Peace of Dresden

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Peace of Dresden on a print from Amsterdam

The Peace of Dresden (also: Dresdener Friede , Dresdner Friede or Friede zu Dresden ) was a peace treaty between Prussia , Austria and Saxony signed on December 25, 1745 in Dresden . He ended the Second Silesian War .

After Austria's successes in the War of the Austrian Succession, which ran parallel, and Bavaria's exit from the anti-Austrian coalition ( Peace of Füssen , April 22, 1745), the situation for Prussia became difficult. The quadruple alliance between Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Saxony (closed on January 8, 1745 in Warsaw ) aimed at the reconquest of Silesia and the removal of some of the Brandenburg possessions that were to be shared between Austria and Saxony. Only after the Prussian victories in the battles of Soor (September 30, 1745) and Kesselsdorf (December 15, 1745) and the occupation of Dresden by Leopold von Dessau (December 17, 1745), did Maria Theresa decide to make peace.

Even the Prussian King Friedrich II initiated peace negotiations on December 15, 1745. He did not have sufficient funds to finance a new campaign and feared Russian intervention in favor of Saxony and Austria. King George II of Great Britain also pressed for peace, as he had his hands full to cope with the revolt of the Jacobites , and Austria, too, was inclined towards the end to oppose the Spanish and French in Italy and France with all her might in the Austrian Netherlands .

On December 25, 1745, the negotiations in Dresden were ended and the peace treaty was signed. In accordance with the preliminary peace of Breslau of 1742, he confirmed Prussia's sovereign possession of Silesia. Maria Theresa's husband, Franz I , who had meanwhile been elected emperor (September 13, 1745) , was recognized by Friedrich II. The peace treaty was the most disadvantageous for Saxony. It paid war compensation of one million thalers to Prussia, had its tariff disputes with Prussia decided to its disadvantage and had to accept that the forcibly evacuated Saxons remained in the Prussian army, which marks the end of the Augustan age in Saxony . The peace in Dresden was guaranteed by Great Britain and the Empire .

In Leipzig , Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) created the Latin Christmas music Gloria in excelsis Deo for the ceremony on the day of the signing, December 25, 1745 , at the same time as the "Little Doxology" BWV 191, because Leipzig was also occupied at the end of November 1745 was. The ceremony took place in the Leipzig University Church.

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