User:Lord Cornwallis/Hague Overtures

The Hague Overtures were a series of diplomatic exchanges by diplomats from Britain and Austria during 1762 in the final months of the Seven Years War. The approach took place in the city of The Hague in the neutral Dutch Republic and involved the       and [[Joseph Yorke the British ambassador there.

The approach was part of an attempt by the Duke of Newcastle to restore the Old System of alliances to which he was still strongly commited. The Diplomatic Revolution in 1756 had seperated Britain from its traditional alliance partner Austria and drawn it into an alliance with Prussia. The Overture did not receive a --, as the Austrians.

News of the aproach reached Frederick the Great who felt betrayed, and the incident helped contribute to the breakup of the Anglo-Prussian Alliance during 1762 and Britain and Prussia ended up negotiating seperate peace treaties to end the war. Further enquiries were made by Britain to Austria in the years after the war but the Austrian Chancellor, Count Kaunitz, made clear his country's continued commitment to the Franco-Austrian Alliance.

a suggestion that Prince Louis of Brunswick, the regent to the Dutch staadholder be used as a mediator.