THE AGE OF LOUISE XIV

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The reign of Louis XIV (1643-1715)

Foreign Policy

In foreign policy, Louis XIV wanted to make France the largest European power, which led to an aggressive foreign policy, involving the country in many wars in Europe that ultimately weakened France. The first wars were:

·         War of Devolution (1667-1668): on behalf of alleged rights of his wife, Maria Teresa of Austria, daughter of King Philip IV of Spain, the king demands the territories of the Spanish Netherlands. Faced with the refusal of the then king of Spain, Charles II (brother of Maria Teresa), the French troops occupied part of Flanders and the Franche-Comté. By the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle (1668), Louis XIV annexed ten Spanish cities, including Lille, Douai and Charleroi.

·         Dutch War (1672-1678), was because the retaliatory measures taken by the Netherlands against the protectionist policy of Colbert. From a local war became a European conflict. The Dutch have bravely defended their country, paving the levees and causing a flood to retain the French invasion. The resistance leader was William of Orange, who managed to form a coalition against Louis XIV, involving the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Brandenburg, Duke of Lorraine and numerous German princes. The Peace of Nijmegen (1678) assured the French annexation of the Franche-Comté, and the cities of the Spanish Netherlands, as Valenciennes, Cambrai and Mauberge.

·         War of the League of Augsburg or the War of the Palatinate (1668-1697): The immediate cause was the occupation of the Palatinate after the death of Carlos voter, whose sister was a sister of Louis XIV, made this claim in favor of his brother, Philip Orleans. Another reason for war was a dispute over the choice of the archbishop of Cologne. The candidate of Louis XIV was Cardinal von Fürstenberg, bishop of Strasbourg, from Clement of Bavaria, the pope and the candidate of the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1686 had formed the League Defensive Augsburg due to the policy of annexations led by Louis XIV. Participated in this league the emperor, most of the German princes, Sweden, Spain, Savoy and the Netherlands. The English Revolution of 1688 put on the British throne, William of Orange, archenemy of Louis XIV, who joined the league. This coalition left France isolated. The Treaties of Ryswick  in 1697 ended the war. Louis XIV kept Strasbourg and Saarlouis, but returned almost all the territories that attach after the Treaty of Nijmegen, officially recognized William of Orange as King of England and pledged to no longer support any claims of the Stuarts to the English throne.The War of the League of Augsburg ended the attempt of French hegemony in Europe.

·         War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714):  King Charles II of Spain had no direct descendants. Emperor Leopold I and Louis XIV were both sons and husbands of princesses Spanish. Running for succession to the second son of Leopold I, Archduke Charles of Habsburg, and the grandson of Louis XIV, Philippe d'Anjou. Charles II, last Habsburg king of Spain, Philip of Anjou to leave the throne in his will, which takes the name of Philip V. However, Louis XIV ruled that Philip V would be the heir to the French throne, opening the possibility of forming a large Franco-Spanish monarchy with one sovereign, which threatened the European balance. On behalf of Philip V, Louis XIV invades the Netherlands. These join to England and the Holy Roman Empire to put on the Spanish throne Archduke Charles. The French disaster was not higher because during the war, Archduke Charles became Holy Roman Emperor also (1711), causing a reversal in the system of alliances. It did not matter to England now a reprint of Charles V, who was also king of Spain.England now joins France in this war with a commitment to renounce the Spanish Bourbons, at any time, to claim the French throne.