Silesian Wars

The Silesian Wars (German: Schlesische Kriege) refer to three wars between Prussia and Austria for control of Silesia in the mid-18th century that ended in Prussian victory for all three wars:

The first two can be viewed in the context of the larger War of the Austrian Succession, while the "Third Silesian War" is better known as the Seven Years' War. Silesia was strategically important to Prussia because "it significantly blunted the capacity of Prussia's two chief foes—Austria and Russia—to meddle in Prussian affairs". Prussian victory (and possession of Silesia) foreshadowed a wider struggle for control over the German-speaking peoples that would culminate in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866.

The First Silesian War inaugurated, and is generally seen in the context of, the wider ranging War of the Austrian Succession. It owed its origins to the Pragmatic Sanction of 19 April 1713 whereby the Habsburg emperor Charles VI decreed the imperial succession arrangements as set out in his will, according precedence to his own daughters over the daughters of his (by now deceased) elder brother Joseph I. This proved prescient: in May 1717 the emperor’s own eldest daughter was born and on his death in 1740, she duly succeeded as Archduchess of Austria as well as to the thrones of the Bohemian and Hungarian lands within the Habsburg Monarchy as Queen Maria Theresa.

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