The Anglo-French Alliance is the name for the alliance between

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

between 1716 and 1731. It formed part of the

stately quadrille {{Unreferenced, date=December 2018 The ''stately quadrille'' is the name given to set of constantly shifting alliances between the great powers of Europe during the 18th century. The ultimate objective was to maintain the balance of power in Euro ...

in which the Great Powers of Europe repeatedly switched partners to try to build a superior alliance.

Creation

Following the end of the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

by the

Peace of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne o ...

(1713–15), British and French interests converged as they wished to stop the expansion of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

power. Although British Whig politicians had attacked the Peace of Utrecht under the slogan "

No Peace Without Spain No Peace Without Spain was a popular British political slogan of the early eighteenth century. It referred to the ongoing War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) in which Britain was a leading participant. It implied that no peace treaty cou ...

", given it seemingly placed Spain under French control, they soon developed close relations with Paris having returned to power following the

Hanoverian succession The Act of Settlement is an Act of the Parliament of England that settled the succession to the English and Irish crowns to only Protestants, which passed in 1701. More specifically, anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one, bec ...

. France faced an uncertain succession, as their king

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...

was currently young and childless. Britain was wary of alienating the much-larger France. Negotations led to the creation of the Anglo-French Alliance somewhere in late 1716. On 4 January 1717, it became the

Triple Alliance (1717) The Triple Alliance was a defence pact signed on 4 January 1717 in The Hague between the Dutch Republic, France and Great Britain, against Bourbon Spain in an attempt to maintain the agreements of the 1713–15 Peace of Utrecht. The three states ...

when the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...

joined the Britain and France against the looming threat of a resurgent Spain. That threat proved real when Spain recaptured Sardinia from Habsburg Austria with little opposition in August–October 1717, which was then followed by a Spanish landing in Sicily in July 1718. The three states were joined by Austria on 2 August 1718, thus forming the Quadruple Alliance. These four states co-operated during the

War of the Quadruple Alliance The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720) was caused by Spanish attempts to recover territories in Italy ceded in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht. Largely focused on Sicily, it included minor engagements in North America and Northern Europe as we ...

to stop these Spanish attempts to conquer parts of Italy. Shortly afterwards they managed to check the Russian advance across the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

End

The birth of a Dauphin in 1729 began to dissolve the French interest in the alliance, as their future was increasingly secure. In Britain a group of Austrophiles suggested that Austria would make a better potential partner for Britain. The actions of the French Chief Minister

Cardinal Fleury Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **'' Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, th ...

were increasingly hostile towards Britain. The French failure to support the British during the

Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729) The Anglo-Spanish War of 1727–1729 was a limited war that took place between Great Britain and Spain during the late 1720s, and consisted of a failed Spanish attempt to capture Gibraltar and an unsuccessful British blockade of Porto Bello. ...

convinced many that they were no longer a reliable ally but were instead returning to the traditional position of a rival. The end of the alliance was never formally declared, but by early 1731, it was widely considered to be over. In 1731, Britain, sensing the direction Cardinal Fleury was taking France, concluded an alliance with Austria. By 1742, Britain and France were on opposite sides during the

War of the Austrian Succession The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's ...

and their colonial rivalry in North America continued. Some have suggested that between 1688 and 1815 Britain and France were 'natural enemies', and the period has become known as the

Second Hundred Years' War The Second Hundred Years' War is a periodization or historical era term used by some historians to describe the series of military conflicts between Great Britain and France that occurred from about 1689 (or some say 1714) to 1815. The Second Hun ...

, but the 17-year periods spent as allies has been used to challenge the theory that the two states were implacable enemies.

Bibliography

* Browning, Reed. ''The Duke of Newcastle''. Yale University Press, 1975. * McLynn, Frank. ''1759: The Year Britain Became Master of the World''. Pimlico, 2005. * Murphy, Orvile T. ''Charles Gravier: Comete de Vergennes: French Diplomacy in the Age of Revolution''. New York Press, 1982. * Simms, Brendan. ''Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire''. Penguin Books, 2008. * Whiteley, Peter. ''Lord North: The Prime Minister who lost America''. The Hambledon Press, 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Anglo-French Alliance (1716-31) Treaties of the Kingdom of Great Britain 18th-century military alliances 1716 treaties Treaties of the Kingdom of France Military alliances involving France

18th century in France 1716 in Great Britain France–United Kingdom military relations France–Great Britain relations

Creation

End

See also

Bibliography