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{{Short description|18th-century European great power alliances}}
{{No citations|date=October 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

The '''''stately quadrille''''' is the name given to set of constantly shifting alliances between the [[great power]]s of Europe during the 18th century. The ultimate objective was to maintain the [[European balance of power|balance of power in Europe]] to stop any one alliance or country becoming too strong. It takes its name from the [[quadrille]], a dance in which the participants constantly swap partners.

The most widely cited instance was in 1756, when [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]] and [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]] abandoned their 25-year-long [[Anglo-Austrian Alliance]] and instead made new alliances with their former enemies, [[Prussia]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]], respectively. That was known as the [[Diplomatic Revolution]].

==Background==
Shifting alliances had long been a factor in European politics and were often regarded as responses to shifting power and threat. During the 16th century and the early 17th century, much of the emphasis in European politics had been on restricting the power of the [[House of Habsburg|Habsburgs]] in [[Habsburg Spain|Spain]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]].

Under the reign of [[Louis XIV]], France replaced the Habsburgs as the dominant power in Europe. France's rising power was challenged by the Europe-wide [[League of Augsburg]] in the [[Nine Years' War]] (1688–97). After [[Philip V of Spain|a Bourbon monarch]] ascended to the Spanish throne, the League of Augsburg fought the French and Spanish in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], from 1702 to 1713, in an effort to [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|restore the Habsburgs in Spain]]. The conflict resulted in Philip V remaining on the throne, although Spain lost its European empire.

==Quadrille==
[[Image:Quadrille-Ete-Lebas-ca1820.jpg|thumb|250px|left|The [[quadrille]] was a popular dance of the 18th century. Because of its similarity to the way in which Great Powers swapped partners, the term was swiftly applied to describe it.]]
In the years immediately after the war, Britain and France, which were widely considered to have been the leaders of opposing coalitions in the last war, formed an [[Anglo-French Alliance (1716–1731)|Anglo-French Alliance]] and recognized that they shared temporary, mutual interests. In the years that followed, they managed to defeat a resurgent [[History of Spain (1700-1808)|Spain]], formerly a French ally, in the [[War of the Quadruple Alliance]]. Spain sought an alliance with Austria and [[Treaty of Vienna (1725)|gained it in 1725]].

By 1731, Britain and France were clearly drifting apart. A diplomatic initiative with Austria was begun by the British government, and a new [[Anglo-Austrian Alliance]] was created. Spain withdrew its friendship with Austria and eventually ended up allied to France again.

In 1733, however the [[Anglo-Austrian Alliance]] seemed under threat, when the British failed to assist the Austrians in the [[War of the Polish Succession]]. Austria had to rely heavily on [[Russian Empire|Russia]] for assistance and was forced to make huge concessions to Spain in the 1738 [[Treaty of Vienna (1738)|peace treaty]]. Britain realised that its failure to intervene had allowed France to become too strong.

[[Image:Carte Guerre de Sept Ans Europe.PNG|thumb|280px|The stately quadrille reached its height in 1756, when several new alliances formed as a result of the [[Diplomatic Revolution]].]]

In 1740, Prussia, an emerging power, [[First Silesian War|attacked Austria]]. Britain and France soon became embroiled in the [[War of the Austrian Succession]], which ended in a stalemate in 1748, but Austria appeared to have lost most in the war. Despite extensive British funding, it was increasingly disillusioned about the Anglo-Austrian Alliance and began looking for a replacement.

In 1756, Austria did what was considered unthinkable by many by abandoning its British connection to form a new alliance with France. Fearing that Continental Europe would be destabilized and led to war, Britain made an alliance with Prussia at the [[Convention of Westminster]] in the hope that a new [[balance of power in international relations|balance of power]] would prevent war.

==Decline==
The concept began to fade in the second half of the 18th century, as Britain and France became the dominant European powers. The failure to prevent the [[Seven Years' War]], in which over a million died, was a major factor. States began to seek a more stable and long-lasting series of alliances: one of the most successful in the second half of the century was the [[Bourbon Family Compact]] between France and Spain, which endured throughout a number of major European conflicts, including the Wars of [[War Of The Austrian Succession|Austrian]] and [[War Of The Polish Succession|Polish]] Successions and the Seven Years' War and endured past the [[American War of Independence]] in which French and Spanish support contributed towards British defeat.

After the [[Napoleonic Wars]], a [[Concert of Europe]] was set up to create a forum for discussion rather than create shifting alliance patterns, which had a tendency to cause major wars. This was successful through most of the 19th century, until [[World War I]] collapsed the post-Napoleonic system amid increasingly acute nationalist tensions, which led to the [[unification of Germany]] and the collapse of the Austrian, Russian, and [[Ottoman empire]]s.

==See also==
* [[Treaty of Versailles (1756)]], the document establishing an alliance between Austria and France
* [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]], one of the treaties which ended the Seven Years' War

==Further reading==
* [[Christopher Clark|Clark, Christopher]]. ''Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia 1600–1947.'' [[Penguin Books]], 2007
* [[Simms, Brendan]]. ''Three Victories and a Defeat.'' Penguin Books, 2008.
* [[Hew Strachan|Strachan, Hew]]. ''The First World War.'' [[Simon & Schuster]], 2006

[[Category:International relations terminology]]
[[Category:History of Europe]]

Stately quadrille - Revision history

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