The Silesian Wars were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia and Habsburg Austria. Prussia cited its centuries-old dynastic claims on parts of Silesia as a casus belli. Realpolitik and geostrategic factors also played a role in provoking the conflict. The conflict over Silesie foreshadowed a wider Austro-Prussian struggle for hegemony over the German-speaking peoples.
About Silesian Wars in brief
The Silesian Wars were three wars fought in the mid-18th century between Prussia and Habsburg Austria. Prussia cited its centuries-old dynastic claims on parts of Silesia as a casus belli. Realpolitik and geostrategic factors also played a role in provoking the conflict. All three wars are generally considered to have ended in Prussian victories, and the first resulted in Austria’s cession of the majority of Silesia to Prussia. The conflict over Silesie foreshadowed a wider Austro-Prussian struggle for hegemony over the German-speaking peoples, which would later culminate in the Austro/Prussian War of 1866. The First, Second and Third wars formed parts of the wider War of the Austrian Succession, in which Prussia acted as one member of a coalition seeking territorial gain at Austria’s expense. The Third war was one theatre of the global Seven Years’ War, when Austria in turn led a coalition of powers aiming to seize Prussian territory. The wars were fought between the House of Hohenzollern and the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II of Bohemia. The HohenZollerns held dynastic rights to several duchies within the Habsburger province of Sileia, a populous and prosperous region contiguous with Prussia’s core territory in the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The valley of the Upper Oder formed a natural military conduit between Brandenburg, the Kingdom of Bohemian and the Margrave of Moravia, and whichever power held the territory could threaten its neighbours.
In 1675 the Great Elector of Brandenburg laid claim to Liegnitz, Wohlau and Brieg when the Silesan Piast line ended with the death of Duke George William of Legnica. After the Great Turkish War of 1685, the Hohen zollern claimed control of the exclave of Leopold I in 1694. As a young prince, Frederick III had secretly repossessed the territory in return for military support against the Turks and the return of the outstanding Hohen Zollern claims in Silean exclave. As late as 1694, the Emperor took back control of Leopold, claiming that the territory had only been personally assigned to the late Frederick III for life. In 1713, the Great Elector William III reconciliation was agreed to return accession of the Sileans to his son and successor, the Great Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg. In 1866, the Austrian Emir of Bohemia took back control of the Slesian exclave in return for support against the Turks and the return of the Great Turkish support against the Turkish Empire and the return of the Sileans in 1685. The Great Empress of Bosnia and the Habsburg King Ferdinand I reigned from 1675 to 1866.
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