AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, TREATY OF

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, TREATY OF (18 October 1748). Also called the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, this treaty ended the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748), which in Britain's North American colonies was known as King George's War (1744–1748). The signatories were Great Britain, France, the Habsburg Empire, the United Provinces of the Low Countries (Netherlands), Prussia, Spain, Modena, Genoa, and Sardinia. The treaty basically returned the world situation to the status quo of 1744, with Prussia keeping the former Austrian province of Silesia and France regaining the fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. This greatly surprised the New England colonists, who had put forth a major effort in 1745 to capture the fort for the British Empire. This disappointment damaged relations between London and the New England colonists. The treaty settled nothing with regard to British and French colonial and commercial rivalries in North America, particularly in the regions along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and provided only a respite before the more significant French and Indian War (1754–1763), which was known as the Seven Years' War in Europe. Aix-la-Chapelle was a part of France when the treaty was signed there; it is now known as Aachen, Germany.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lodge, Richard. Studies in Eighteenth-Century Diplomacy, 1740–1748. London: J. Murray, 1930.

Phillips, Charles L., and Alan Axelrod. "Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle." In Encyclopedia of Historical Treaties and Alliances. Volume 1. New York: Facts on File, 2001.

Sosin, Jack M. "Louisbourg and the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748." William and Mary Quarterly 3d ser., 14 (October 1957): 516–535.

Daniel K.Blewett

Aix-La-Chapelle, Treaty of

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, TREATY OF. 18 October 1748. This treaty ended the War of the Austrian Succession. It represented a suspension of hostilities between rival European coalitions rather than a stable solution of serious problems. French victories on land in Europe balanced British successes at sea. Britain agreed to restore Louisbourg, captured by its New England colonies, for French withdrawal from the Low Countries. Maria Theresa was confirmed as empress of Austria, but British pressure forced Austria to concede Silesia to Prussia, souring Anglo-Austrian relations. French stature was enhanced, and Prussia was enlarged, by Frederick II's successful aggression against Austria. No solutions were found for Anglo-French imperial rivalries in India and North America, which continued to fester. The German name for the city is Aachen; thus this document is also called the Treaty of Aachen.

SEE ALSO Austrian Succession, War of the; Louisburg, Canada.

                         revised by Harold E. Selesky

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 1748. Between March and November 1748 all the belligerents in the War of the Austrian Succession met here to negotiate a settlement. The British and French put together an agreement that they persuaded their respective (and less powerful) allies to sign. There had been no clear victor in the war and the peace merely acknowledged the status quo. Prussia had made a separate peace with Austria in 1745, but her conquest of Austrian Silesia was recognized at Aix-la-Chapelle. Don Philip of Spain was granted the dukedom of Parma, and Anglo-Spanish trade disputes were adjudicated. The British handed back Louisbourg in America to France and the French withdrew from the Austrian Netherlands. The outbreak of the Seven Years War, after less than a decade, illustrates the fragility of the peace settlement.

Andrew Iain Lewer

Aix-la-Chapelle, Treaty of (1748) Diplomatic agreement, principally between France and Britain, that ended the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48). The treaty, which contributed to the rise of Prussia, provided for the restitution of conquests made during the war and confirmed British control of the American slave trade. An earlier treaty signed at Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of Devolution (1668).