Marquis de Puyzieulx

The Marquis de Puyzieulx was a French statesman and diplomat of the 18th century. He represented France for much of the Breda Peace Talks, which were aimed at bringing the War of the Austrian Succession to an end.

He was subtly undermined in this role both by the growing financial crisis in France (which the British were well aware of, thanks to their spies) and by a refusal of the British to take the talks seriously, while they still sought victory on the battlefield. Much of his correspondence with Paris was intercepted by British agents, and the contents passed on to his opposite number on the British side, Lord Sandwich. He was eventually recalled and replaced.

References

Bibliography

• Browning, Reed. The Duke of Newcastle. Yale University Press, 1975.
• Murphy, Orvile T. Charles Gravier: Comete de Vergennes: French Diplomacy in the Age of Revolution. New York Press, 1982.
• Rodger, N.A.M. The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, 1718-1792. Harper Collins, 1993.