The Winning of Wars, 1660–1763
三、赢得战争（1660—1763）
When Louis XIV took over full direction of the French government in March 1661, the European scene was particularly favorable to a monarch determined to impose his views upon it. 44 To the south, Spain was still exhausting itself in the futile attempt to recover Portugal. Across the Channel, a restored monarchy under Charles II was trying to find its feet, and in English commercial circles great jealousy of the Dutch existed. In the north, a recent war had left both Denmark and Sweden weakened. In Germany, the Protestant princes watched suspiciously for any fresh Habsburg attempt to improve its position, but the imperial government in Vienna had problems enough in Hungary and Transylvania, and slightly later with a revival of Ottoman power. Poland was already wilting under the effort of fending off Swedish and Muscovite predators. Thus French diplomacy, in the best traditions of Richelieu, could easily take advantage of these circumstances, playing off the Portuguese against Spain, the Magyars, Turks, and German princes against Austria, and the English against the Dutch—while buttressing France’s own geographical (and army-recruitment) position by its important 1663 treaty with the Swiss cantons. All this gave Louis XIV time enough to establish himself as absolute monarch, secure from the internal challenges which had afflicted French governments during the preceding century. More important still, it gave Colbert, Le Tellier, and the other key ministers the chance to overhaul the administration and to lavish resources upon the army and the navy in anticipation of the Sun King’s pursuit of glory. 45
当路易十四在1661年3月取得了对法国政府的全面控制时，欧洲的形势特别有利于一个决心将自己的意志强加于欧洲的国王。在南部，西班牙仍在劳民伤财地为恢复对葡萄牙的控制而作徒劳的努力。海峡对岸，查理三世的复辟王朝正竭力在国内站稳脚跟。在英国的贸易禁脔内，荷兰人正垂涎欲滴。北方刚刚结束的一场大战使得丹麦和瑞典大为削弱。在德国，新教王公们对哈布斯堡王朝任何改善其地位的新企图都持怀疑态度。维也纳的帝国政府被匈牙利和特兰西瓦尼亚以及稍后的奥斯曼帝国的复兴弄得焦头烂额。波兰则为防范瑞典和俄国的掠夺者而日渐衰落。这样，继承黎塞留最好传统的法国外交，就可以轻易地利用这种环境，它挑动葡萄牙人去反对西班牙人，挑动马扎尔人、土耳其人和德国的王公们去反对奥地利，并挑动英国人反对荷兰人，而同瑞士各州签订的1663年重要条约则加强了法国自己的地理（和招募军队的）地位。所有这一切给了路易十四充足的时间以确立其绝对君主的地位，摆脱在上一世纪困扰法国政府的国内动乱。更重要的是，这一切给了柯尔培尔、勒泰利埃等国王重臣一个彻底整饬行政机构的绝好机会，他们为替太阳王取得荣耀而将财力大量用于陆军和海军。
It was therefore all too easy for Louis to try to “round off” the borders of France in the early stages of his reign, the more especially since Anglo-Dutch relations had deteriorated into open hostilities by 1665 (the Second Anglo-Dutch War). Although France was pledged to support the United Provinces, it actually played little part in the campaigns at sea and instead prepared itself for an invasion of the southern Netherlands, which were still owned by a weakened Spain. When the French finally launched their invasion, in May 1667, town after town quickly fell into their hands. What then followed was an early example of the rapid diplomatic shifts of this period. The English and the Dutch, wearying of their mutually unprofitable war and fearing French ambitions, made peace at Breda in July and, joined by Sweden, sought to “mediate” in the Franco-Spanish dispute in order to limit Louis’s gains. The 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle achieved just that, but at the cost of infuriating the French king, who eventually made up his mind to be revenged upon the United Provinces, which he perceived to be the chief obstacle to his ambitions. For the next few years, while Colbert waged his tariff war against the Dutch, the French army and navy were further built up. Secret diplomacy seduced England and Sweden from their alliance with the United Provinces and quieted the fears of the Austrians and the German states. By 1672 the French war machine, aided by the English at sea, was ready to strike.
因此，路易十四在其统治初期试图“修补”法国疆界就变得轻而易举，尤其是到1665年英荷关系恶化并演变成公开冲突时（第二次英荷战争）。虽然法国信誓旦旦地保证支持联合省，实际上它在海战中的作用微乎其微，这时它却腾出手来准备入侵仍虚弱不堪的西班牙手中的南尼德兰。当法国于1667年5月最终挥兵入侵时，一个又一个的城市迅速落入它的手中。紧接着发生的事情，是这一时期外交关系迅速变化的一个典型。英荷两国被双方都无利可图的战争弄得精疲力竭，并担心法国的勃勃野心，便于7月在布列达签订和约。同时为了限制路易十四获得太多好处，在瑞典参与下，英荷竭力对法西争端进行“调停”。1668年的《亚琛和约》恰好达到这一目的，但其代价却是激怒法国国王。路易十四决定报复他认定的实现其雄心壮志的主要障碍——联合省。在随后几年中，当柯尔培尔对荷兰进行关税战时，法国的陆军和海军都在秣马厉兵。法国的秘密外交离间了英国和瑞典同联合省的联盟，安抚了奥地利和各德意志国家。到1672年，法国的战争机器由于有了英国人在海上助一臂之力，已做好了战斗准备。
Although it was London which first declared war upon the United Provinces, the dismal English effort in the third Anglo-Dutch conflict of 1672–1674 requires minimal space here. Checked by the brilliant efforts of de Ruyter at sea, and therefore unable to achieve anything on land, Charles II’s government came under increasing domestic criticism: evidence of political duplicity and financial mismanagement, and a strong dislike of being allied to an autocratic, Catholic power like France, made the war unpopular and forced the government to pull out of it by 1674. In retrospect, it is a reminder of how immature and uncertain the political, financial, and administrative bases of English power still were under the later Stuarts. 46 London’s change of policy was of international importance, however, in that it partly reflected the widespread alarm which Louis XIV’s designs were now arousing throughout Europe. Within another year, Dutch diplomacy and subsidies found many allies willing to throw their weight against the French. German principalities, Brandenburg (which defeated France’s only remaining partner, Sweden, at Fehrbellin in 1675), Denmark, Spain, and the Habsburg Empire all entered the issue. It was not that this coalition of states was strong enough to overwhelm France; most of them had smallish armies, and distractions on their own flanks; and the core of the anti-French alliance remained the United Provinces under their new leader, William of Orange. But the watery barrier in the north and the vulnerability of the French army’s lines against various foes in the Rhineland meant that Louis himself could make no dramatic gains. A similar sort of stalemate existed at sea; the French navy controlled the Mediterranean, Dutch and Danish fleets held the Baltic, and neither side could prevail in the West Indies. Both French and Dutch commerce were badly affected in this war, to the indirect benefit of neutrals like the British. By 1678, in fact, the Amsterdam merchant classes had pushed their own government into a separate peace with France, which in turn meant that the German states (reliant upon Dutch subsidies) could not continue to fight on their own.
