Golden Cavalry of St George

The Golden Cavalry of St George was the colloquial name of subsidies paid out by the British government to other states in Europe in the 18th and the 19th centuries, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars.

[2] During the War of the Austrian Succession, Britain kept Austria afloat by large subsidies owing to the Anglo-Austrian Alliance.

Britain was a wealthy commercial power and so paid out millions of pounds to Allied nations,[5] which could field much larger armies against the French.

An example is the £1,500,000 paid to Austria to commit troops to the campaign against France in the Netherlands in 1793, an expedition to which the British could contribute only men.

The policy was extremely costly but ultimately proved successful, as a coalition of European nations eventually defeated France in 1814.