War of the league of Augsburg

Faces

Germany

Louis XIV not having succeeded in convincing the Innocent pope XI to appoint his candidate the cardinal of Furstemberg like archbishop-voter of Cologne, the king of France makes occupy the city, the September 24th 1688, and addresses to the German princes a proclamation which enumerates the reasons for which France was going to enter in war:

the refusal of the Empire to transform into peace the Truce of Ratisbon
rights of Madam, Palatine princess, with the succession of the Elector Palatine
the completion of the policy of the Meetings

Philippsburg is taken by the French troops the October 29th 1688. It is the beginning of the invasion of the Palatinat, on Right Bank of the the Rhine. The December 11th of the same year, not being let intimidate, the Emperor declares the war. To maintain the French Armies and to form a defensive glacis, on an idea of the marquis de Chamlay, Louvois decides to make devastate Palatinat systematically. The January 13rd 1689, Mannheim and Heidelberg are destroyed by the general of Mélac. In June 1689 it is the turn of Worms and Spire, where the tombs of the medieval kings are profaned. These exactions push many German princes, like the Voters of Saxony and Brandebourg, to be combined with the Emperor. Cologne chooses as archbishop the prince of Bavaria. At the summer 1689, the Impériaux take again Mainz and Bonn.

Ireland

The June 20th 1688, Marie-Beatrice of Modena, second wife (catholic) of Jacques II, is confined of a son, baptized Jacques François Edouard. The English fear to have a catholic king. Orangistes then make run the noise of the illegitimacy of the child. The United Provinces vote the sending of a forwarding carried out by the Stathouder William of Orange, son-in-law of the king, to force the English to declare itself against France. William of Orange unloads in the Devon the November 15th, with an aim proclaimed to guarantee public peace. The general lieutenant of the king, John Churchill, first duke of Marlborough, makes defection then. It is the beginning of the Glorieuse Revolution, Jacques II takes refuge in France (November 1688). The April 21st 1689, Marie II and William of Orange, are proclaimed “king and Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland”.

Louis XIV equips 6.000 men with Jacques II, (jacobites), which embarks for the catholic Ireland (February 1689) that it intends to use as base camp of its reconquest of England. If Dublin, the April 3rd, holds a triumphal reception for him, the country was too poor to maintain the armies Jacques II. The May 11th 1689, in the bay of Bantry, the French vice-admiral Châteaurenault pushes back the fleet of the admiral Arthur Herbert. But Jacques II wastes his time to besiege Londonderry and cannot prevent the English under the orders of the marshal of Schomberg, to unload in Ireland (August). The July 10th 1690, Jacques II and Lauzun are demolished with the Bataille of Boyne, close to Drogheda. Jacques II returns to France. Mid-October, the last pocket of resistance jacobite, close to Limerick, falls.

On sea

The essence of the conflict proceeds on sea. The July 10th 1690, Tourville disperses the fleet anglo-Dutchwoman with the course Béveziers (called Beachy Head by the English).

In May 1692, Jacques II convinces Louis XIV to give again a chance to him on sea. Duly chapter by Pontchartrain, the new Secretary of State to the Navy, Tourville must fight battle against the fleet anglo-Dutchwoman to broad of Barfleur. After twelve hours of fierce combat with half less ships than the enemy and having run itself two ships, it is folded up in the roads of Hougue (Saint-Vaast), without wiping major loss. The commander of the troops with ground, Bellefonds, orders to fail the ships instead of cannonading the enemy fleet which followed. This allows the English, unloaded in Chaloupe, to set fire to ten ships.

The “disaster of Hougue” diverts Louis XIV of the war of squadron. From now on, France put on the war of race. Corsairs like Jean Bart, Duguay-Trouin or Forbin illustrate themselves there. On a more prosaic level, they contribute by their catches to nourish France, weakened and struck by the bad weather. Thus, in June 1694, Jean Bart captures 96 Dutch vessels charged with corn. Their cargoes contribute to nourish Paris. Jean Bart is anobli, and he becomes chief of squadron in 1697. Nevertheless, Tourville still delivers a battles, with the head of the fleet of Raising and the West, with broad of Lagos. It disperses an enormous English convoy, protected by the admirals Rooke and Van der Goes. The losses anglo-Dutchwomen rise with 83 ships, for approximately 60 million books of goods.

N the other hand, the coastal towns suffer from the reprisals anglo-Dutchwomen. In June 1694, the allies fail in front of Brest, but in July, they bombard Dieppe during a whole day, destroying the city completely. They are caught some then with the Havre, by shaving a quarter. In the years which follow, Dunkirk, Calais, Saint-Malo, Granville or Saint-Martin-of-D suffer thus from the allied raids.

Spanish Netherlands

In Spain, Marie-Louise of Orleans, woman of Charles II, died in February 1689. The king remaria with Marie-Anne de Neubourg, sister of the empress. Under the German pressure, Charles II signed an agreement with the United Provinces and accommodated the Imperial ones in his fortresses of the Spanish Netherlands. Furious, Louis XIV declared the war the April 15th.

France was surrounded by all shares. In 1689, the border of North had to be reinforced. The armies changed Masters. With the head of the army of Flanders, the marshal of Luxembourg crushed the prince de Waldeck with the battles of Fleurus, on July 1st. Luxembourg gained as well enemy flags there as it was called the “tapestry maker of Notre-Dame”.

