t in the north were reinforced and besieged the strong places
of Flanders. There was also a slight war of manoeuvre on the middle Rhine.

In 1744 the Italian war became for the first time serious. A grandiose plan
of campaign was formed, and as usual the French and Spanish generals at the
front were hampered by the orders of their respective governments. The
object was to unite the army in Dauphine with that on the lower Po. The
adhesion of Genoa was secured, and a road thereby obtained into central
Italy. But Lobkowitz had already taken the offensive and driven back the
Spanish army of Count de Gages towards the Neapolitan frontier. The king of
Naples at this juncture was compelled to assist the Spaniards at all
hazards. A combined army was formed at Velletri, and defeated Lobkowitz
there on the 11th of August. The crisis past, Lobkowitz then went to
Piedmont to assist the king against Conti, the king of Naples returned
home, and de Gages followed the Austrians with a weak force. The war in the
Alps and the Apennines was keenly contested. Villefranche and Montalban
were stormed by Conti on the 20th of April, a desperate fight took place at
Peyre-Longue on the 18th of July, and the king of Sardinia was defeated in
a great battle at Madonna del Olmo (September 30) near Coni (Cuneo). Conti
did not, however, succeed in taking this fortress, and had to retire into
Dauphine for his winter quarters. The two armies had, therefore, failed in
their attempt to combine, and the Austro-Sardinians still lay between them.

8. _Campaign of 1745._--The interest of the next campaign centres in the
three greatest battles of the war--Hohenfriedberg, Kesselsdorf and
Fontenoy. The first event of the year was the Quadruple Alliance of
England, Austria, Holland and Saxony, concluded at Warsaw on the 8th of
January. Twelve days previously, the death of Charles VII. submitted the
imperial title to a new election, and his successor in Bavaria was not a
candidate. The Bavarian army was again unfortunate; caught in its scattered
winter quarters (action of Amberg, January 7), it was driven from point to
point, and the young elector had to abandon Munich once more. The peace of
Fuessen followed on the 22nd of April, by which he secured his hereditary
states on condition of supporting the candidature of the grand-duke
Francis, consort of Maria Theresa. The "imperial" army ceased _ipso facto_
to exist, and Frederick was again isolated. No help was to be