opponents of the British government. He was pressed hard to show support for co-religionists. This point is worth noting as a reminder that pressures and networks not limited to royal courts and their diplomatic systems were not only found in states with a representative assembly, notably Britain.