In 1691, Louis XIV came itself to besiege Mons, which fell the March 17th. Luxembourg connected by a victory while crushing, in spite of its numerical inferiority with the Bataille of Leuze, close to Tournai. In 1692, Vauban came to end from Namur. The August 3rd, with Steinkerque, Luxembourg, assisted its “gilded troop” (the young person duke of Chartres, the prince de Conti, the duke of Vendôme, the duke of Tweed and the prince de Turenne) pushed back a surprised attack of William of Orange.

Satisfied, Louis XIV created a new batch of marshals. The July 19th 1693, Luxembourg left only on the border faced once again William of Orange. After bloody combat in the streets of the village, the French gained the battles of Neerwinden.

Savoy

Victor-Amédée II of Savoy had negotiated with the Emperor the opening of a new face. Nevertheless, the August 18th 1690, the Savoyard troops were defeats with the Bataille of Staffarda by the marshal of Catinat. Eugene of Savoy succeeds in pushing back the French out of the Piedmont, but those took Savoy and Nice all the same. The October 4th 1693, Catinat again pushed back Victor-Amédée with the Bataille of Marsaille. In 1696, the duke of Savoy signed peace.

Spain

In spring 1694, the marshal of Noailles penetrates in Catalogne. It fights an important battle the May 27th on the river Ter. Its troops force with the fold those of the duke of Escalona. The French continue their advance but are stopped in front of Barcelona by their lack of means.

In 1697, the Sweden proposes its mediation with all the belligerents. Those accept and meet the February 4th in congress with Ryswick, a village of the United Provinces. The only missing country is Spain. The August 9th, the duke of Vendôme seizes Barcelona, after Tourville had blocked its port with the fleet of Raising.

The treaty of Ryswick

The conflict ended in the Traité of Ryswick (September-October 1697) by which France saw the truce of Ratisbon being transformed into final treaty. Louis XIV annexed definitively Strasbourg and all Low-Alsace (4/5 of Alsace), whereas the truce of Ratisbon envisaged of it the restitution with the Empire in 1704. Side of Lorraine, Louis XIV agreed to put an end to the military occupation of the duchy (which had never been annexed by France) and Sarrelouis was definitively yielded to France. Louis XIV agreed to recognize Guillaume III of England. Louis XIV treated Spain with leniency, and returned to Madrid the Spanish Netherlands, occupied since 1684. Louis XIV wanted to prepare the Spanish succession, one thus did not have to run up against the Spanish opinion. Spain was definitively to recognize in France the possession of Santo Domingo ( leave occidentalis ), in the Antilles. That will make it possible France to be the first producer of sugar at the 18th century. France thus did not neglect its colonial interests. All in all, the treaty of Ryswick is a success for France.

Chronology of the war of the league of Augsburg

1688

September 24th: The French occupy Cologne
October 29th: Catch of Philippsburg by the French
at the end of December: Jacques II of England détrôné flees in France

1689

March 22nd: Jacques II unloads in Ireland
April 21st: Marie II and Guillaume III are crowned queen and king d' Angleterre and of Ireland
May 11th: French naval Victoire with the Battle of bay of Bantry
May 12th: Alliance enters the United Provinces and the emperor Léopold Ier
May: The French penetrate in Catalogne until Gérone
June: Devastation of the Palatinat by the French
September 10th: The French are overcome with Mainz
October 10th: The French are overcome with Bonn

1690

July 1st: The marshal of Luxembourg is victorious with Fleurus
July 10th: French naval Victoire of the course Béveziers (Beachy Head)
July 10th: Jacques II and the French quota are beaten with Boyne
August 18th: The marshal of Catinat beats the duke of Savoy to the Bataille of Staffarda

1691

March 25th: The marshal of Catinat seizes Nice
April 8th: Louis XIV takes Mons
May-August: Tourville patrol to keep the oceanic coasts of France

July 16th: Died of Louvois
October 3rd: Final defeat of the jacobites to Limerick (Ireland)

1692

May 19th: naval Battle of La Hague
May 29th - June 3rd: The blocked French fleet with Hougue is partly destroyed by the English
June 30th: Louis XIV takes Namur
August 3rd: The marshal of Luxembourg beats Guillaume III with the Bataille of Steinkerque
September 17th: The marshal of Lorges beats the prince Charles of Wurtemberg to Pforzheim

1693

May 22nd: The French seize and devastate Heidelberg in the Palatinat
June 9th: The marshal of Noailles seizes Roses in Catalogne
26- June 29th: Tourville beats the English admiral George Rooke with the Bataille of Lagos off Portugal
July 29th: The marshal of Luxembourg beats Guillaume III with the Bataille of Neerwinden
October 4th: The marshal of Catinat beats the duke of Savoy and the Prince Eugene with Marsaille
At 55 years and after 43 years of participation in the war Louis XIV gives up making the war personally.

1694

May: Offensive of the marshal of Noailles in Catalonia
June 18th: The English try to unload with Brest
at the end of June: Jean Bart victorious with the Texel seizes a Dutch convoy
August: The marshal of Luxembourg locks the northern border of France.

1695

January 4th: Death of the marshal of Luxembourg
August: The English bombard Dunkirk
14 August 15th: The marshal of Villeroy bombards and sets fire to Brussels
September: Guillaume III of Orange takes again Namur

1696

June: Jean Bart victorious with the Dogger Bank
August 29th: Treaty of Turin between France and Savoy

1697

May 3rd: The French seize Carthagène (in News-Grenade or Colombia)
August 10th: The duke of Vendôme and the admiral of Estrées take Barcelona
September-October: The treated of Ryswick finish the war

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