Louis XIV of France - Early Wars in The Low Countries

Early Wars in The Low Countries

The death of Philip IV of Spain in 1665 precipitated the War of Devolution. In 1660 Louis had married Philip IV's eldest daughter, Maria Theresa, as part of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees. The marriage treaty specified that Maria Theresa was to renounce all claims to Spanish territory for herself and all her descendants. However, Mazarin and Lionne made the renunciation conditional on the full payment of a Spanish dowry of 500,000 écus. The dowry was never paid and would later play a part persuading Charles II of Spain to leave his empire to Philippe d'Anjou (later Philip V of Spain)—the grandson of Louis and Maria Theresa.

The War of Devolution did not focus on the payment of the dowry. Rather, Louis's pretext for war was the "devolution" of land. In Brabant, children of the first marriage traditionally were not disadvantaged by their parents’ remarriages, and still inherited property. Louis's wife was Philip IV's daughter by his first marriage, while the new King of Spain, Charles II, was his son by a subsequent marriage. Thus, Brabant allegedly "devolved" on Maria Theresa. This excuse led to France's attack on the Spanish Netherlands.

Internal problems in the Dutch Republic aided Louis's designs. The most prominent politician in the United Provinces at the time, Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary, feared the ambition of the young William III, Prince of Orange, specifically dispossession of his supreme power and the restoration of the House of Orange to the influence it had enjoyed before the death of William II, Prince of Orange. The Dutch were thus initially more preoccupied with domestic affairs than the French advance into Spanish territory. Moreover, the French were nominally their allies against the English in the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War. Shocked by the rapidity of French successes and fearful of the future, the Dutch nonetheless turned on their nominal allies and made peace with England. Joined by Sweden, the English and Dutch formed a Triple Alliance in 1668. The threat of an escalation of the conflict and a secret treaty partitioning the Spanish succession with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, the other major claimant to the throne of Spain, induced Louis to make peace.

The Triple Alliance did not last very long. In 1670 French gold bought the adherence of Charles II of England to the secret Treaty of Dover. France and England, along with certain Rhineland princes, declared war on the United Provinces in 1672, sparking off the Franco-Dutch War. The rapid invasion and occupation of most of the Netherlands precipitated a coup that toppled De Witt and brought William III to power.

In 1674, when France lost the assistance of England, which sued for peace by the Treaty of Westminster, William III received the help of Spain, the Emperor Leopold I, and the rest of the Empire. Despite these diplomatic reverses, the French continued to triumph against overwhelming opposing forces. Within a few weeks, French forces led by Louis captured all of Spanish-held Franche-Comté in 1674. Despite being greatly outnumbered, Condé trounced William III's coalition army of Austrians, Spaniards and Dutchmen at the Battle of Seneffe, and prevented him from descending on Paris. Another outnumbered general, Turenne, conducted a daring and brilliant campaign in the winter of 1674–1675 against the Imperial armies under Raimondo Montecuccoli, driving them back across the Rhine out of Alsace, which had been invaded. Through a series of feints, marches and counter-marches in 1678, Louis besieged and captured Ghent. By placing Louis in a military position far superior to his enemies, these victories brought the war to a speedy end. Six years of war had exhausted Europe, and peace negotiations were soon concluded in 1678 with the Treaty of Nijmegen. Although Louis returned all Dutch territory he captured, he retained Franche-Comté and gained more land in the Spanish Netherlands.

The conclusion of a general peace permitted Louis to intervene in the Scanian War in 1679 on behalf of his ally Sweden. He forced Brandenburg-Prussia to the peace table at the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and imposed peace on Denmark-Norway by the Treaty of Fontainebleau and the Peace of Lund.

The successful conclusion of the Treaty of Nijmegen enhanced French influence in Europe, but Louis was still not satisfied. In 1679 he dismissed his foreign minister Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne, because he was seen as having compromised too much with the allies. Louis maintained the strength of his army, but in his next series of territorial claims, Louis avoided using military force alone. Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment the boundaries of his kingdom. Contemporary treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Louis established the Chambres des Réunions to determine the full extent of his rights and obligations under those treaties.

Cities and territories such as Luxembourg and Casale were prized for their strategic position on the frontier and access to important waterways. Louis also sought Strasbourg, an important strategic crossing on the Rhine through which various Imperial armies had invaded France. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg-ruled Alsace and was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia. Following the determinations of the Chambres des Réunions, Louis seized these and other territories. Infuriated by his annexations, Spain declared war, precipitating the War of the Reunions. However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because the Emperor (distracted by the Great Turkish War) abandoned them, and the Dutch only supported them minimally. By the Truce of Ratisbon in 1684, Spain was forced to acquiesce in French occupation of most of the conquered territories for 20 years. Louis's policy of the Réunions may have raised France to its greatest size and power during his reign, but it alienated much of Europe. This poor public opinion was compounded by French actions off the Barbary Coast and at Genoa. First, Louis had Algiers and Tripoli, two Barbary pirate strongholds, bombarded to obtain a favourable treaty and the liberation of Christian slaves. Next, in 1684, a punitive mission was launched against Genoa in retaliation for its support for Spain in previous wars. Although the Genoese submitted and the Doge led an official mission of apology to Versailles, France gained reputation for brutality and arrogance. European apprehension at growing French might and the realisation of the extent of the dragonnades' effect (discussed below) led many states to abandon their alliance with France. Accordingly, by the late 1680s, France became increasingly isolated in Europe.