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"Mazarin instructed Louis in the areas of law, kingship and
politics till his death in 1661. Two revolts in 1648 and 1653 called to Fronde
forced Louis to bring reform to France. The Franco-Spanish treaty ended
France's war with Spain and gave them land in the south. France's predominance
in Europe had begun. After Mazarin died in 1661 Louis XIV began to rule himself
and alone.
The first war was against Spain. Louis married Marie-Therese of Spain in 1660
due to the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees. Louis went to war with Spain
claiming his wife's right to inheritance to the Spanish throne in 1667 by
invading the Spanish Netherlands. He made many quick victories and in 1668,
England, Holland and Sweden forced Louis to sign the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Louis gained 12 fortresses in Flanders, and to isolate Holland he bought
Swedish and English neutrality. In 1672, Louis sent an army to invade Holland.
The Dutch fought the French until 1678 with Spanish and Austrian support. Other
European nations stayed out of the conflict. In 1678, the French and Dutch
signed the Treaty of Nijmegan. This treaty gave France the Franche-Comte region
and even more forts in Flanders. But what had weakened Louis's power was him
revoking the Edict of Nantes in 1685, forcing 200,000 French Protestants into
exile. Ill-advised, Louis sent his forces into the Rhineland in 1688 to claim
the Palatinate for his sister-in-law Elizabeth Charlotte of Bavaria. Louis was
not successful in the War of League of Augsburg, however, and although he
devastated the Rhineland, the Treaty of Ryswick in 1697 did not improve France.
The last major struggle of Louis XIV was the War of the Spanish Succession from
1701 to 1714. A previous problem in Europe earlier was who was to succeed
Charles II of Spain. The heir to the throne was connected to either the
Austrian Habsburgs or the French Bourbons. France did not want the new king to
be Austrian because that would make Spain and Austria, two of France's
traditional enemies, powerful allies. England did not want the new King to be
Bourbon because that would make France and Spain allies, which Britain did not
want. King William III of England and Louis XIV decided that the new king
should be a Habsburg prince of Bavaria, who would have to agree to never join
forces with Austria. But Charles II of Spain made a new will before he died
naming Philip V of Anjou the new King of Spain when he died. Louis decided that
he would honor the previous agreement made with Britain and not join forces
with Spain. But when French forces began to occupy Spanish fortresses in the
Spanish Netherlands as a prelude to invading Holland, war was eminent and could
possibly upset the European balance of power established at the Treaty of
Ryswick of 1697. Britain formed a Grand Alliance of the Netherlands, Denmark
and Austria, later Portugal, against France, Spain and a number of German and
Italian principalities. The War was also called Queen Anne's War." (Steingrad Wars) |
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