Editing War of the Austrian Succession (section)

==The Low Countries, 1745–1748==
[[File:Low Countries 1740.png|thumb|left|upright=1.25|Map of the Low Countries; [[Bergen op Zoom]], upper center]]

The Dutch, British and Austrians withdrew from Fontenoy in good order but Tournai [[Siege of Tournai (1745)|fell to French forces]] and through a swift advance, [[Ghent]], [[Oudenaarde|Oudenarde]], [[Bruges]], and [[Dendermonde]] soon followed. By the end of July, the French stood on the threshold of [[Zeelandic Flanders|Dutch Flanders]], the south-western corner of the Dutch Republic.<ref>Browning: ''Austrian Succession'', 219</ref> The French-backed [[Jacobite rising of 1745|Jacobite rising]] of August, 1745 forced the British to transfer troops from Flanders to deal with it. This prompted the French to seize the strategic ports of [[Ostend]] and [[Nieuwpoort, Belgium|Nieuwpoort]], threatening Britain's links to mainland Europe.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Tucker |editor-first1=Spencer C. |title=A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East |date=2009 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara (CA) |isbn=978-1-851-09667-1 |page=746 }}</ref>

During 1746, the French continued their advance into the Austrian Netherlands, taking [[Antwerp]] and then clearing Dutch and Austrian forces from the area between [[Siege of Brussels|Brussels]] and the [[Meuse]]. After defeating the Jacobite Rebellion at [[Battle of Culloden|Culloden]] in April, the British launched a diversionary [[raid on Lorient]] in an unsuccessful attempt to divert French forces, while the new Austrian commander, Prince Charles of Lorraine, was defeated by Saxe at the [[Battle of Rocoux]] in October.<ref name="Tucker, p.753">Tucker, p. 753</ref>

[[File:Willem Karel Hendrik Friso van Oranje-Nassau, attributed to Johann Valentin Tischbein.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|[[William IV, Prince of Orange|William IV]], became [[stadtholder]] of all the Dutch provinces after the bloodless [[Orangist revolution]]]]
The [[Dutch Republic]] itself was now in danger. In April 1747, the French began reducing the [[Barrier Fortresses]] along the border with the Austrian Netherlands and invaded Dutch Flanders, which they swiftly captured. A [[Orangist revolution|general anger and panic]] broke out under the Dutch population, who still remembered the [[Rampjaar|French invasion of 1672]], and they demanded that [[William IV, Prince of Orange|William IV]] should be appointed [[stadtholder]]. The [[Regenten|regents]] of [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]] and [[County of Holland|Holland]], fearing violence against them, soon appointed William stadtholder. The remaining provinces followed and by 10 May the [[Second Stadtholderless Period]] had ended. William was also appointed head of all the Dutch armed forces.{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2002|p=299}} The strategic situation, however, failed to change and at [[Battle of Lauffeld|Lauffeld]] on 2 July 1747, Saxe won another victory over a British and Dutch army under the [[Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont|Prince of Waldeck]] and Cumberland; the French then besieged [[Siege of Maastricht (1748)|Maastricht]] and [[Siege of Bergen op Zoom (1747)|Bergen op Zoom]], which fell in September.<ref name="Tucker, p.753" /> Although the [[Dutch States Navy]] was in the poorest condition it had ever been in, its positioning in the estuaries and rivers of Zeeland and Holland, however, prevented French incursions into those provinces.{{sfn|De Jonge|1861|pp=208–230}}

The French advance lent greater urgency to ongoing peace talks at the [[Congress of Breda]], which took place to the sound of French artillery firing on Maastricht. Following their 1746 alliance with Austria, an army of [[30,000 Russians]] marched from [[Livonia]] to the Rhine, but arrived too late to be of use. Maastricht surrendered on 7 May and on 18 October 1748, the war ended with the signing of the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle]].<ref name="Tucker, pp. 755–756">Tucker, pp. 755–756</ref>