Louis XIV’s Foreign Policy

Balance of Power
1st sense: equilibrium: pwr distrib. amongst many separate states
2nd sense: equil. disturbed, opposing states ---> coalition & provide counterweight by
which balance is restored
3rd sense: “holding” the balance: a state is needed more by aliies the it needs them = this
state “hold” the Balance of power
or
it belongs this state belongs to no coalition, tries to keep all others in balance
its intervention would be decisive ---> also “holds” the balance
(strictly speaking, not involved at all)

Statesmen Pursuing Balance of Power

aim: preserve own indep. of actions to utmost, ther4 ally vs. any state threatening to
domin.
one state too pwrful - others shun alliance w/ it unless willing to be puppets
would instead seek alliance w/ weaker states (counterweight) to restore balance v. feared
ally w/ weaker also ---> enhances own importance, more considerations for self
smaller states = import i.e. Den = location, Dutch = $/ships ---> can tip balance

Purpose Balance of Power Politics

not 2 preserve peace, rather sovereignty & indep. so called “liberties of Europe”
ther4 alliance were easily made/unmade accord to interp. of current situation

effective to this end 17th & 18th C

1) grt # states capable pursue ind. foreign policy
2) not held bk by ideologies or sympathies, only aim to protect own indep. or
enlarge interests

1667-1668 : War of Devolution (legal term used in prelim demands)

Louis claimed Sp Neth & Franche-Comté

Blocked by Triple Alliance: Eng/Dutch/Swedish
Peace of Aix la Chapelle 1668

1672-1678 : the Dutch War

Louis strngr @ home, now allied w/ Charles II Eng - invades w/ 100,000 troops
vs. Dutch + austr Hapsburgs, Brandenburg, Denamrk
dutch resort to opening dikes and flooding countryside
Treaty of Nimwegen 1678: France stopped but gained Franche-Comté

Louis XIV: Foreign policy 1

1679 Louis ---> HRE: Alsace-Lorraine
encouraged by his success, weakness Ger Empire, & other div. of European pwrs: took
Strausbourg 1681
Louis had elector of Brandenburg, electors of Rhineland Church states
HRE diet divided: pro/con French
Emperor Leopold I distracted in East w/ Hungarian revolt (supp by Louis)
Turks had joined Hungarians, 1638 beseiged Vienna (like 1529)
finally got Turks out w/ help Poland
1686 League of Augsburg formed
Leopold gathered Cath powers vs. French
Prot. (revoc of Nantes) allied w/ William of Orange
1688-1697 : 9 Years War (War of the League of Augsburg)
Louis basically overwhelmed
(William gained resources Eng when ---> king 1689)
1697 Peace of Ryswick: a return to prewar status

*Wars of the 1680’s 90’s gained Louis no terr beyond what had @ Nimwegen

Louis fighting on homefront:

supp army of 200,000
vs. grt nations Europe, Bnk of Amsterdam, Bnk of England
exceeded French resources
successor to Colbert: Le Peltier
devalued money, sold offices, titles, gave tax exemptions -- not enuf
as usual, burden fell upon peasants: revolts widespread last decades of 17thC
series bad harvests 1688 - 1694 made things worse
price wheat up! starvation, (buried 1/10th of pop these years)
slump manuf/exports, pillaging troops....
People called for peace!
Louis granted 5 year respite while rebuilding resources to fight next war

1702-1713 : War of the Spanish Succession

fought by pro armies, not wholes peoples, civ pop generally spared cept civil war in Sp +
more starvation in France
1st large scale war where religion mattered little
commerce/sea power @ stake
Eng $ liberally used on continent
“world war” in sense that overseas fighting involved

France ---> Spanish inheritance <--- HRE

ea had ruler who married a sis of Charles II
various treaties signed to partition Sp possessions (1698)
idea: preserve bal of power

Louis XIV: Foreign policy 2

 1700 Charles II died: had will:
Sp possessions were to stay intact ---> grandson Louis XIV (Philip of Anjou)
only if Louis prom crowns Sp/Fr never inherited by one ruler
if Louis refused ---> son Hapsburg emp in Vienna

Louis accepted: Bourbons in Versailles and Madrid

ther4 Fr. influence extended, if not united
“The Pyrenees exist no longer”