尽管是伦敦最先向联合省宣战，但是英国在1672—1674年第三次英荷战争中表现消沉，在此毋须赘述。当在海上遇到多谋善断的德·吕泰尔而遭挫折，无法在陆上有任何作为的时候，查理二世的政府遇到了国内越来越多的批评：政治腐败，财政混乱，人们对于同一个像法国这样的寡头政治的天主教国家结盟极为反感。这些都使这场战争不得人心，并迫使政府在1674年退出战争。回过头来看，它说明英国在斯图亚特王朝最后几个国王统治时，其政治、财政和行政管理是多么不成熟和不稳定。然而，伦敦政府的改弦更张具有国际意义，它部分地反映出路易十四的野心在全欧洲引起广泛不安。在下一场战争期间，荷兰的外交和津贴就争取到了许多愿意把力量投入同法国作战的同盟国家。德意志的大小公国、勃兰登堡（于1675年在费尔柏林击败了法国仅剩的一个盟国瑞典）、丹麦、西班牙和哈布斯堡帝国都卷入反对法国的战争。这个国家联盟尚未强大到足以制服法国的地步，它们中的绝大多数仅有很少的陆军，其侧翼受到牵制，而且这个反法联盟的核心仍然是在其新领袖奥伦治的威廉统辖下的联合省。但是，北部有河道障碍，法军在莱茵兰的战线易受攻击，而自己又面对各种敌人，这一切使得路易自己不可能有太大的作为。在海上，存在着同样的僵持局面。法国的海军控制着地中海，荷兰和丹麦的舰队统辖着波罗的海，双方都无法在西印度群岛上占压倒优势。在这场战争中，法国和荷兰的对外贸易损失惨重，像英国那样的中立国便趁机渔利。实际上，到1678年时，阿姆斯特丹的商人阶层催促政府同法国单独讲和，其必然结果是，德意志国家（依靠荷兰的资助）不可能靠自己的力量把战争继续下去。
Although the Nymegen peace treaties of 1678–1679 brought the open fighting to an end, Louis XIV’s evident desire to round off France’s northern borders, his claim to be “the arbiter of Europe,” and the alarming fact that he was maintaining an army of 200,000 troops in peacetime disquieted Germans, Dutchmen, Spaniards, and Englishmen alike. 47 This did not mean an immediate return to war. The Dutch merchants preferred to trade in peace; the German princes, like Charles II of England, were tied to Paris by subsidies; and the Habsburg Empire was engaged in a desperate struggle with the Turks. When Spain endeavored to protect its Luxembourg territories from France in 1683, therefore, it had to fight alone and suffer inevitable defeat.
尽管1678—1679年签订的《尼曼根条约》结束了公开冲突，但是路易十四扩展法国北部疆界的明显意图——他充当“欧洲仲裁人”的要求，以及他在和平时期保持一支20万大军这一令人惊恐的事实，使德国人、荷兰人、西班牙人和英国人都坐卧不安。这并非意味着立即重新开战。荷兰的商人宁肯在和平环境中进行贸易，德意志的王公们像英格兰的查理二世一样都被巴黎的资助拴住了，而哈布斯堡帝国则在全力以赴地对付土耳其人。因此，当1683年西班牙竭力保卫其卢森堡领土免遭法国强占时，它只能孤军作战，不免一败。
From 1685, however, things began to swing against France. The persecution of the Huguenots shocked Protestant Europe. Within another two years, the Turks had been soundly defeated and driven away from Vienna; and the Emperor Leopold, with enhanced prestige and military strength, could at last turn some of his attention to the west. By September 1688, a now-nervous French king decided to invade Germany, finally turning this European “cold” war into a hot one. Not only did France’s action provoke its continental rivals into declaring hostilities, it also gave William of Orange the opportunity to slip across the Channel and replace the discredited James II on the English throne.
然而，从1685年起，情况的变化开始不利于法国。法国镇压胡格诺教派震惊了新教徒的欧洲。在以后两年之内，土耳其人被打得落花流水，逃出维也纳。此时的利奥波德皇帝随着声望的提高和军力的强盛，终于可以把他的部分注意力转到西方。至1688年9月，焦躁不安的法国国王决定进攻德国，终将这场欧洲的“冷战”变为“热战”。法国的举动不仅激起大陆上的对手向它宣战，而且还使奥伦治的威廉趁机溜过英吉利海峡，取代声誉扫地的詹姆斯二世，登上英国王位。
By the end of 1689, therefore, France stood alone against the United Provinces, England, the Habsburg Empire, Spain, Savoy, and the major German states. 48 This was not as alarming a combination as it seemed, and the “hard core” of the Grand Alliance really consisted of the Anglo-Dutch forces and the German states. Although a disparate grouping in certain respects, they possessed sufficient determination, financial resources, armies, and fleets to balance the Sun King’s France. Ten years earlier, Louis might possibly have prevailed, but French finances and trade were now much less satisfactory after Colbert’s death, and neither the army nor the navy —although numerically daunting—was equipped for sustained and distant fighting. A swift defeat of one of the major allies could break the deadlock, but where should that thrust be directed, and had Louis the will to order bold measures? For three years he dithered; and when in 1692 he finally assembled an invasion force of 24,000 troops to dispatch across the Channel, the “maritime powers” were simply too strong, smashing up the French warships and barges at Barfleur-La Hogue. 49
因此，到1689年度，法国孤军同联合省、德意志、英格兰、哈布斯堡帝国、西班牙、萨伏依以及主要的德意志国家作战。这个联盟并非像它看上去那样令人不安。大同盟的核心实际是由英荷联军和德意志国家组成的。尽管在某些方面这是一个铤而走险的集团，但它们拥有足够的决心、财源、陆军和战舰同太阳王的法国抗衡。10年以前，路易十四或许能够取胜，但在柯尔培尔死后，法国的财政和贸易已不尽如人意，而且不论是陆军还是海军，虽然在数量上占有压倒优势，但其装备都不足以进行一场持久和远距离的战争。迅速打败一个主要同盟国家也许会打破僵局。但突破口又该选在哪儿呢？路易有没有采取破釜沉舟行动的勇气呢？在3年时间里，路易都举棋不定。1692年，当他终于聚集一支2.4万人的入侵大军横渡英吉利海峡时，“海上大国”简直是太强大了，它们在巴尔弗勒尔-拉豪格一举粉碎了法国战舰和驳船。
From 1692 onward, the conflict at sea became a slow, grinding, mutually ruinous war against trade. Adopting a commerce-raiding strategy, the French government encouraged its privateers to prey upon Anglo-Dutch shipping while it reduced its own allocations to the battle fleet. The allied navies, for their part, endeavored to increase the pressures on the French economy by instituting a commercial blockade, thus abandoning the Dutch habit of trading with the enemy. Neither measure brought the opponent to his knees; each increased the economic burdens of the war, making it unpopular with merchants as well as peasants, who were already suffering from a succession of poor harvests. The land campaigns were also expensive, slow struggles against fortresses and across waterways: Vauban’s fortifications made France virtually impregnable, but the same sort of obstacles prevented an easy French advance into Holland or the Palatinate. With each side maintaining over 250,000 men in the field, the costs were horrendous, even to these rich countries. 50 While there were also extra-European campaigns (West Indies, Newfoundland, Acadia, Pondicherry), none was of sufficient importance to swing the basic continental or maritime balance. Thus by 1696, with Tory squires and Amsterdam burghers complaining about excessive taxes, and with France afflicted by famine, both William and Louis had cause enough to compromise.
自1692年起，海上冲突对双方都变成了一场针对贸易的、折磨人的破坏性战争。法国政府采取了一种袭扰贸易的战略，鼓励其私掠船掠夺英国和荷兰的商船，同时它自己减少了给海军战舰的拨款。同盟国海军方面则竭力对法国的贸易进行封锁，增加对法国的经济压力，这样就使荷兰人放弃了同敌国贸易的习惯做法。双方的措施都未能使对方屈服，却都增加了战争的经济负担，致使这场战争在商人和已连遭几年歉收的农民中间十分不得人心。陆上战役同样耗费巨大，争夺要塞和渡河的战斗进展缓慢：沃邦的要塞使法国实际上固若金汤，同样的障碍也使法国难以轻而易举地挺进荷兰或巴列丁奈特。由于双方在战场上都保持着一支超过25万人的大军，即使对富裕国家来说，其开销也是可观的。虽然在欧洲以外也进行了战斗（西印度群岛、纽芬兰、阿卡迪亚、印度的本地治里），但这些战斗的意义都不足以扭转欧洲大陆及海上的基本均势。这样，到1696年，托利党的乡绅们和阿姆斯特丹的市民都对苛捐杂税怨声载道，而法国则受饥荒的困扰。这样，威廉和路易都有充分的理由达成妥协。
In consequence, the Treaty of Ryswick (1697), while allowing Louis some of his earlier border gains, saw a general return to the prewar status quo. Nonetheless, the results of the Nine Years War of 1689–1697 were not as insignificant as contemporary critics alleged. French ambitions had certainly been blunted on land, and its naval power eroded at sea. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 had been upheld, and England had secured its Irish flank, strengthened its financial institutions, and rebuilt its army and navy. And an Anglo-Dutch-German tradition of keeping France out of Flanders and the Rhineland was established. Albeit at great cost, the political plurality of Europe had been reasserted.
