er now took post between Linz and Passau,
leaving a strong force to deal with Belleisle in Prague. This, under Prince
Lobkowitz, was little superior in numbers or quality to the troops under
Belleisle, under whom served Saxe and the best of the younger French
generals, but its light cavalry swept the country clear of provisions. The
French were quickly on the verge of starvation, winter had come, and the
marshal resolved to retreat. On the night of the 16th of December 1742, the
army left Prague to be defended by a small garrison under Chevert, and took
the route of Eger. The retreat (December 16-26) was accounted a triumph of
generalship, but the weather made it painful and costly. The brave Chevert
displayed such confidence that the Austrians were glad to allow him freedom
to join the main army. The cause of the new emperor was now sustained only
in the valley of the Danube, where Broglie and Seckendorf opposed Prince
Charles and Khevenhueller, who were soon joined by the force lately
opposing Belleisle.

In Italy, Traun held his own with ease against the Spaniards and
Neapolitans. Naples was forced by a British squadron to withdraw her troops
for home defence, and Spain, now too weak to advance in the Po valley, sent
a second army to Italy via France. Sardinia had allied herself with
Austria, and at the same time neither state was at war with France, and
this led to curious complications, combats being fought in the Isere valley
between the troops of Sardinia and of Spain, in which the French took no
part.

6. _The Campaign of 1743_ opened disastrously for the emperor. The French
and Bavarian armies were not working well together, and Broglie and
Seckendorf had actually quarrelled. No connected resistance was offered to
the converging march of Prince Charles's army along the Danube,
Khevenhueller from Salzburg towards southern Bavaria, and Prince Lobkowitz
(1685-1755) from Bohemia towards the Naab. The Bavarians suffered a severe
reverse near Braunau (May 9, 1743), and now an Anglo-allied army commanded
by King George II., which had been formed on the lower Rhine on the
withdrawal of Maillebois, was advancing southward to the Main and Neckar
country. A French army, under Marshal Noailles, was being collected on the
middle Rhine to deal with this new force. But Broglie was now in full
retreat, and the strong places of Bavaria surrendered one after the other
to Prince Charles. The French and Bavarians had been driven a