The Anglo-Prussian Convention was agreed on 11 April 1758 between Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia and formalised the alliance between them that had effectively existed since the Convention of Westminster in 1756.
8-653: Both kingdoms agreed not to negotiate a separate peace. Britain promised to pay the Prussians a subsidy in gold (£670,000 a year, larger than any wartime subsidies that Britain had ever given to an ally). In exchange, Britain hoped that the Prussians would supply infantry and cavalry to the German Army of Observation , commanded by Ferdinand of Brunswick , to defend the Electorate of Hanover and neighbouring territories. Nicholas Magens and George Amyand supplied
16-835: The Arab Revolt in return for their co-operation, and he was nicknamed in Arabic Abu Khayyal , meaning "father of the horsemen". During World War II , the Cavalry of St George was a euphemism for large-scale bribery of Spanish officials in Francisco Franco 's dictatorship to prevent Spain from joining the Germans in the war. During the Napoleonic Wars , a number of states in Europe were allied with
24-835: The War of the Austrian Succession , Britain kept Austria afloat by large subsidies owing to the Anglo-Austrian Alliance . In the Seven Years' War , Britain did the same for Prussia , which was now allied against the Austrians. The Anglo-Prussian Convention , signed in April 1758, guaranteed Prussia a payment of £670,000 a year. In more recent times T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) is reported to have made payments of gold sovereigns to Arab soldiers during
32-656: The British against France . Britain, which had a large navy but a small army, was unable to deploy major forces on the Continent. Britain was a wealthy commercial power and so paid out millions of pounds to Allied nations, which could field much larger armies against the French. An example is the £1,500,000 paid to Austria to commit troops to the campaign against France in the Netherlands in 1793, an expedition to which
40-467: The British could contribute only men. Adjusted for inflation, this is equivalent to £273,000,000 in 2011. Large sums were made available for the purpose, sometimes as formal subsidies and sometimes as bribes for European statesman. It was partly funded by the introduction of the income tax by Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger . The policy was extremely costly but ultimately proved successful, as
48-537: The actual length of the conflict or the ultimate intra-alliance frictions that were to arise. Both sides believed at first that the war would not extend past one or two campaigns. The Alliance between the two states lasted until 30 April 1762, when it was dissolved by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute in acrimony. King George III supported Bute and George Grenville , against the Duke of Newcastle and Pitt. Golden Cavalry of St George The Golden Cavalry of St George
56-520: The money. It was also agreed that the British would provide a garrison for the port of Emden , which had been in 1757 re-captured from French and Austrian forces by the Allies. That was a significant development, as Britain had refused to deploy troops on the Continent , and the Secretary of State , William Pitt had dismissed the prospect just months before. Neither Britain or Prussia could foresee
64-452: Was the colloquial name of subsidies paid out by the British government to other states in Europe in the 18th and the 19th centuries, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars . The name is a euphemism and derives from the British sovereign gold coins often used in those payments, which bore an image of Saint George , the patron saint of England , on horseback slaying the dragon. During
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