结果，《里斯维克条约》（1697年）虽然允许路易保留早先夺取的一些边境领土，但总的来说是恢复了原状。虽然如此，1689—1697年的“九年战争”的结果并非像当代批评家所说的那样无足轻重。法国的野心显然在大陆上受挫，其海上实力也削弱了。1688年光荣革命的成果得到了巩固，英格兰确保了它在爱尔兰的侧翼，强化了它的财政制度，重建了陆军和海军。同时，英国、荷兰和德意志不让法国进入佛兰德和莱茵兰的传统形成了。这一切的代价尽管巨大，但欧洲的多极政治体系再次被肯定下来。
Given the war-weary mood in most capitals, a renewal of the conflict scarcely seemed possible. However, when Louis’s grandson was offered the succession to the Spanish throne in 1700, the Sun King saw in this an ideal opportunity to enhance France’s power. Instead of compromising with his potential rivals, he swiftly occupied the southern Netherlands on his grandson’s behalf, and also secured exclusive commercial concessions for French traders in Spain’s large empire in the western hemisphere. By these and various other provocations, he alarmed the British and Dutch sufficiently to cause them to join Austria in 1701 in another coalition struggle to check Louis’s ambitions: the War of the Spanish Succession.
在厌战情绪笼罩着欧洲大多数首都的情况下，重新燃起战火几乎是不太可能的。但是，1700年当西班牙王位继承权给了路易十四的孙子时，太阳王把这看成是加强法国实力的理想机会。他不与潜在的敌人妥协，而以他孙子的名义迅速占领了南尼德兰，并在西半球西班牙的广大帝国内为法国商人争得了贸易专卖特许权。路易十四的种种挑衅行为，使英国和荷兰极为震惊，促使他们为扼制路易的野心于1701年同奥地利一起进行了另一场同盟战争，这就是西班牙王位继承战。
Once again, the general balance of forces and taxable resources suggested that each alliance could seriously hurt, but not overwhelm, the other. 51 In some respects, Louis was in a stronger position than in the 1689–1697 war. The Spaniards readily took to his grandson, now their Philip V, and the “Bourbon powers” could work together in many theaters; French finances certainly benefited from the import of Spanish silver. Moreover, France had been geared up militarily—to the level, at one period, of supporting nearly half a million troops. However, the Austrians, less troubled on their Balkan flank, were playing a greater role in this war than they had in the previous one. Most important of all, a determined British government was to commit its considerable national resources, in the form of hefty subsidies to German allies, an overpowering fleet, and, unusually, a large-scale continental army under the brilliant Marlborough. The latter, with between 40,000 and 70,000 British and mercenary troops, could join an excellent Dutch army of over 100,000 men and a Habsburg army of a similar size to frustrate Louis’s attempt to impose his wishes upon Europe.
同上次战争一样，在这场战争中两大集团的军事力量和财政资源大致势均力敌，这再一次说明：一方可以重创另一方，但无法制服对方。从某些方面看，与1689—1697年战争相比，路易在这场战争中的地位要稳固一些。西班牙人欣然同意作路易十四的孙子——现在他们的费利浦五世的臣民。这样一来，两个“波旁国家”就可以在许多战场上携手合作了。从西班牙进口白银就肯定使法国财政受益不浅。此外，法国还全力加强它的战争机器，有一个时期，它的军队达50万人之多。而减轻了巴尔干侧翼忧患的奥地利人，在这次战争中发挥了比上次战争大得多的作用。最重要的是，果断的英国政府将大量国民资源投入这场战争。它以大量金钱资助德意志同盟国，保持着一支压倒敌人的舰队，还非同寻常地派遣了一支在天才统帅马尔伯勒率领下的庞大的陆军远征军。这支远征军由4万到7万英国人和雇佣兵组成，联合超过10万人且英勇善战的荷兰军队，以及同等规模的哈布斯堡大军，以挫败路易十四将其意志强加给欧洲的企图。
This did not mean, however, that the Grand Alliance could impose its wishes upon France, or, for that matter, upon Spain. Outside those two kingdoms, it is true, events turned steadily in favor of the allies. Marlborough’s decisive victory at Blenheim (1704) severely hurt the Franco-Bavarian armies and freed Austria from a French invasion threat. The later battle of Ramillies (1706) gave the Anglo-Dutch forces most of the southern Netherlands, and that at Oudenarde (1708) brutally stopped the French effort to regain ground there. 52
然而，这并不等于说大同盟可以使法国或西班牙俯首帖耳。在这两个王国疆域之外，战局的确有利于盟国。马尔伯勒公爵在布伦亨的大捷（1704年）重创了法国-巴伐利亚联军，使奥地利摆脱了法国入侵的威胁。稍后的拉米耶战役（1706年）使英国-荷兰联军占领了南尼德兰的大部，而在欧德纳尔德之役（1708年）英荷联军则无情地制止了法军收复南尼德兰的努力。
At sea, with no enemy main fleet to deal with after the inconclusive battle of Malaga (1704), the Royal Navy and its declining Dutch equivalent could demonstrate the flexibility of superior naval power. The new ally, Portugal, could be sustained from the sea, while Lisbon in turn provided a forward fleet base and Brazil a source of gold. Troops could be dispatched to the western hemisphere to attack French possessions in the West Indies and North America, and raiding squadrons could hunt for Spanish bullion fleets. The seizure of Gibraltar not only gave the Royal Navy a base controlling the exit from that sea, but divided the Franco-Spanish bases—and fleets. British fleets ensured the capture of Minorca and Sardinia; they covered Savoy and the Italian coasts from French attack; and when the allies went onto the offensive, they shepherded and supplied the imperial armies’ invasion of Spain and supported the assault upon Toulon. 53
在海上，自从非决定性的马拉加之役（1704年）之后，皇家海军和日趋衰落的荷兰海军已经找不到可与之作战的敌主力舰队了。它们充分显示了优势海军力量的机动性。新的盟国葡萄牙从海上得到了支援。同时，里斯本又为英荷舰队提供了一个海军基地，而巴西则提供了黄金。盟国可以派遣军队远征西半球，进攻法国在西印度群岛和北美的领地，海军的突击分舰队则可以追捕西班牙运送金银的船队。占领直布罗陀，不仅使皇家海军占据了控制地中海到大西洋出海口的基地，还分割了西班牙-法国的舰队和海军基地。英国舰队确保了对米诺卡岛和撒丁岛的强占，保护了萨伏依和意大利海岸免遭法国的袭击。当盟国转入进攻时，英国舰队则为入侵西班牙的大军提供保护和支援，并为进攻土伦提供支持。
This general Allied maritime superiority could not, however, prevent a resumption of French commerce-raiding, and by 1708 the Royal Navy had been forced to institute a convoying system in order to limit the losses to the merchant marine. And just as British frigates could not keep French privateers from slipping in and out of Dunkirk or the Gironde, so also were they unable to effect a commercial blockade, for that would have meant patrolling the entire Franco-Spanish coastline; even the seizure of corn ships off French ports during the dreadful winter of 1709 could not bring Louis’s largely self-sufficient empire to its knees.
