[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dettigan.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:King George II rallying his troops at Dettingen, 27 June 1743]]

->''Return this answer. They who want peace with me will give me what I desire. I am sick of ultimatums. I will have no more of them. My part is taken.''
-->-- '''UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat'''

The War of the Austrian Succession, also known as the first two Silesian Wars, was waged from 1740 to 1748 over a combination of UsefulNotes/{{Central Europe}}an rivalries and colonial competition between [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom Great Britain]] and UsefulNotes/{{France}} on one side and Great Britain and Spain for another (the UsefulNotes/WarOfJenkinsEar). Emperor Charles VI died without male issue. He was succeeded by UsefulNotes/MariaTheresa, who claimed the throne based on the ''Pragmatic Sanction'' (pragmatic sanctions were temporary amendments to the constitution of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire enacted by Imperial decree; in this case it was a temporary alteration in the succession laws) which her father had proclaimed [[note]]it's often assumed to have been made specifically for her; actually, it was made four years before her birth[[/note]]. Recognition of the Sanction was bought by TheEmperor from the states of Europe at high cost in concession.

When Maria took the throne in 1740, UsefulNotes/FrederickTheGreat, King of UsefulNotes/{{Prussia}}, advanced into the Province of Silesia then ruled by the [[TheClan Habsburgs]]. Eager for a share of the {{Plunder}}, several of the states of Europe joined him, leading some of Austria's allies -- particularly Britain -- to declare war to maintain the status quo. This marked the beginning of a continent-wide war.

The war lasted until 1748 through many convoluted twists and turns, the war spreading to UsefulNotes/NorthAmerica and India by way of Franco-British colonial skirmishing (the North American theatre is known in American history as "King George's War" as a result). At last, the war subsided through a lack of resources. Frederick ended up gaining Silesia and establishing Prussia as a respected power, at the cost of continuing enmity from the Habsburg throne. The War also saw the last time a British monarch would personally lead their troops in battle, at Dettingen 1743 (although British ''royals'' have taken part in combat as recently as UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror). In the meantime, the struggle between Great Britain and France remained undecided. This led to the UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar.
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!!Appears in the following works:
* ''Theatre/DerRosenkavalier'' is set early during the reign of Maria Theresia, when the Marschallin's husband - obviously an Austrian Field Marshal - is off to the wars. The first silent film adaptation, for which Richard Strauss adapted the opera into a movie score, even included battle scenes intercut with the main action and ended with the Field Marshal receiving a hero's welcome from his wife.
* Several of the historical movies about Frederick the Great produced in Germany from the 1920s to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII show the war from a Prussian point of view.
** ''Trenck, der Pandur'' (1940) is one of the few with an Austrian hero, in this case a commander of light troops.
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' includes a reasonably accurate arc on the war. Maria Theresa and Frederick the Great both get a good deal of screen time (revealing just how hard and fierce they were).
* It could happen in ''VideoGame/EmpireTotalWar.''
* Music/GeorgeFredericHandel wrote ''Music for the Royal Fireworks'' as part of a celebration of the war's end.
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