Choiseul, Etienne-François:

$500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

MÉMOIRES DE M. LE DUC DE CHOISEUL, ANCIEN MINISTRE DE LA MARINE, DE LA GUERRE, & DES AFFAIRES ETRANGERES.... The first publicly available and comprehensive edition, after the privately printed components of 1778. Issued in the same year as the quarto edition. Choiseul was a noted French statesman, having entered diplomatic service after a distinguished military career. As ambassador to Vienna in 1757, he strengthened the Austrian alliance by conducting the first negotiations toward the marriage of Marie Antoinette to the future Louis XVI. As minister of foreign affairs (1758-70), he negotiated the several alliances between France and Spain, known as the Family Compact. Most notably, he played a chief role in negotiating the Treaty of Paris, ending the Seven Years' War. Additionally, he restructured the army and navy, supported the publication of Diderot's Encyclopédie, and assisted in the suppression of the Jesuits. His anti-Jesuit actions caused him to fall out of favor with the powerful Mme. du Barry, Louis XV's mistress, and he was exiled from court in 1770.

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