可是，盟国海军的这种总体优势并不能阻止法国重新进行商业袭扰。1708年皇家海军被迫建立护航制度，以减少商船损失。正像英国的护卫舰无法阻止法国私掠船偷偷进出敦刻尔克和吉伦特一样，它们也无法建立有效的贸易封锁，因为那将意味着对整个法国和西班牙海岸线进行巡逻。尽管在1709年那个可怕的冬天，英国海军在法国港口外捕获了大量法国运粮船，也未能使路易十四基本上自给自足的帝国屈服。
This allied capacity to wound but not kill was even more evident in the military campaigns against France and Spain. By 1709 the allied invasion army was falling back from a brief occupation of Madrid, unable to hold the country in the face of increasing Spanish assault. In northern France, the Anglo-Dutch armies found no further opportunity for victories like Blenheim; instead, the war was grinding, bloody, and expensive. Moreover, by 1710 a Tory ministry had come into office at Westminster, eager for a peace which secured Britain’s maritime and imperial interests and reduced its expenses in a continental war. Finally, the Archduke Charles, who had been the allies’ candidate for the Spanish throne, unexpectedly succeeded as emperor, and thus caused his partners to lose any remaining enthusiasm for placing him in control of Spain as well. With Britain’s unilateral defection from the war in early 1712, followed later by that of the Dutch, even the Emperor Charles, so eager to be “Carlos III” of Spain, accepted the need for peace after another fruitless year of campaigning.
同盟国这支只能伤敌、不能毙敌的联合力量的弱点，在同法国和西班牙的陆军作战时，暴露得更加明显。到1709年时，同盟国的入侵大军面对西班牙越来越猛烈的进攻，已无法守住所占领土，只得在短暂地占领马德里之后撤退。
The peace terms which brought the War of the Spanish Succession to an end were fixed in the treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastadt (1714). Considering the settlement as a whole, there was no doubt that the great beneficiary was Britain. 54 Although it had gained Gibraltar, Minorca, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Hudson Bay and trade concessions in the Spanish New World, it did not ignore the European balance. Indeed, the complex of eleven separate treaties which made up the settlement of 1713–1714 produced a satisfying, sophisticated reinforcement of the equilibrium. The French and the Spanish kingdoms were to remain forever separated, whereas the Protestant Succession in Britain was formally recognized. The Habsburg Empire, having failed in Spain, was given the southern Netherlands and Milan (thus building in further checks to France), plus Naples and Sardinia. Dutch independence had been preserved, but the United Provinces were no longer such a formidable naval and commercial power and were now compelled to devote the greater part of their energies to garrisoning their southern borders. Above all, Louis XIV had been finally and decisively checked in his dynastic and territorial ambitions, and the French nation had been chastened by the horrific costs of war, which had, among other consequences, increased total government debts sevenfold. The balance of power was secure on land, while at sea Britain was unchallenged. Small wonder that the Whigs, who returned to office on George I’s accession in 1714, were soon anxious to preserve the Utrecht settlement and were even willing to embrace a French entente once their archenemy Louis died in the following year.
结束西班牙王位继承战的和约条款载入了《乌特勒支和约》（1713年）和《拉施达特和约》（1714年）。总体来看，和约中的最大受益人毫无疑问是英国。尽管英国取得了直布罗陀、米诺卡、新斯科舍、纽芬兰、哈得逊湾以及西属新大陆的贸易特许权，它仍未忽视在欧洲的均势。实际上，由11个单独条约的体系组成的1713—1714年的和解办法，令人满意而又巧妙地巩固了欧洲的均势。法兰西与西班牙王国永远分裂，而英国新教徒的王位继承权得到正式承认。在西班牙遭受失败的哈布斯堡帝国得到南尼德兰和米兰（这样一来便加强了对法国的遏制），外加那不勒斯和撒丁。荷兰保住了独立地位，但联合省再也不是一个强大的海军和贸易大国了，它被迫投入大部分力量守卫其南部边境。最重要的是，路易十四扩展其王朝和疆土的野心最终被彻底遏制。法兰西民族也因可怕的战争消耗而受到惩罚，其结果之一是，政府债务总额增长7倍。在欧洲大陆，和约保证了大国之间的实力均势，而在海上，英国获得了主宰权。1714年，乔治登基后，重新掌权的辉格党人便急于维护《乌特勒支和约》，并且在第二年不共戴天的敌人路易十四死后，居然愿意同法国结盟，这一切都是毫不奇怪的。
The redistribution of power among the western European states which had occurred in this half-century of war was less dramatic than the changes which took place in the east. The borders there were more fluid than in the west, and enormous tracts of land were controlled by marcher lords, Croatian irregulars, and Cossack hosts rather than by the professional armies of an enlightened monarch. Even when the nation-states went to war against each other, their campaigning would frequently be over great distances and involve the use of irregular troops, hussars, and so on in order to implement some grand strategical stroke. Unlike the campaigning in the Low Countries, success or failure here brought with it tremendous transfers of land, and thus emphasized the more spectacular rises and falls among the Powers. For example, these few decades alone saw the Turks pose their final large-scale military threat to Vienna, but then suffer swift defeat and decline. The remarkable initial response by Austrian, German, and Polish forces not only rescued the imperial city from a Turkish investing army in 1683 but also led to much more extensive campaigning by an enlarged Holy League. 55 After a great battle near Homacs (1687), Turkish power in the Hungarian plain was destroyed forever; if the lines then stabilized because of repeated calls upon German and Habsburg troops against France during the 1689–1697 War, the further defeats of the Turkish army at Zalankemen (1691) and Zenta (1697) confirmed the trend. Provided it could concentrate its resources on the Balkan front and possessed generals of the caliber of Prince Eugene, the Habsburg Empire could now more than hold its own against the Turks. While it could not organize its heterogeneous lands as efficiently as the western monarchies, nonetheless its future as one of the European great states was assured.
在这场半个世纪的战争中发生的西欧列国中实力的再分配，没有东部发生的变化那样富有戏剧性。东欧国家的边界比西方更加变化不定。大量的领土不是控制在一个开明君主的正规军手里，而是掌握在边境贵族、克罗地亚的非正规军以及哥萨克军队手中。当东欧的民族国家彼此交战的时候，它们常常是在很远的距离作战，并且为了实行某种重大战略打击的需要，它们还使用非正规军、轻骑兵等等。与在低地国家进行的战争不一样，这里战争的胜败会造成土地的大规模转移，这一点更加剧了列强中一些国家的崛起和另一些国家的衰亡。例如，仅在这几十年中，土耳其人曾最后一次给维也纳造成大规模的军事威胁，但随即他们又遭受失败并衰落下去。奥地利、德意志和波兰军队最新的强有力反击不仅于1683年从土耳其围城军队手中拯救了这座帝国城市，而且也导致扩大的神圣同盟进行范围更大的战斗。在摩哈赤附近的大战（1687年）之后，土耳其在匈牙利平原的力量被彻底摧毁了。如果德意志和哈布斯堡的军队因为在1689—1697年期间多次应召对法国作战而使战线巩固下来了的话，那么以后在萨拉姆开门（1691年）和孙托（1697年）再败土耳其人，更巩固了这种趋势。只要奥地利能够将其全部力量集中于巴尔干战线并有欧根亲王那样能干的将领，哈布斯堡帝国现在就可以稳固地抵挡土耳其人了。虽然哈布斯堡王室还不能像西欧的君主那样有效地治理其多民族的国家，然而它作为未来欧洲大国之一的地位已经确立。
Measured by that criterion, Sweden was far less lucky. Once the young Charles XII came to the Swedish throne in 1697, the predatory instincts of the neighboring states were aroused; Denmark, Poland, and Russia each desired parts of Sweden’s exposed Baltic empire and agreed in autumn 1699 to combine against it. Yet when the fighting commenced, Sweden’s apparent vulnerability was at first more than compensated for by its own very considerable army, a monarch of great military brilliance, and Anglo-Dutch naval support. A combination of all three factors allowed Charles to threaten Copenhagen and force the Danes out of the war by August 1700, following which he transported his army across the Baltic and routed the Russians in a stunning victory at Narva three months later. Having savored the heady joys of battle and conquest, Charles then spent the following years overrunning Poland and moving into Saxony.
