Anglo-Austrian Relations after the Seven Years War: Lord Stormont in Vienna, 1763-1772

• Main Author: Scott, H. M.
• Published: London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London) 1977
• Subjects: 327.42
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.471856

This thesis examines the hitherto neglected Austrian dimension of British foreign policy after the ~even Years War. Attention is concentrated on the years between 1763 and 1772, when Lord Stormont was ambassador in Vienna. An attempt is made to explain Britain's continuing desire for a revival of the former alliance with the Habsburgs and to show how the failure of Whitehall's early attempt to revive the 'old system' in 1763/64 in time produced a significant modification of British policy towards Vienna. Anglo-Austrian relations are studied throughout within the broader context of contin~ntal diplomacy, and particular er:J.phasis is placed on the indirect impact of th~ Polish crisis of 176.3-64, which is shown to have confirmed Kaunitz in his loyalty to France and, hence, rejection of England. Good relations were, for this redson, the limit of Anglo-Austrian diplomacy and these are shown to have been established by the mid-1760s. The outbreak of tne Russo-Turkish war in 1768 disrupted the pattern of European politics and inevitably affected Anglo-Austrian relations. The early years of the war saw both states worki::lg, sometimes in co-operation, to end the war by mediatio[l, but to no avail. Growing British indifference to events in eastern Europe increasingly revealed to Kaunitz that Britain was becoming politically negligible and the Chancellor's policy in the critical months before the first partition of Poland si:nply ignored England. Stormont's political redundancy during his last two years in Vienna mirrored the collapse of British influence in continental politics.