Louis XIV's Wars -2


The Battle of La Hogue	The wars of Louis XIV (2)

From Nijmegen to the Nine Years’ War

The acquisition of Alsace and Franche-Comté had whetted Louis XIV's appetite for expansion. He embarked on the policy of réunions - French lawyers were commissioned to discover towns that were "dependencies" of his new acquisitions, and had arguably at some point in the past strictly been French. Louis then annexed them to France however spurious or antiquated the claim.

In 1681, Louis seized German, Protestant Strassburg and transformed it into French, Catholic Strasbourg; the remainder of Alsace (no longer Elsass) was seized at the same time.

"Desuetude was no objection when Louis XIV wished to revive a claim in his own favor, and if his logic did not always carry conviction, his artillery did"
(Ogg).

The Peace of Nijmegen had split the grand alliance formed against Louis, and he used the threat of French military might to bully each of his opponents singly.
While the Empire was preoccupied with the threat from Ottoman Turkey, Louis invaded the Spanish Netherlands (1683) and laid siege to Luxembourg (April 1684). In the Truce of Ratisbon (August 1684) Spain was forced to recognize French possession of Strasbourg, Luxembourg and Oudenarde.
Genoa had allied itself with Spain, so Louis bombarded the city into submission and demanded that its Doge come to Versailles and apologize.

1684 saw Louis XIV at the height of his power. Many resented French intimidation, but the threat from the Turks in the East and disunity in the West gave Louis the upper hand. Between 1685 and 1688 matters changed.

The successes of the Holy Alliance ended the danger of Ottoman invasion.
The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes deeply alienated Protestant powers.
The Glorious Revolution placed William of Orange (Louis's most determined enemy) on the throne of England in place of James II (Louis's compliant friend).

Elisabeth Charlotte (1652-1722)
Duchess of Orleans
Princess of the Palatinate

In 1685, the Elector Palatine - the last direct descendant of Frederick V - died childless. The Palatinate was inherited by Philip William of Cleve-Jülich (a cadet branch of the family). However, Louis XIV's brother, Philippe of Orléans, had married Elisabeth Charlotte of the Rhine (daughter of Karl Ludwig, Elector Palatine), and Louis claimed that she was entitled to land or compensation. In German minds, this raised the threat of further French expansion into the Rhineland.

In July 1686, the League of Augsburg was formed by the Holy Roman Empire, Bavaria, Saxony, the Palatinate, Sweden and Spain to oppose French aggression.

The Imperial army defeated the Turks at the Battle of Mohács (August 1687). Louis invaded the Palatinate in October 1688 before the Emperor's armies had redeployed from the East. The French army devastated the area in one of the few real war crimes of this period's warfare.

The Glorious Revolution surprised Louis XIV as did the Grand Alliance of Spain, the Empire, Savoy and many German states that William of Orange was able to forge.

The Battle of the Boyne (July 1690)

Louis XIV struck back at William of Orange by supplying James II with 6,000 troops in an attempt to regain his throne. James went to Ireland where the Catholic, anti-English population rallied to his support. However, William II, helped by the Protestant Ulstermen defeated James' army in The Battle of the Boyne.
[The anniversary of this victory is celebrated each year by Protestant Orangemen marches deeply resented by Ulster's Catholic inhabitants.]

Louis XIV planned an invasion of England, but the French admiral, Anne-Hilarion de Cotentin, Count of Tourville was defeated in May 1692 by the Admiral Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford. The English intercepted the French fleet off Barfleur, pursued it for five days, and when it sought shelter in the bay of La Hogue (La Hougue) burnt at least 12 (possibly 15) of its ships at anchor.

The Allies largely controlled the seas, but French armies were successful on land. Louis conquered Nice and much of Savoy, and only restored these when the Duke of Savoy concluded a separate peace in May 1696.
In 1695, the great French general François Henri de Montmorency-Bouteville, Duke of Luxemburg died; his successor François de Neufville, Duke of Villeroy was incompetent.

In 1697, Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme captured Barcelona.

The French also succeeded in capturing Cartagena in Spanish America (New Granada i.e. modern Colombia). The war also spread to the French and English colonists of North America where the conflict was called "King William's War".

[Henry Hall]
Upon the King's Return from Flanders, 1695

Rejoice, you sots, your idol's come again,
To pick your pockets and kidnap your men.
Give him your moneys, and his Dutch your lands.
Ring not your bells, ye fools, but wring your hands

Both sides were running out of their taxpayers' resources and so concluded the Peace of Ryswick 1697.

France had to restore much of its ill-gotten gains (including Trier, Breisach, Lorraine, Luxemburg and Catalonia) to recognize William III as King of England, and to accept a pension for Elisabeth Charlotte in lieu of her claims to the Palatinate.

Despite its now enormous army of over 300,000 men, France had very little to show for the nine years warfare of 1688-97.

FRANÇOIS HENRI DE MONTMORENCY-BOUTEVILLE, DUKE OF LUXEMBURG

"I never can beat that cursed humpback," William of Orange said of him.
"How does he know I have a hump ?" retorted Luxemburg, "he has never seen my back."