Other powers stunned & didn’t like the sidelines

motives for action: claimed Fr. pwr 2 strong
50 years overseas maritime rivalry to resolve
check France’s ezpansion commercial pwr in N Amer, Asia, Africa

William III acted immed. : formed Grand Alliance 1701

Eng/Holl/emp HRE w/ Brandenburg, Prtugal, Savoy
vs.
France, Spain, Bavaria

1702 Grand Alliance declares war on France

A long war cuz no sooner one side gain temp adv ---> raised demands for settlement

G.A. had two brilliant military men

John Churchill : Duke of Marlborough (Eng)
Prince Eugene of Savoy (Austr)
1704 allies served a crushing blow to France @ Blenheim
many early battles won by Allies

Louis sues for peace: but refuses offer cuz demands enormous
Louis still wants: 1) hold 2 crowns
2) conq Belgium
3) Fr. merch ---> Sp Amer
4) @ worst fight in self defense

1710 - Louis = minor success ---> insists on holding Sp crown

Spanish: fight in support of will, unity of Sp possess., integrity of Sp itself
Austr ---> Barcelona ---> Catalonia: who again rebel & recog Austr claims
= civil war in Spain
---> Spain in Hapsburg family
crush Bavaria, Austr infl.---> Alps: Italy
Dutch ---> want security, keep Fr out of Belgium, close Scheldt River
Eng ---> Gibraltar, trty w/ Port, want same as Dutch + dislike Fr supp pretenders
also like Dutch: keep Fr merch out of Sp Amer, adv own comm inter.
Brandenburg/Savoy ---> for whatever adv. turned up
Peace of Utrecht 1713-1714
Louis XIV: Foreign policy 3
Partition Sp wld, not only to two legal claimants = balance of power principle in action
(Brit const. history: when Lords block Commons, create new Lords to have approp maj.)

Savoy = recog as “king” of Sardinia

Brandenburg = recog as “king” of “Prussia”, tiny region Sp Guelderland (of SP Neth)
Austr Hapsburgs = Milan, Naples, Sicily, Sp Neth.
Dutch = guarantees of security, garrison “Dutch Barrier” (forts in Belg on side ---> Fr)
could now expect minimal competitionfrom S. neighbors
BUT: severely strained by war & outdistanced by Brit
**Dutch never again play a primary role in Eur politics
British = greatest winners ---> one grtst pwrs in Eur
Union w/Scots 1707 during war
Gib/Minorca ---> pwr in Medit.
Belg (“pistol aimed @ the heart of Eng”) in Austr. hands (who didn’t really want it)
Added to Amer holdings
Asiento extorted from Spain
privil. of providing Sp Amer w/ slaves, Bristol & Liverpool benefitted grtly
Brits ---> Sp Amer: compete w/ french
assured line of Prot Kings
landed arist. / merch allies in firmly in control ---> great wealth: basis Ind. Rev.

Spain = no Eur. poss, but kept American

Louis XIV grandson = Philip V of Spain (cond. Fr/Sp thrones never under one)
** completed decline of Spain as grt power
***William II obj: prevent Fr dominance is achieved

War = main cause loss of Fr strength

prod poverty, misery, depop. (famine 1709)

exposed Louis to severe crit @ home
40,000 new offices sold = reduced revenue base of future
revived aristocrat/Parlementary opposition
for now abandoned conq Belgium
ceased recog Stuart pretenders
Newfoundland/Nova Scotia(Acadia) ---> Brit.
recog Brit sovereignty in Amer NWest(Hudson Bay Terr)

YET: Fr only checked, not down and out

Louis’ statebuilding had withstood true test: defeat on battlefield

retained Alsace-Lorraine, Franch-Comté
influence strong in Spain
deep strength, capacity for recovery ---> renewed econ expansion
Lang/cult continued spread thru Europe
Louis XIV: Foreign policy 4
Treaty Utrecht confirmed internat’l relations estab. by Wesphalia
nations members of Eur sys
recog ea other as sov states connected only by free negoc., war, treaty
adj differences thru facile xchange of terr, wo/regard of people there

France and Great Britain emerge as two leading powers:

ther4 principle carriers, exporters of type of civiliz. predomin. in Modern Wld
Ger = “feudal chaos”
Ital = negligible
Sp = subordinate to France

Louis XIV: Foreign policy 5