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Why did Austria abandon its alliance with Great Britain in 1756?

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Seven Years' War: Battle of Zorndorf — Seven Years’ War Frederick II leading his Prussian troops against Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf during the Seven Years' War, August 25, 1758.

Austria abandoned its long-standing alliance with Great Britain in 1756 primarily because the British government, led by the duke of Newcastle, prioritized its own strategic interests over Austrian concerns regarding Silesia.1

The relationship had already been strained by the War of the Austrian Succession, as British subsidies and military efforts failed to protect Austrian territories. The definitive break occurred following the Convention of Westminster in January 1756, in which Great Britain and Prussia agreed to defend each other’s territories in Germany.12

For the Austrian chancellor Wenzel Anton von Kaunitz, this agreement proved that the British alliance was no longer worthwhile. Viewing the British move as a betrayal, Austria sought to secure its own interests—specifically the recovery of Silesia—by aligning with France, their traditional enemy, through the First Treaty of Versailles in May 1756. This shift, known as the Diplomatic Revolution, fundamentally realigned European powers on the eve of the Seven Years’ War.213