The New Student's Reference Work/Austrian Succession, War of the

Austrian Succession, War of the, a war on the European continent which broke out in 1741 to defend the rights of Maria Theresa in her Austrian dominions, left to her, in what is called the "Pragmatic Sanction," by her father, Emperor Charles VI., who died without male issue. These dominions were claimed by some pretenders, notably by Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria (descending from Ferdinand I.), and by Augustus III., elector of Saxony (husband of the eldest daughter of the Emperor Joseph I.). In the struggle Britain allied herself with Austria, Russia, Hungary, and Poland, against France, Prussia, Spain, Sardinia, and Bavaria. The war continued from 1741 to 1748, when it was terminated by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Austria emerging from the conflict with the loss of Silesia, Parma, and Piacenza. The chief incidents of the war were the defeat of the French by the British at Dettingen, and the French victory of Fontenoy over the Duke of Cumberland (British), and the allied Austrians, Dutch, and Hanoverians (Prussia having, in 1742, withdrawn from the struggle at the close of what is known as the first Silesian war). Other phases of the war of the period between the English and the French are known as King George's war, and the attempt of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, "the Young Pretender," to effect a landing in Scotland in 1745, and who, after winning the battle of Prestonpans, was routed at Culloden.