of the struggle. Added to this was the personal
ascendancy of Frederick, not yet a great general, but energetic and
resolute, and, further, opposed to generals who were responsible for their
men to their individual sovereigns. These advantages have been decisive in
many wars, almost in all. The special feature of the war of 1740 to 1748,
and of other wars of the time, is the extraordinary disparity between the
end and the means. The political schemes to be executed by the French and
other armies were as grandiose as any of modern times; their execution,
under the then conditions of time and space, invariably fell short of
expectation, and the history of the war proves, as that of the Seven Years'
War was to prove, that the small standing army of the 18th century could
conquer by degrees, but could not deliver a decisive blow. Frederick alone,
with a definite end and proportionate means wherewith to achieve it,
succeeded completely. The French, in spite of their later victories,
obtained so little of what they fought for that Parisians could say to each
other, when they met in the streets, "You are as stupid as the Peace." And
if, when fighting for their own hand, the governments of Europe could so
fail of their purpose, even less was to be expected when the armies were
composed of allied contingents, sent to the war each for a different
object. The allied national armies of 1813 co-operated loyally, for they
had much at stake and worked for a common object; those of 1741 represented
the divergent private interests of the several dynasties, and achieved
nothing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--Besides general works on Frederick's life and reign, of
which Carlyle, Preuss and v. Taysen are of particular importance, and
Frederick's own works, see the Prussian official _Die I. und II.
schlesischen Kriege_ (Berlin, 1890-1895); Austrian official _Kriege der
Kaiserin Maria Theresia; Gesch. des oesterr. Erbfolgekrieges_ (Vienna, from
1895); Jomini, _Traite des grandes operations militaires_, introduction to
vol. i. (Paris, 4th edition, 1851); C. von B.-K., _Geist und Stoff im
Kriege_ (Vienna, 1895); v. Arneth, _Maria Teresias ersten Regierungsjahre_
(1863); v. Schoening, _Die 5 erste Jahre der Regierung Friedrichs des
Grossen_; Bernhardi, _Friedrich der Grosse als Feldherr_ (Berlin, 1881); v.
Canitz, _Nachrichten, &c., ueber die Taten und Schicksale der Reiterei,
&c_. (Berlin, 1861); Gruenhagen, _Gesch. des I. schlesischen Krieges_
(Gotha, 1881-