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THE SILESIAN WARS, 1740-5Frederick's allies appeared to be failing or falling away, and he still
hoped that the British negotiators would be able to secure an accept-
able peace on his behalf. Only by the early summer of 1745 did an
accumulation of evidence make it clear that Austria and Prussia were
not fighting for third parties, or for compensations or equivalents, but
for the possession of Silesia and the very existence of the Prussian
state. The nature of this new contest did not differ in kind from the
Seven Years War.
First of all Maria Theresa had raised the stakes in a speech of 1
December 1744, absolving the Silesians from their allegiance to the
House of Brandenburg. Then the Emperor Charles VII died on 20
January and his native Bavaria was shortly afterwards overrun by the
Austrians. This put an end to the useful device by which Frederick
had been able to hold himself at a certain distance from the war, by
representing the Prussians not as full belligerents, but as auxiliaries
intervening on behalf of the Emperor. Now he was a principal in the
conflict.
Then in the second week of March 1745 came news of a hostile
Quadruple Alliance of Britain, Holland, Saxony and Austria. For the
last two powers 'it was no longer just a question of humiliating him
by depriving him of Silesia. What they wanted was to reduce him to a
nullity... This means nothing but his destruction, and [they] would
sacrifice the liberties of mankind to compass it' (Valori, 1820, I, 211;
Thomas Villiers, 3 September, PRO SP 88/66).
On 14 March Frederick had laid the foundation stone of the
'summerhouse at the top of the vineyard near Potsdam' - the future
Sans Souci. He left for Silesia the next day, and after stopping for a
time in Breslau and Neisse he established his headquarters on 29 April
in the Cistercian monastery at Camenz, standing in the plain of the
upper Neisse below Glatz. Frederick was tormented with impatience,
waiting for the enemy to declare themselves, but the month of May
was warm and sunny and Abbot Tobias Stusche provided agreeable
Tafelmusik when the king sat down every day to dine under the great
trees in the garden.
At Camenz Frederick received the first agreeable news for a very
long time indeed. This concerned an action at Bratsch in Upper
Silesia on 22 May, when Margrave Carl and 6,000 men beat off an
attack by superior Austrian forces against a convoy. Frederick heaped
praise upon the Wurttemberg Dragoons, and he later dated the
revival of the whole of the Prussian cavalry from this episode. It
taught him how men could surpass themselves when they were
subjected to a judicious process of correction and encouragement,
and when a few heroes gave them an example to follow.
During this period the allies were drawing their forces together