Editing Louis XV (section)

===War of the Austrian Succession===
{{main|War of the Austrian Succession}}

On 29 October 1740, a courier brought the news to the King, who was hunting in Fontainebleau, that the Emperor Charles VI was dead, and his daughter Maria Theresa was set to succeed him. After two days of reflection, Louis declared, "In these circumstances, I don't want to get involved at all. I will remain with my hands in my pockets, unless of course they want to elect a Protestant emperor."<ref name="Antoine 1989, p. 301"/> This attitude did not please France's allies, who saw an opportunity to take parts of the Habsburg empire, or Louis's generals, who for a century had won glory fighting Austria. The King in Prussia had died on 31 May and was succeeded by his son [[Frederick the Great]], a military genius with ambitions to expand Prussia's borders. The Elector [[Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles Albert]] of Bavaria, supported by Frederick, challenged the succession of Maria Theresa, and on 17 December 1740 Frederick invaded the Austrian province of [[Silesia]]. The elderly Cardinal Fleury had too little energy left to oppose this war.

Fleury sent his highest ranking general, [[Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet, duc de Belle-Isle]], the Maréchal de Belle-Isle, the grandson of [[Nicolas Fouquet]], the famous disgraced controller of finances of Louis XIV, as his ambassador to the Diet of Frankfurt, with instructions to avoid a war by supporting the candidacy of the Elector of Bavaria to the Austrian throne. Instead, the Maréchal, who detested the Austrians, made an agreement to join with the Prussians against Austria, and the war began.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 77.</ref> French and Bavarian armies quickly captured [[Linz]] and laid siege to [[Prague]]. On 10 April 1741 Frederick won a major victory over the Austrians at the [[Battle of Mollwitz]]. On 18 May, Fleury assembled a new alliance combining France, Prussia, Spain and Bavaria, later joined by Poland and Sardinia. However, in 1742, the balance of the war shifted against France. The German-born British King, [[George II of Great Britain|George II]], who was also the Elector of Hanover, joined the war on the side of Austria and personally took charge of his soldiers fighting the French in Germany. Maria Theresa's Hungarian army recaptured Linz and marched into Bavaria as far as Munich. In June, Frederick of Prussia withdrew from the alliance with France, after gaining the [[Duchies of Silesia]] from the Austrians. Belleville had to abandon Prague, with a loss of eight thousand men. For seven years, France was engaged in a costly war with constantly shifting alliances. Orry, the superintendent of French finance, was forced to reinstate the highly unpopular ''dixieme'' tax to fund the war. Cardinal de Fleury did not live to see the end of the conflict; he died on 29 January 1743, and thereafter Louis ruled alone.<ref>Bluche (2003), pp. 233–235.</ref>

[[File:Battle of Lauffeldt.jpg|Louis XV and [[Maurice de Saxe]] at the [[Battle of Lauffeldt]] (2 July 1747)|thumb]]
The war in Germany was not going well; the French and Bavarian forces were faced with the combined armies of Austria, Saxony, Holland, Sardinia and Hanover. The army of the [[Adrien Maurice de Noailles|Duke of Noailles]] was defeated by a force of British, Hessian and Hanover soldiers led by George II at the [[Battle of Dettingen]], and in September French forces were compelled to abandon Germany.<ref>Bluche (2003), p. 78.</ref>

In 1744, the Austrian Netherlands became the primary battlefield of the war, and the French position began to improve. Frederick the Great decided to rejoin the war on the French side. Louis XV left Versailles to lead his armies in the Netherlands in person, and French field command was given to the German-born Maréchal [[Maurice de Saxe]], a highly competent general. At the [[Battle of Fontenoy]] on 11 May 1745, Louis, accompanied by his young son the Dauphin, came under fire for the first time and witnessed a French victory over combined British, Dutch and Austrian forces. When the Dauphin became excited at the sight of so many dead enemy soldiers, the King told him, "You see what a victory costs. The blood of our enemies is still the blood of men. The true glory is to spare it."<ref>Antoine (1989), p. 387.</ref> Saxe went on to win further victories at [[Battle of Rocoux|Rocoux]] (1746) and [[Battle of Lauffeld|Lauffeld]] (1747). In 1746 French forces [[Siege of Brussels|besieged and occupied Brussels]], which Louis entered in triumph. The King gave de Saxe the [[Chateau de Chambord]] in the [[Loire Valley]] as a reward for his victories.