Editing Prince Eugene of Savoy (section)

==== Final campaigning: Eugene alone ====
[[File:Godfrey Kneller Eugen von Savoyen 1712.jpg|thumb|170px|left|Portrait of Eugene from the school of Godfrey Kneller, 1712.]]

In August 1709 Eugene's chief political opponent and critic in Vienna, Prince [[Charles Theodore von Salm|Salm]], retired as court chamberlain. Eugene and Wratislaw were now the undisputed leaders of the Austrian government: all major departments of state were in their hands or those of their political allies.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=128}} Another attempt at a negotiated settlement at [[Geertruidenberg]] in April 1710 failed, largely because the English [[Whig (British political party)|Whigs]] still felt strong enough to refuse concessions, while Louis XIV saw little reason to accept what he had refused the previous year. Eugene and Marlborough could not be accused of wrecking the negotiations, but neither showed regret at the breakdown of the talks. There was no alternative but to continue the war, and in June the Allied commanders [[Siege of Douai (1710)|captured Douai]]. This success was followed by a series of minor sieges, and by the close of 1710 the Allies had cleared much of France's protective ring of fortresses. Yet there had been no final, decisive breakthrough, and this was to be the last year that Eugene and Marlborough would work together.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | pp=130–131}}

Following the death of Joseph I on 17 April 1711 his brother, [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles]], the pretender to the Spanish throne, became emperor. In England the new [[Tory (British political party)|Tory]] government (the 'peace party' who had deposed the Whigs in October 1710) declared their unwillingness to see Charles VI become Emperor as well as King of Spain, and had already begun secret negotiations with the French. In January 1712 Eugene arrived in England hoping to divert the government away from its peace policy, but despite the social success the visit was a political failure: Queen [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Anne]] and her ministers remained determined to end the war regardless of the Allies. Eugene had also arrived too late to save Marlborough who, seen by the Tories as the main obstacle to peace, had already been dismissed on charges of embezzlement. Elsewhere the Austrians had made some progress—the Hungarian revolt had finally came to end. Although Eugene would have preferred to crush the rebels the Emperor had offered lenient conditions, leading to the signing of the [[Treaty of Szatmár]] on 30 April 1711.<ref>Lynn gives the signing date as 1 May</ref>[[File:Low Countries 1700.png|thumb|302x302px|Following his victory in northern Italy, Eugene fought primarily in the Low Countries during the War of the Spanish Succession.]]

Hoping to influence public opinion in England and force the French into making substantial concessions, Eugene prepared for a major campaign. But on 21 May 1712—when the Tories felt they had secured favourable terms with their unilateral talks with the French—the [[James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde|Duke of Ormonde]] (Marlborough's successor) received the so-called 'restraining orders', forbidding him to take part in any military action.{{sfn | Wolf | 1951 | p=89|ps=: Although the Tory ministers did not inform Eugene of the restraining orders, they did inform Marshal Villars. In October 1712 the Tory government even communicated to the French what they knew of Eugene's war plans.}} Eugene took the fortress of [[Le Quesnoy]] in early July, before besieging [[Landrecies]], but Villars, taking advantage of Allied disunity, outmanoeuvred Eugene and defeated the [[Arnold van Keppel, 1st Earl of Albemarle|Earl of Albermarle]]'s Dutch garrison at the [[Battle of Denain]] on 24 July. The French followed the victory by seizing the Allies' main supply magazine at [[Marchiennes]], before reversing their earlier losses at [[Douai]], Le Quesnoy and [[Bouchain]]. In one summer the whole forward Allied position laboriously built up over the years to act as the springboard into France had been precipitously abandoned.<ref>Lynn: ''The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714'', pp. 352–354</ref>

With the death in December of his friend and close political ally, Count [[Johann Wenzel Wratislaw von Mitrowitz|Wratislaw]], Eugene became undisputed 'first minister' in Vienna. His position was built on his military successes, but his actual power was expressed through his role as president of the war council, and as ''de facto'' president of the conference which dealt with foreign policy.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=154}} In this position of influence Eugene took the lead in pressing Charles VI towards peace. The government had come to accept that further war in the Netherlands or Spain was impossible without the aid of the Maritime Powers; yet the Emperor, still hoping that somehow he could place himself on the throne in Spain, refused to make peace at the [[Treaty of Utrecht|Utrecht conference]] along with the other Allies. Reluctantly, Eugene prepared for another campaign, but lacking troops, finance, and supplies his prospects in 1713 were poor. Villars, with superior numbers, was able to keep Eugene guessing as to his true intent. Through successful feints and [[Ruse de guerre|stratagems]] [[Landau]] fell to the French commander in August, followed in November by [[Freiburg]].<ref name=lynn357>Lynn: ''The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714'', p. 357</ref> Eugene was reluctant to carry on the war, and wrote to the Emperor in June that a bad peace would be better than being 'ruined equally by friend and foe'.{{sfn | McKay | Baker | von Savoyen | 1977 | p=145}} With Austrian finances exhausted and the German states reluctant to continue the war, Charles VI was compelled to enter into negotiations. Eugene and Villars (who had been old friends since the Turkish campaigns of the 1680s) initiated talks on 26 November. Eugene proved an astute and determined negotiator, and gained favourable terms by the [[Treaty of Rastatt]] signed on 7 March 1714 and the [[Treaty of Baden (1714)|Treaty of Baden]] signed on 7 September 1714.<ref>For a detailed description of Prince Eugene's role in the peace conference and treaty of Baden see ''Das Diarium des Badener Friedens 1714 von Caspar Joseph Dorer. Mit Einleitung und Kommentar herausgegeben von Barbara Schmid'' (= Beiträge zur Aargauer Geschichte. 18). Baden: Hier und Jetzt, 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-03919-327-1}}.</ref> Despite the [[Rhine campaign (1713)|failed campaign in 1713]] the Prince was able to declare that, "in spite of the military superiority of our enemies and the defection of our Allies, the conditions of peace will be more advantageous and more glorious than those we would have obtained at Utrecht."<ref name=lynn357 />