European Politics in the Eighteenth Century
At the start of the 18th century most of Europe was divided into a large number of small kingdoms and states. These were filled with serfs and vassals who swore allegiance to a monarch. The royal line passed from father to oldest son and all political and religious foundations of a country came from the family dynasty ruling the country. How the country was run was determined by the monarch and backed up the system of nobles with armies. Except in Britain and Holland where constitutional monarchies were already in place, public opinion counted for little. Royal courts were more concerned with putting their own ambitions ahead of the country. Everything was based on tradition, legal precedent and even religious morality.
When Louis XIV died in 1715, it was the end of an era. Once again, Louis’ great grandson was too young to reign so a regent was appointed (Louis XIV outlived his own son and grandson). Very few people still lived in France who remembered how things were before French absolutism. While the regency was in power it was a time for change in France.
While France dealt with the death of Louis XIV, other major families in Europe took the opportunity to gain new territories. The major players were the same in most of Europe at this time. However, southeastern Europe was most concerned with the power of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a non-Christian empire based in Constantinople who controlled much of the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. Other smaller dynasties tried to involve themselves in the political intrigue of Europe by aligning themselves with more powerful countries or taking advantage of others’ victories or defeats.
The Power Players in Europe during the 18th Century
From 1715 to 1815 several new powerful nations emerged in Europe. Russia grew stronger in Eastern Europe while Prussia made its presence known in Central Europe. Britain and France fought a global war during this time that Britain eventually won. Other countries faded or were absorbed into other nations. One constant was that the stronger nations were fairly evenly matched in terms of power and resources so smaller nations were important. Larger nations would use these smaller powers to tip the scales in their favour.
France was the first to attempt to further its power in Europe. This desire prompted other countries to band together to maintain the balance of power in Europe. The reasoning was that if one nation was too strong other nations would agree to work together to contain the stronger country from expanding too much. France was defeated in its attempt to grab more power and a treaty was signed ending the conflict after two years of negotiations. This treaty was the Treaty of Utrecht which allowed the Spanish king to keep his throne but forced him to give up any claims he had on the French throne. This prevented the possibility of France and Spain united into a superpower and maintained the balance of power in Europe. The treaty also affected the status quo outside of Europe as countries now included their colonies in treaty negotiations. France gave up Acadia, Newfoundland and a Caribbean island to Britain as part of the negotiation process.
Austria was a power that had to divide its attention between Eastern Europe where the Ottoman Empire was a concern and Central Europe where it had to watch over the Italian and German states. Austria was quite successful in gaining new territory from the Ottoman Empire and would remain a powerful land force up until World War I.
During the first half of the 18th century an uneasy peace existed with occasional wars. Negotiations between the major powers rarely cared about how the local populations felt about their territory changed hands. The negotiators’ primary goal was to preserve the balance of power in Europe. So it was the three nations emerged as the most powerful in all of Europe during the first half of the 18th century. Britain had the most powerful navy; Austria was a powerful land force; and France had strength in both its army and navy. To prevent France from making any gains overseas England made an ally of Austria to ensure that France’s power was checked. France responded by allying with Austria’s chief rival, Prussia. These series of alliances were to ensure that the balance of power remained in Europe but eventually they would break down and launch the First World War.