用这种标准来衡量，瑞典就不那么幸运了。年轻的查理十二在1697年刚一登上瑞典王位，邻国的掠夺本性便抬起头来。丹麦、波兰和俄国都对它们面前这个波罗的海帝国瑞典的某些部分垂涎三尺。它们于1699年秋天商定，联合起来共同反对瑞典。然而，战争一开始，瑞典的强大军队、国王的军事才能以及英荷海军的支援，弥补了它力量上的明显不足。这3个因素合起来曾使查理一度给哥本哈根造成威胁，并于1700年8月迫使丹麦人退出战争。随后，他把其军队运过波罗的海，在3个月之后取得纳尔瓦大捷，大败俄国人。查理在体验了令人陶醉的战斗与征服的喜悦后，他把随后的几年用于征服波兰，并向萨克森推进。
With the wisdom of retrospect, historians have suggested that Charles XII’s unwise concentration upon Poland and Saxony turned his gaze from the reforms which Peter the Great was forcing upon Russia after the defeat at Narva. 56 Aided by numerous foreign advisers and willing to borrow widely from the military expertise of the west, Peter built up a massive army and navy in the same energetic way in which he created St. Petersburg from the swamps. By the time Charles with a force of 40,000 troops turned to deal with Peter in 1708, it was probably already too late. Although the Swedish army generally performed better in battle, it suffered considerable losses, was never able to crush the main Russian army, and was hampered by inadequate logistics—such difficulties intensifying as Charles’s force moved south into the Ukraine and endured the bitter winter of 1708–1709. When the great battle finally occurred, at Poltava in July 1709, the Russian army was vastly superior in numbers and in good defensive positions. Not only did this encounter wipe out the Swedish force, but Charles’s subsequent flight into Turkish territory and lengthy exile there gave Sweden’s foes nearer home their opportunity. By the time Charles finally returned to Sweden, in December 1715, all his trans- Baltic possessions had gone and parts of Finland were in Russian hands.
善于回顾过去的历史学家认定查理十二将其注意力集中到波兰和萨克森是不明智的，因为这使他的注意力离开了彼得大帝纳尔瓦战败后在俄国强制推行的改革。在众多的外国顾问辅助下，彼得大帝极力广泛借鉴西方的军事技术，他以其在泥沼中修建圣彼得堡的同样魄力，组建了一支庞大的陆军和海军。当查理于1708年统率一支4万人的大军掉过头来对付彼得的时候，也许已经为时太晚。虽然总的说来瑞典士兵在战斗中打得很出色，但瑞典军队仍旧损失惨重，永远也无法摧毁俄国的陆军主力，而且落后的后勤保障还绊住了它的手脚。当查理挥师南进乌克兰并在那里度过1708—1709年的严冬时，这种困难就更加严重了。1709年7月，当大战役在波尔塔瓦爆发的时候，俄国军队在人员数量和所处的防守阵地上都占了很大优势。这场大战不仅使瑞典军队全军覆没，而且当查理只身逃至土耳其并在那里长期流亡时，瑞典家门口的敌人获得了千载难逢的良机。1715年12月，当查理最后回到瑞典时，他在波罗的海沿岸的领土已丧失殆尽，芬兰的一部分已落到俄国手中.
After further years of fighting (in which Charles XII was killed in yet another clash with the Danes in 1718), an exhausted, isolated Sweden finally had to admit to the loss of most of its Baltic provinces in the 1721 Peace of Nystad. It had now fallen to the second order of the powers, while Russia was in the first. Appropriately enough, to mark the 1721 victory over Sweden, Peter assumed the title Imperator. Despite the later decline of the czarist fleet, despite the great backwardness of the country, Russia had clearly shown that it, like France and Britain, “had the strength to act independently as a great power without depending on outside support. ”57 In the east as in the west of Europe there was now, in Dehio’s phrase, a “counterweight to a concentration at the center. ”58
又经过数年征战（查理十二在1718年同丹麦人的一场战争中阵亡），瑞典筋疲力尽，孤立无援，只好在1721年签订的《尼斯塔特和约》中承认失去其在波罗的海的大部分省份。这时的瑞典已降为二等国家，而俄国则上升为一流大国。彼得为纪念1721年对瑞典的胜利而自称皇帝，这是非常自然的事。尽管沙皇的舰队在以后衰落了，而且国家也极端落后，但它明确地显示出，它像法国和英国一样，“有能力在不依靠外援的情况下，作为一个大国独立地发挥作用”。用狄西欧的话来说，在欧洲的东部和在西部一样，现在出现了一个“同欧洲心脏的集中力量相抗衡的力量”。
This general balance of political, military, and economic force in Europe was underwritten by an Anglo-French détente lasting nearly two decades after 1715. 59 France in particular needed to recuperate after a war which had dreadfully hurt its foreign commerce and so increased the state’s debt that the interest payments on it alone equaled the normal revenue. Furthermore, the monarchies in London and Paris, not a little fearful of their own succession, frowned upon any attempts to upset the status quo and found it mutually profitable to cooperate on many issues. 60 In 1719, for example, both powers were using force to prevent Spain from pursuing an expansionist policy in Italy. By the 1730s, however, the pattern of international relations was again changing. By this stage, the French themselves were less enthusiastic about the British link and were instead looking to recover their old position as the leading nation of Europe. The succession in France was now secure, and the years of peace had aided prosperity—and also led to a large expansion in overseas trade, challenging the maritime powers. While France under its minister Fleury rapidly improved its relations with Spain and expanded its diplomatic activities in eastern Europe, Britain under the cautious and isolationist Walpole was endeavoring to keep out of continental affairs. Even a French attack upon the Austrian possessions of Lorraine and Milan in 1733, and a French move into the Rhineland, failed to provoke a British reaction. Unable to obtain any support from the isolationist Walpole and the frightened Dutch, Vienna was forced to negotiate with Paris for the compromise peace of 1738. Bolstered by military and diplomatic successes in western Europe, by the alliance of Spain, the deference of the United Provinces, and the increasing compliance of Sweden and even Austria, France now enjoyed a prestige unequaled since the early decades of Louis XIV. This was made even more evident in the following year, when French diplomacy negotiated an end to an Austro-Russian war against the Ottoman Empire (1735–1739), thereby returning to Turkish possession many of the territories seized by the two eastern monarchies.
1715年后英法之间持续了近20年的缓和保证了欧洲政治、军事和经济力量的这种总体均势。在一场使其对外贸易大伤元气并使国债大为增长（仅支付债款利息的数额就相当于国家的常年收入）的战争以后，法国特别需要喘息一下。此外，伦敦和巴黎的君主政体在其王位继承问题上忧心忡忡，它们对任何改变现状的企图都极其不悦，并且发现在许多问题上两国携手合作对双方都是有利的。例如，1719年，两国共同动用武力阻止西班牙在意大利推进扩张政策。然而，到18世纪30年代，国际关系的模式再次发生了变化。在这一阶段，法国人对同英国人的联系已不再那么热情，相反，他们试图恢复其昔日欧洲主要大国的地位。如今，法国的王位继承问题已得到解决，和平岁月促进了法国的繁荣，并使其海外贸易大为发展，从而向海上强国发出挑战。当法国在其首相弗勒里领导下迅速改善同西班牙的关系并将外交活动扩展到东欧的时候，英国正在谨慎的孤立主义者渥尔波尔的领导下，竭力置身于欧洲大陆的事务之外。甚至当法国1733年进攻奥属洛林和米兰，进入莱茵兰时，英国都没有作出任何反应。由于得不到奉行孤立政策的渥尔波尔和惊慌失措的荷兰人的任何援助，维也纳被迫与巴黎谈判，并于1738年同巴黎签订妥协性的和平条约。有了在西欧取得的军事和外交胜利，有法西联盟的支持，加上联合省对法国心存畏惧，以及瑞典甚至奥地利对法国言听计从，法国现在的声望达到了路易十四早期以来的顶点。次年，当法国外交当局通过谈判促成俄奥对奥斯曼帝国战争（1735—1739年）的结束，从而使这两个东方君主国将夺取的领土归还土耳其的时候，法国的声望更是如日中天。
While the British under Walpole had tended to ignore these events within Europe, commercial interests and opposition politicians were much more concerned at the rising number of clashes with France’s ally, Spain, in the western hemisphere. There the rich colonial trades and conflicting settler expansionisms offered ample materials for a quarrel. 61 The resultant Anglo-Spanish war, which Walpole reluctantly agreed to in October 1739, might merely have remained one of that series of smaller regional conflicts fought between those two countries in the eighteenth century but for France’s decision to give all sorts of aid to Spain, especially “beyond the line” in the Caribbean. Compared with the 1702–1713 War of the Spanish Succession, the Bourbon powers were in a far better position to compete overseas, particularly since neither Britain’s army nor its navy was equipped to carry out the conquest of Spanish colonies so favored by the pundits at home.
