Charles Gravier, Comte De Vergennes
Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (; 29 December 1719 – 13 February 1787) was a French statesman and diplomat. He served as Foreign Minister from 1774 to 1787 during the reign of Louis XVI, notably during the American War of Independence. Vergennes rose through the ranks of the diplomatic service during postings in Portugal and Germany before receiving the important post of Envoy to the Ottoman Empire in 1755. While there he oversaw complex negotiations that resulted from the Diplomatic Revolution before being recalled in 1768. After assisting a pro-French faction to take power in Sweden, he returned home and was promoted to foreign minister. Vergennes hoped that by giving French aid to the American revolutionaries he would be able to weaken British dominance of the international stage, in the wake of Britain's over France in the recent Seven Years' War. Alliance with the revolutionaries produced mixed results for France as, despite helping to defeat Britain and secure Amer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chief Minister Of France
The chief minister of France or, closer to the French term, chief minister of state (), or prime minister of France were and are informal titles given to various personages who received various degrees of power to rule the Kingdom of France on behalf of the monarch during the ('Old Regime'). The titles were however informal and used more as job descriptions. History Like the title of Chief Minister was unofficial, the monarch maintained all his powers, giving to the Chief Minister the task to make effective his orders. However, during moments where the king was absent from the country, highly sick, indifferent or unfit to govern, the Chief Minister had a strong role, becoming the real mind behind the state's operating. Usually, the Chief Ministers were members of the Conseil du Roi, King's Council (the archaic form of Cabinet (government), cabinet) or high members of the French nobility or the Catholic Church in France, Catholic clergy. From 1661, Louis XIV and his successors ref ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Théodore Chevignard De Chavigny, Comte De Toulongeon
Théodore Chevignard de Chavigny, ''Count of Toulongeon and Baron of Uchon'' (born 1687; died 1771) was a French aristocrat and diplomat. The eldest son of Théodore Chevignard de Chavigny, Procurer-Royal and Mayor of Beaune. A Knight of Malta and already described as an experienced diplomat and secret agent, having been employed by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time, the Marquis of Torcy, during secret negotiations in the Netherlands for the conclusion of the War of Spanish Succession in 1710, he was posted as French Ambassador to London in 1731, later serving in Copenhagen (1737–39) and Lisbon (1740-43), where his main task was to keep Portugal from entering the War of the Austrian Succession on the side of Britain, a task that was successfully achieved, as the Portuguese had little interest in joining the war. As Ambassador to the Electorate of Bavaria and at Frankfurt from 1745-46, he was a key player in French negotiations during the War of the Austrian S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainland Europe's westernmost capital city (second overall after Reykjavík, Reykjavik), and the only one along the Atlantic coast, the others (Reykjavik and Dublin) being on islands. The city lies in the western portion of the Iberian Peninsula, on the northern shore of the River Tagus. The western portion of its metro area, the Portuguese Riviera, hosts the westernmost point of Continental Europe, culminating at Cabo da Roca. Lisbon is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries. Settled by pre-Celtic tribes and later founded and civilized by the Phoenicians, Julius Caesar made it a municipium ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola and six companions, with the approval of Pope Paul III. The Society of Jesus is the largest religious order in the Catholic Church and has played significant role in education, charity, humanitarian acts and global policies. The Society of Jesus is engaged in evangelization and apostolic ministry in 112 countries. Jesuits work in education, research, and cultural pursuits. They also conduct retreats, minister in hospitals and parishes, sponsor direct social and humanitarian works, and promote Ecumenism, ecumenical dialogue. The Society of Jesus is consecrated under the patron saint, patronage of Madonna della Strada, a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it is led by a Superior General of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jean Gravier, Marquis De Vergennes
Jean-Charles Gravier, Marquis of VergennesName taken by the land of Ormes after its erection as a marquisate by the king (1778). Source: A. Ferret, ''Ormes, archiprêtré de Bresse et port sur Saône'', revue « Images de Saône-et-Loire » No. 40 (hiver 1978-1979), . and Baron of Tenare, was a French aristocrat, magistrate and diplomat. He was the elder brother of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and Louis XVI's Chief Minister, Charles Gravier de Vergennes. Biography Born in Dijon in 1718, the eldest son of Charles Gravier, Lord of Vergennes, he became a chief counselor in the Court of Auditors of Burgundy in 1738 and then President of the Court in 1742. As the eldest son, he inherited his family's estates. He was named as the French King's ambassador in Switzerland from 1775 to 1777. As ambassador, he renewed the treaty of alliance between France and the Swiss cantons on 28 May 1777, in Solothurn. He was then appointed as French Ambassador to Portugal in 1777, a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlantic, North Atlantic, the French West Indies, and List of islands of France, many islands in Oceania and the Indian Ocean, giving it Exclusive economic zone of France, one of the largest discontiguous exclusive economic zones in the world. Metropolitan France shares borders with Belgium and Luxembourg to the north; Germany to the northeast; Switzerland to the east; Italy and Monaco to the southeast; Andorra and Spain to the south; and a maritime border with the United Kingdom to the northwest. Its metropolitan area extends from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean and from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea. Its Regions of France, eighteen integral regions—five of which are overseas—span a combined area of and hav ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia versus Kingdom of France, France and Habsburg monarchy, Austria, the respective coalitions receiving by countries including Portuguese Empire, Portugal, Spanish Empire, Spain, Electorate of Saxony, Saxony, Age of Liberty, Sweden, and Russian Empire, Russia. Related conflicts include the Third Silesian War, French and Indian War, Carnatic wars, Third Carnatic War, Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763), Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763), and Spanish–Portuguese War (1762–1763), Spanish–Portuguese War. Although the War of the Austrian Succession ended with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), none of the signatories were happy with the terms, and it was generally viewed as a temporary armistice. It led to a strategic realignment kn ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Diplomatic Revolution
The Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 was the reversal of longstanding alliances in Europe between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. Austria went from an ally of Britain to an ally of France; the Dutch Republic, a long-standing British ally, became more anti-British and took a neutral stance while Prussia became an ally of Britain. The most influential diplomat involved was an Austrian statesman, Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz. The change was part of the stately quadrille, a constantly shifting pattern of alliances throughout the 18th century to preserve or upset the European balance of power. Background The diplomatic change was triggered by a separation of interests among Austria, Britain, and France. The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, after the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748, left Austria aware of the high price it paid for the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. Maria Theresa of Austria had defended her claim to the Habsburg throne and had her husband, Francis St ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe, between the early 16th and early 18th centuries. The empire emerged from a Anatolian beyliks, ''beylik'', or principality, founded in northwestern Anatolia in by the Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. His successors Ottoman wars in Europe, conquered much of Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans by the mid-14th century, transforming their petty kingdom into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the Fall of Constantinople, conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. With its capital at History of Istanbul#Ottoman Empire, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and control over a significant portion of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interacti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American War Of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war. However, Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war in the Treaty of Paris two years later, in 1783, in which the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. In 1763, after the British Empire gained dominance in North America following its vic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |