Such were the conditions which might still change defeat into triumph.

The fact that the right to the succession had been waived by the king was easily disposed of.

Philip, Louis' grandson, presented his claim in competition with that of the son of Leopold I., Emperor of Germany.
When the pope, with whom the decision lay, decided in favor of Philip, grandson of the great Louis, all Europe sprang to the aid of the Austrian archduke in the war of the Spanish succession.
It was a little side play in the opening of this great drama, which brought the kingdom of Prussia into existence.

Frederick, elector of Brandenburg, when called upon to arm by the emperor, refused to do so except upon one condition: that he might wear the title of king instead of elector; which condition was granted, with the stipulation that the name of Prussia, a detached piece of territory the ancestors of Frederick had cut out of the side of Russia, be substituted for Brandenburg.

So out of this war of personal ambition there had sprung a new kingdom, the kingdom of Prussia, of which France was to hear much in the future.
England was not eager to join the new coalition in defence of the Hapsburg, whom in common with the rest of Europe she had for years been trying to pull down.