engleski

The British Secret Military Mission to Vienna in 1748

During the early Spring of 1748 a secret military mission under the command of Lieutenant-General James Sinclair (St Clair) arrived in Vienna. The General had been instructed by the British government to help restore Austro-Sardinian relations and to make it clear to Empress Queen Maria Theresa she had to live up to her agreements with Britain and invade southern France together with the King of Sardinia. Sinclair's party included the General's nephew Lieut.-Col. Sir Henry Erskine of Alva and Cambuskenneth, Capt. James Grant of Ballindalloch and – last but not least – the Scottish Enlightenment thinker David Hume acting in the official capacity of secretary and aide-de-camp to the General. The delegation stayed in the Austrian capital for three weeks during which they met with the sovereign and several ministers. Hume enjoyed the mission in spite of the "limited amusements" Vienna had to offer. Remarkably he only sent two letters from Vienna during his stay to his brother John Home of Ninewells. Although he admitted "I have been pretty busy since I came here" he remained silent on what he had been busy with. General Sinclair's official correspondence with London however has survived and is part of the Darymple of Newhailes Papers, one of the manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland. This paper will address the content of said correspondence and its relevance for analyzing relations between Vienna, Turin and London during the last stage of the War of the Austrian Succession when peace talks between were already well on the way to be concluded.

Habsburg Monarchy ; War of the Austrian Succession ; 1748 ; James Sinclair ; David Hume ; Vienna ; London ; Turin ; irregular warfare

https://www.isp.hr/29-30-november-2021-international-conference-from-words-to-acts-written-sources-for-the-reconstruction-and-understanding-of-diplomatic-negotiation/