Spain put forth her claims to Hungary and Bohemia, appanage of the elder branch of the house of Austria.

Sardinia desired her share in Italy.

Prussia had a new sovereign, who spoke but little, but was the first to act.
Kept for a long while by his father in cruel captivity, always carefully held aloof from affairs, and, to pass the time, obliged to engage in literature and science, Frederick II.

had ascended the throne in August, 1740, with the reputation of a mind cultivated, liberal, and accessible to noble ideas.

Voltaire, with whom he had become connected, had trumpeted his praises everywhere.