在渥尔波尔领导下的英国政府无视发生在欧洲的这些事件，但商业利益集团和政治上的反对派，则越来越关心英国在西半球利润丰厚的殖民地贸易和互相冲突的殖民者的扩张，为一场争端提供了丰富的材料。1739年10月，渥尔波尔内阁勉强同意和西班牙开战，作为结果而发生的英西战争，如果没有法国决定给予西班牙各种形式的援助，特别是在加勒比海“界线以外”的援助，可能仅仅会是英国和西班牙之间在18世纪进行的一系列地区性战争之一。同1702—1713年西班牙王位继承战相比，波旁政权同英国在海上竞争的地位得到极大的改善，特别是由于英国的陆军和海军装备很不完备，不能像国内许多权威人士期望的那样，去征服西班牙殖民地。
The death of the Emperor Charles VI, followed by Maria Theresa’s succession and then by Frederick the Great’s decision to take advantage of this by seizing Silesia in the winter of 1740–1741, quite transformed the situation and turned attention back to the continent. Unable to contain themselves, anti-Austrian circles in France fully supported Prussia and Bavaria in their assaults upon the Habsburg inheritance. But this in turn led to a renewal of the old Anglo-Austrian alliance, bringing substantial subsidies to the beleaguered Maria Theresa. By offering payments, by meditating to take Prussia (temporarily) and Saxony out of the war, and by the military action at Dettingen in 1743, the British government brought relief to Austria, protected Hanover, and removed French influence from Germany. As the Anglo-French antagonism turned into formal hostilities in 1744, the conflict intensified. The French army pushed northward, through the border fortresses of the Austrian Netherlands, toward the petrified Dutch. At sea, facing no significant challenge from the Bourbon fleets, the Royal Navy imposed an increasingly tight blockade upon French commerce. Overseas, the attacks and counterattacks continued, in the West Indies, up the St. Lawrence river, around Madras, along the trade routes to the Levant. Prussia, which returned to the fight against Austria in 1743, was again persuaded out of the war two years later. British subsidies could be used to keep the Austrians in order, to buy mercenaries for Hanover’s protection and even for the purchase of a Russian army to defend the Netherlands. This was, by eighteenthcentury standards, an expensive way to fight a war, and many Britons complained at the increasing taxation and the trebling of the national debt; but gradually it was forcing an even more exhausted France toward a compromise peace.
神圣罗马帝国的查理六世皇帝死后，玛丽亚·特利萨继承了王位。 腓特烈大帝利用这个时机于1740—1741年冬天夺取西里西亚，这一连串的事件使欧洲局势发生了很大改变，使英国的注意力重新回到欧洲大陆。法国国内的反奥地利集团在这种情况下，抑制不住其反奥情绪，全力支持普鲁士和巴伐利亚攫取哈布斯堡王朝的遗产。但这必然导致英奥重新结盟，这给四面楚歌的玛丽亚·特利萨带来了巨大资助，英国人通过向奥地利人提供援助，通过调停使普鲁士和萨克森暂时退出战争，通过1743年在德延根的军事行动，英国政府为奥地利解了围，保护了汉诺威，消除了法国在德意志的影响。到1744年，英法的对抗演变为正式的战争，冲突更形激烈。法国大军挥师北上，穿过奥属尼德兰的边境要塞，直奔吓得六神无主的荷兰。在海上，皇家海军由于没有遇到波旁王朝舰队的严重挑战，对法国的贸易实行了越来越严厉的封锁。在海外，在西印度群岛，上溯圣劳伦斯河，在马得拉斯周围，沿着通向利凡特的商路，进攻和反攻连续不断。1743年，普鲁士重新对奥开战，但两年后，又被英国说服，再次退出了战争。英国的钱财资助可以用于维护奥地利的秩序，用于收买雇佣军来保卫汉诺威，甚至还可用于雇佣一支俄国军队来守卫尼德兰。用18世纪的标准来衡量，这样打仗花费太大，许多英国人对日益增长的赋税和增加了两倍的国债抱怨不已。但是逐渐地，战争迫使比英国还要精疲力竭的法国寻求一种妥协性的和平。
Geography as much as finance—the two key elements discussed earlier—finally compelled the British and French governments to settle their differences at the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748). By that time, the French army had the Dutch at its mercy; but would that compensate for the steadily tightening grip imposed on France’s maritime commerce or for the loss of major colonies? Conversely, of what use were the British seizure of Louisburg on the St. Lawrence and the naval victories of Anson and Hawke if France conquered the Low Countries? In consequence, diplomatic talks arranged for a general return to the status quo ante, with the significant exception of Frederick’s conquest of Silesia. Both at the time and in retrospect, Aix-la-Chapelle was seen more in the nature of a truce than a lasting settlement. It left Maria Theresa keen to be revenged upon Prussia, France wondering how to be victorious overseas as well as on land, and Britain anxious to ensure that its great enemy would next time be defeated as soundly in continental warfare as it could be in a maritime/colonial struggle.
