War, Politics and Diplomacy The Anglo-Prussian Alliance, 1756-1763

by Schweizer, Karl W.

• ISBN13: 9780761820956
• ISBN10: 0761820957
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-08-01
• Publisher: UPA

Summary

Based on hitherto unused manuscript material, War, Politics and Diplomacy examines the origin, development and collapse of the Anglo-Prussian alliance against the complex backdrop of European politics during the Seven Years War (1756-63). Unlike earlier books in the field, this study views the alliance not as a static entity but as a flexible, dynamic instrument of statecraft ever responsive to military and diplomatic shifts. By examining, for the first time, the disintegration of the alliance in a light of preceding intra-alliance relations, Karl W. Schweizer demonstrates that its failure was certain from the conditions of its formation, the progress of the war, and above all, from the disparate aims and interests of the two partners, England and Prussia. This new approach to the history of the alliance produces a fundamentally different interpretation of its overall development, a disbelief in its prospect of survival after the war and hence a modified evaluation of the role played by the principal statesmen involved.

Table of Contents

Preface	v
Acknowledgments	vii
Introduction	ix
The European Setting	1	(20)
Anglo-Prussian Relations After the Convention of Westminister: 1756-1758	21	(22)
The Subsidy Treaty	43	(10)
Britain and Prussia 1758-1761	53	(14)
Bute and the 1761 Peace Negotiations with France	67	(10)
Bute and the Anglo-Prussian Subsidy Talks November 1761-January 1762	77	(14)
Bute, Newcastle and The Hague Overtures	91	(12)
England, Prussia and Russia January-March 1762	103	(14)
The Bedford and Bunbury Motions February 5, 1762	117	(8)
The Galitizin Letter	125	(16)
The End of the Subsidy Treaty	141	(30)
Epilogue	171	(8)
Conclusions	179	(4)
Appendixes	183	(8)
Endnotes	191	(76)
Bibliography	267	(16)
Index	283	(4)
About the Author	287