Louis XIV made no secret of his territorial ambitions. A
total of four wars defined his reign ie. The War of the Devolution (1667-1668),
the Dutch War (1672-1678), the War of the League of Augsburg (1688-1697) and
the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).
I will discuss the first three wars here and deal with the War of the
Spanish Succession tomorrow.
In the War of the Devolution, Louis made use of a lesser
known law, the Jus Devolutionis, as a
pretext for occupying the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté.
He claimed a right to this Spanish controlled territory as a result of his
marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain. The French did not encounter much resistance here initially but their plans were although the Spanish claims were curtailed by a Dutch, English and Sweden alliance forcing Louis to return territory France did pick up several cities and towns in
the exchange including Lille, Tournai and Charleroi.
Mare Theresa wife of Louis XIV source: sandragulland.com
The Dutch Wars (also known as the Franco-Dutch wars) broke
out in 1672. Louis’s France allied themselves with Sweden and England (until
1678) as well as some of the smaller German principalities and attacked the Dutch
Republic. The Dutch relied on the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and Brandenburg for
support. Although a great deal of the fighting took place in the Low countries
there was conflict in France, Sicily, the West Indies and North America as well. Losses over the six year period (ending in
1678) were high – 120,000 for the French alliance and 100,000 for the Dutch and
their Allies. At one point (earlier 1672)
the Dutch resorted to the flooding of their countryside to halt the
French invasion. The Dutch navy fought very well staving off attacks from both
France and England. Eventually the French were driven out of the Dutch Republic
as fighting shifted to the Spanish Netherlands (modern day Belgium). A war of attrition persisted with
the French refusing to cede ground. Fearful of the English flipping sides Louis
decided to eventually settle for peace. The Treaty of Nijmegen was signed in
1678-79. Spain gained the territory of the Spanish Netherlands but was forced
to restore Charleroi to Spain. There were several other regional shifts in
territory. The Franco-Dutch War was Louis’ s most successful campaign from a
territorial perspective.
Louis XIV's Dutch War source: internationalhistory.wordpress.com
The War of the League of Augsburg was also known as the Nine
Years War. Others call it the War of the Grand Alliance. In North America the
war is known as King William’s War. France largely stood alone between the years 1688-1697 against an alliance that included the Dutch Republic, England, the
Holy Roman and Spanish Empires, Portugal and Sweden. In North America English
and French settlers battled one another with support from their native allies.
Like previous wars the Austrian Netherlands served as a battleground in Europe but so did
the Rhineland, Catalonia and the territory of the Duchy of Savoy. In 1697 the
Treaty of Ryswick ended the war. France kept control of Alsace, the Indian
region of Pondichery and Acadia in North America.. However they lost Freiburg,
Breisach, Phillipsburg to the Holy Roman Empire and the Duchy of Lorraine to
the Habsburgs.
Map of the Nine years war source: weaponsandwarfare.com
No comments:
Post a Comment