上面曾讨论过的两个关键因素：地理因素和财政因素，终于迫使英国和法国政府签订了《亚琛和约》（1748年），以解决他们之间的分歧。到此时，荷兰已处在法国大军控制之下，但这能补偿法国被英国日益加紧控制的海外贸易吗？能补偿法国主要殖民地的丧失吗？相反，如果法国征服了低地国家，英国占领圣劳伦斯河上的路易斯堡以及安松和霍克斯取得的海战胜利又有什么益处呢？结果，外交谈判使得原状全面恢复，仅以腓特烈征服西里西亚作为一个重要的例外。不论在当时还是在今天看来，亚琛和约实质上仅是一个停战协定而不是一个持久的和平条约。它使玛丽亚·特利萨急于报复普鲁士，使法国考虑如何在陆上取胜的同时也在海上取胜，并使英国处心积虑地要在下一场战争中不仅将它的劲敌在海上和殖民地战争中彻底打败，也要在大陆战争中把它彻底打败。
***
***
In the North American colonies, where British and French settlers (each aided by Indians and some local military garrisons) were repeatedly clashing in the early 1750s, even the word “truce” was a misnomer. There the forces involved were almost impossible to control by home governments, the more especially since a “patriot lobby” in each country pressed for support for their colonists and encouraged the view that a fundamental struggle—not merely for the Ohio and Mississippi valley regions, but for Canada, the Caribbean, India, nay, the entire extra-European world—was underway. 62 With each side dispatching further reinforcements and putting its navy on a war footing by 1755, the other states began to adjust to the prospect of another Anglo-French conflict. For Spain and the United Provinces, now plainly in the second rank and fearing that they would be ground down between these two colossi in the west, neutrality was the only solution —despite the inherent difficulties for traders like the Dutch. 63
在北美殖民地，英国和法国的移民（每一方都有印第安人和当地一些驻军的援助）在18世纪50年代初，一再发生冲突。“停战”一词简直是有名无实。这种棘手的军事对抗对本国政府来说几乎是无法控制的，更何况每一个国家本土都有一个“爱国者集团”，他们向政府施加压力，使其支持本国殖民者，并助长这样一种看法，即一场关系到你死我活的重大斗争正在进行中——这场斗争不仅是为了争夺俄亥俄和密西西比流域地区，而是为了加拿大、加勒比海、印度，不，是为了除欧洲以外的整个世界！到了1755年，在双方都派出更多的援军并使各自的海军处于战备状态的情况下，其他国家为适应即将到来的又一场英法战争的前景而开始调整各自的战略。对于当时已沦为二等国家的西班牙和联合省来说，它们极为担心自己的国家会葬身在这两个西方大国的冲突中。因此，唯一的出路就是保持中立，虽然这对像荷兰人那样的商人来说是极为困难的。
For the eastern monarchies of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, however, abstention from an Anglo-French war in the mid-1750s was impossible. The first reason was that although some Frenchmen argued that the conflict should be fought at sea and in the colonies, the natural tendency in Paris was to attack Britain via Hanover, the strategical Achilles’ heel of the islanders. This, though, would not only alarm the German states but also compel the British to search for and subsidize military allies to check the French on the continent. The second reason was altogether more important: the Austrians were determined to recover Silesia from Prussia; and the Russians under their Czarina Elizabeth were also looking for a chance to punish the disrespectful, ambitious Frederick. Each of these powers had built up a considerable army (Prussia over 150,000 men, Austria almost 200,000, and Russia perhaps 330,000) and was calculating when to strike; but all of them were going to need subsidies from the west to keep their armies at that size. Finally, it was in the logic of things that if any of these eastern rivals found a “partner” in Paris or London, the others would be impelled to join the opposing side.
然而，对于东部君主国奥地利、普鲁士和俄国来说，在18世纪50年代中期避开一场英法战争是不可能的。第一个原因是，尽管某些法国人鼓吹应该把仗打到海上和殖民地去，但是巴黎自然倾向于通过进攻汉诺威来打击英国，这是岛国人战略上的阿喀琉斯［7］之踵。虽然这样一来，法国不仅会使德意志各国发生惊慌，还会迫使英国人去寻找一个可以用金钱资助的盟国在大陆上扼制法国。第二个原因更为重要：奥地利横下一条心，要从普鲁士手中收复西里西亚，而女皇伊丽莎白统治下的俄国也在寻机惩罚桀骜不驯、野心勃勃的腓特烈。这些大国各自都建立了一支庞大的军队（普鲁士超过15万人，奥地利近20万人，俄国大约33万人）并且都在筹划出击的时机，但是它们都得从西方争取金钱资助以维持其军队的规模。最后，如果这些东部对手的任何一方在巴黎或伦敦找到“搭档”，那么其他各方就会被迫加入对方阵营，这也是情理之中的事了。
Thus, the famous “diplomatic revolution” of 1756 seemed, strategically, merely a reshuffling of the cards. France now buried its ancient differences with the Habsburgs and joined Austria and Russia in their war against Prussia, while Berlin replaced Vienna as London’s continental ally. At first sight, the Franco-Austro- Russian coalition looked the better deal. It was decidedly bigger in military terms, and by 1757 Frederick had lost all his early territorial gains and the Duke of Cumberland’s Anglo-German army had surrendered, leaving the future of Hanover— and Prussia itself—in doubt. Minorca had fallen to the French, and in the more distant theaters France and its native allies were also making gains. Overturning the treaty of Utrecht, and in Austria’s case that of Aix-la-Chapelle, now appeared distinctly possible.
这样看来，1756年著名的“外交革命”从战略上讲似乎仅仅不过是重洗一遍牌而已。法国现在摒弃同哈布斯堡王朝的前嫌，加入到奥地利和俄国阵营对普鲁士作战，而柏林则取代维也纳，成了伦敦在大陆上的盟国。乍看起来，法-奥-俄同盟似乎占了上风。从军事角度上讲，它比对手拥有决定性的优势，而到1757年，腓特烈失去了他早先夺取的所有领土，坎伯兰公爵指挥的英德联军已缴械投降，这使汉诺威以及普鲁士本身都处于前途险恶的境地。米诺卡岛已落入法军之手，在更遥远的战场上，法国及其当地盟友们也取得了节节胜利。撕毁乌特勒支和约，对奥地利来说是撕毁亚琛和约，现在看来是唾手可得了。
The reason this did not happen was that the Anglo-Prussian combination remained superior in three vital aspects: leadership, financial staying power, and military/naval expertise. 64 Of Frederick’s achievement in harnessing the full energies of Prussia to the pursuit of victory and of his generalship on the field of battle there can be no doubt. But the prize goes, perhaps, to Pitt, who after all was not an absolute monarch but merely one of a number of politicians, who had to juggle with touchy and jealous colleagues, a volatile public, and then a new king, and simultaneously pursue an effective grand strategy. And the measure of that effectiveness could not simply be in sugar islands seized or French-backed nabobs toppled, because all these colonial gains, however valuable, would be only temporary if the foe occupied Hanover and eliminated Prussia. The correct way to a decisive victory, as Pitt gradually realized, was to complement the popular “maritime” strategy with a “continental” one, providing large-scale subsidies to Frederick’s own forces and paying for a considerable “Army of Observation” in Germany, to protect Hanover and help contain the French.
这种情况没有发生的原因，在于英-普联盟在3个重要方面占了优势：领导才能，财政支撑能力，以及陆军、海军的战略战术。腓特烈的治国才能和军事才能是毋庸置疑的。他成功地把普鲁士举国上下的力量全部集中于夺取军事上的胜利这一目标，他在战场上充分发挥了他的军事指挥才能。然而功劳或许应该主要归于威廉·皮特，他毕竟不是独裁君主，仅仅是政治家中的一员，他不得不同那些敏感的、嫉妒他的同僚们，同变化不定的公众和一个新登基的国王巧妙周旋，与此同时，他还要贯彻、实行一种有效的大战略意图。他所取得的成就无法简单地用英国夺取的几个产糖的岛屿或颠覆法国支持的几个印度土邦王来衡量，因为如果英国的敌人占领汉诺威和消灭了普鲁士，所有这些都只能是暂时的。皮特逐渐地意识到，通向最后胜利的成功之路，在于用一项“大陆”战略来弥补大家所热心的“海上”战略之不足，其条件是向腓特烈的军队提供大规模的资助，并向在德意志的一支规模可观的“警戒大军”付款，以保护汉诺威并扼制法国。
