The Treaty of Versailles, also known as the First Treaty of Versailles, was a diplomatic agreement between

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. It was signed in 1756 at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

in France. There were four treaties signed on this agreement.

Terms

The two countries offered mutual assistance if attacked by

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. The Franco-Austrian Alliance, which lasted in some form or another for the next 30 years, was established.

Aftermath

Within months of the agreement, France and Austria found themselves engaged in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

against the Anglo-Prussian Alliance, which was to last until 1763. Along with the Westminster Convention, the treaty formed part of the Diplomatic Revolution, which realigned the alliance systems of the major powers of Europe in the run-up to the wars. It was ostensibly defensive, but British agents suspected that there were secret clauses that were more wide-ranging than the document actually publicised.Simms p.410-11 The

Second Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a diplomatic agreement signed between Habsburg monarchy, Austria and Early Modern France, France at the Palace of Versailles on 1 May 1757 during the Seven Years' War. It expanded on the Treaty of Versailles (1756), 1 ...

, promising even closer co-operation between the two states, was agreed at Versailles in 1757.

References

Sources

* * Simms, Brendan. ''Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire''. Penguin Books, 2008.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Versailles 1756 Treaties of the Seven Years' War 18th-century military alliances 1756 treaties Treaties of the Kingdom of France Treaties of the Habsburg monarchy Military alliances involving Austria Military alliances involving France 1756 in France 1756 in the Habsburg monarchy France–Habsburg monarchy relations Treaties of the Silesian Wars History of the Palace of Versailles Military history of Île-de-France