France recognizes Hanoverian succession in Britain as…
November 1748 CE
France recognizes Hanoverian succession in Britain as a result of the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.
Louis XV, who, despite his victory, wants to appear as an arbiter and not as a conqueror, had agreed to restore all his conquests back to the defeated enemies with chivalry, arguing that he is "king of France, not a shopkeeper."
He feels content to rule a nearly hexagon-shaped kingdom, which he calls his pré carré (i.e. "square field"), a term still used in French politics today.
He thinks it better to cultivate the pré carré rather than trying to expand it.
The attitude of the king is hailed in Europe, and he becomes known overnight as the "arbiter of Europe".
This decision, largely misunderstood by his generals and by the French people, makes the king unpopular at home.
The news that the king has restored the Southern Netherlands to Austria is met with disbelief and bitterness at what is seen as a foolish throwing away of advantages (particularly in the Austrian Netherlands, which had largely been conquered by the brilliant strategy of Marshal Saxe), and it comes to be popular in Paris to use the phrases Bête comme la paix ("Stupid as the peace") and La guerre pour le roi de Prusse ("The war for the king of Prussia").
By the same token, British colonists in New England and merchants back in Great Britain resent the return of Louisbourg to the French after they had captured the stronghold in a forty-six-day siege.
This resentment is an early seed of the later American Revolution.
In fact, Britain has exchanged Louisbourg so that France will withdraw from the Netherlands.