But such a policy was in turn very dependent upon having sufficient resources to survive year after year of grinding warfare. Frederick and his tax officials used every device to raise monies in Prussia, but Prussia’s capacity paled by comparison with Britain’s, which at the height of the struggle possessed a fleet of over 120 ships of the line, had more than 200,000 soldiers (including German mercenaries) on its pay lists, and was also subsidizing Prussia. In fact, the Seven Years War cost the Exchequer over ￡160 million, of which ￡60 million (37 percent) was raised on the money markets. While this further great rise in the national debt was to alarm Pitt’s colleagues and contribute to his downfall in October 1761, nevertheless the overseas trade of the country increased in every year, bringing enhanced customs receipts and prosperity. Here was an excellent example of profit being converted into power, and of British sea power being used (e. g. , in the West Indies) for national profit. As the British ambassador to Prussia was informed, “we must be merchants before we are soldiers trade and maritime force depend upon each other, and … the riches which are the true resources of this country depend upon its commerce. ”65
但是这样一种政策必然依赖于国家充足的资金来度过年复一年耗竭人力和资源的战争。腓特烈和他的税收官们使尽浑身解数在普鲁士募集资金，但是如果同英国相比，普鲁士的实力就黯然失色了。英国在大战高潮时，拥有一支超过120艘主力舰的舰队，军需花名册上有一支超过20万人的军队（包括德意志雇佣军），同时还为普鲁士提供资助。实际上，七年战争花费了财政大约1.6亿英镑，其中6千万英镑（37%）是在金融市场上募集的。虽然国债的进一步增长引起了皮特同僚们的不安并导致他于1761年10月下台，但该国海外贸易却在增长，使得关税收入增加并促进了全国的繁荣。这是利润转化为实力、英国的海军力量被用来（例如在西印度群岛）保障国家利润增长的一个极好例证。正如英国驻普鲁士大使曾被告知的那样，“我们在做士兵之前必须先做商人……贸易和海军力量互相依赖，而且……本国的真正资源财富仰仗于它的贸易。”相反，所有其他交战国的经济都在这场战争中遭受严重损失，即使在法国国内，法国首相舒瓦瑟尔也悲哀地承认：
By contrast, the economies of all the other combatants suffered heavily in this war, and even inside France the minister Choiseul had ruefully to admit that in the present state of Europe it is colonies, trade and in consequence sea power, which-must determine the balance of power upon-the continent. The House of Austria, Russia, the King of Prussia are only powers of the second rank, as are all those which cannot go to war unless subsidized by the trading powers. 66
在目前情况下的欧洲，决定大陆均势的是殖民地贸易及海军力量。像所有其他没有贸易大国津贴就不能打仗的国家一样，奥地利王室、俄罗斯王室和普鲁士国王不过是二流君主而已。
The military and naval expertise displayed by the Anglo-Prussian alliance, at least after the early setbacks, worked in the following way. At sea an enormous Royal Navy under Anson’s direction steadily imposed a blockade upon France’s Atlantic ports, and had sufficient surplus of force to mask Toulon and regain maritime supremacy in the Mediterranean as well. When fleet actions did occur—at Cartagena, off Lagos, and in Hawke’s incomparable gale-battered pursuit of Conflans’s fleet into Quiberon Bay—the superiority of British seamanship was made manifest time and again. What was more, this blockading policy—maintained now in all weathers, with the squadrons supplied by a comprehensive provisioning system—not only throttled much of France’s maritime trade and thus protected Britain’s commerce and its territorial security, but also prevented adequate reinforcements of French troops being sent to the West Indies, Canada, and India. In 1759, the annus mirabilis, French colonies were falling into British hands right across the globe, nicely complementing the considerable victory of the Anglo-German troops over two French armies at Minden. When Spain foolishly entered the war in 1762, the same fate befell its colonies in the Caribbean and Philippines.
英普联盟所显示的陆军和海军军事艺术，至少是在初期的挫折之后，从以下几方面体现出来。在海上，安松麾下庞大的皇家海军逐步建立了对法国大西洋各港口的封锁，并且还有余力在土伦港外筑起一道屏障，同时重新夺回在地中海的优势地位。当舰队在拉各斯附近、卡塔赫纳真的进行交锋的时候，霍克率领举世无双的舰队在狂风暴雨中对康弗朗的舰队穷追不舍，把它直逼进基伯龙海港。在这些战斗中英国海军一再显示出高超的航海技术。不仅如此，有全面后勤供应系统的英国海军分舰队，对法国进行了全天候的封锁。英国的封锁政策不仅扼制了法国大部分海上贸易，因而保护了英国的商业及其领土的安全，而且还阻止了法国向西印度群岛、加拿大和印度派遣足够的增援部队。1759年是充满奇迹的一年，法国在世界各地的殖民地先后落入英国之手，这极大地鼓舞了英德联军在明登击溃法国两支大军取得大捷。当西班牙1762年愚蠢地参战时，同样的命运也落到了它在加勒比海和菲律宾的殖民地头上。
Meanwhile, the House of Brandenburg had already seen its share of “miracles,” and in the battles of Rossbach and Leuthen, Frederick not only ruined a French and an Austrian army respectively, but also blunted the eagerness of those two nations to press into northern Germany; after Frederick caught the Austrians again, at Liegnitz and Torgau in 1760, Vienna was virtually bankrupt. Nevertheless, the sheer costs of all this campaigning were slowly grinding down Prussian power (60,000 soldiers lost in 1759 alone), and the Russian foe proved much more formidable— partly because of Czarina Elizabeth’s hatred of Frederick but chiefly because each encounter with the Russian army was such a bloody affair. Yet with the other combatants feeling the pace as well, and France keen to come to terms with a British government now also disposed to peace, Prussia found that it still had enough strength to keep the Austrians and Russians at bay until rescued by Elizabeth’s death in 1762. After this, and the new Czar Peter’s swift withdrawal from the war, neither Austria nor France could expect anything better than a peace settlement on the basis of a return to the prewar status in Europe—which was, in effect, a defeat for those who had sought to bring Prussia down.
与此同时，勃兰登堡王室也已经看到它自己的一份“奇迹”。在罗斯巴赫和勒森两场大战中，腓特烈不仅分别摧毁了一支法国大军和一支奥地利大军，而且还挫败了这两个国家逼近北德意志的企图。1760年腓特烈在利格尼茨和托尔高再次击败奥地利人后，维也纳几乎到了穷途末路。然而，单单这些战役的代价，就在慢慢地拖垮普鲁士的大军（仅在1759年就损失6万士兵），而劲敌俄国却已证明要强大得多，部分是因为伊丽莎白对腓特烈的刻骨仇恨，但主要是因为同俄国大军的每一次遭遇都尸横遍野，血流成河。不过其他各交战国都有同感，法国急于同现在也准备讲和的英国达成妥协，但这时普鲁士发现它还有足够力量阻止奥地利人和俄国人前进，直到1762年伊丽莎白去世拯救了他们为止。伊丽莎白死后，新沙皇彼得迅速退出战争，这样一来，不论奥地利还是法国，除了在恢复战前欧洲态势的基础上和解以外，不可能期望任何更好的结果。恢复欧洲战前态势实际上意味着那些要摧毁普鲁士的国家的失败。
In the 1762–1763 settlements the one obvious beneficiary was again Great Britain. Even after returning various captured territories to France and Spain, it had made advances in the West Indies and West Africa, had virtually eliminated French influence from India, and, most important of all, was now supreme in most of the North American continent. Britain thus had access to lands of far greater extent and potential wealth than Lorraine, Silesia, and those other regions over which the continental states fought so bitterly. In addition, it had helped to check France’s diplomatic and military ambitions inside Europe and thereby had preserved the general balance of power. France, by comparison, had not only lost disastrously overseas but had also—unlike in 1748—failed in Europe; indeed, its lackluster military performance suggested that the center of gravity had shifted from western Europe to the east, a fact confirmed by the general disregard of France’s wishes during the first partition of Poland in 1772. All this nicely suited British circles, satisfied with their own primacy outside Europe and not eager to be drawn into obligations on the continent.
在1762—1763年和解中获利的显然又是大不列颠。即使把夺取的各地领土交还给法国和西班牙以后，英国仍然在西印度群岛和西非取得长足的进展。它基本上肃清了法国在印度的势力影响，最重要的是英国已成为北美大陆大部分地区的主宰。这样，不列颠就占有了比洛林、西里西亚及大陆国家激烈争夺的其他更辽阔、富饶的土地。此外，英国在欧洲范围内扼制了法国外交和军事上的野心，从而确保了总的均势。相比之下，法国不仅在海外损失惨重，而且与1748年不同，它在欧洲本土也失败了。事实上，法国陆军在战争中毫无生机的表现，预示着欧洲的重心已经从西欧转移到了东欧。1772年第一次瓜分波兰时，法国的意愿受到普遍的忽视就证实了这一点。所有这一切正合英国各界的口味，他们对自己在欧洲以外的霸主地位心满意足，因而不希望被卷进欧洲大陆去承担义务。