Triple Alliance (1668)

The Low Countries ca 1700; French expansion in this area threatened both England and the Dutch Republic.

As part of the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ended the Franco-Spanish War, Louis XIV married Maria Theresa, the eldest daughter of Philip IV of Spain. Despite being weakened by nearly a century of conflict, the Spanish Empire remained a huge global confederation. To prevent its acquisition by France, Maria Theresa renounced her inheritance rights. In return, Louis was promised a dowry of 500,000 gold écus, a huge sum that was never paid.[2]

In 1661, Louis took control of the state and initiated an expansionist policy. Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert argued French economic growth required the Spanish Netherlands. That implied conflict with Emperor Spain, Leopold and even the Dutch Republic, a long-term French ally. The 1648 Peace of Münster, which confirmed Dutch independence, also gave Amsterdam control of trade through Northwestern Europe, by permanently closing the Scheldt estuary. Keeping it shut was a Dutch priority.[3]

Antwerp, ca 1645; its closure in 1648 made Amsterdam the richest port in Europe, and keeping it shut was a Dutch priority and brought it into conflict with France.

By 1663, Louis concluded thet the States General would never voluntarily agree to his demands and began planning to seize the Spanish Netherlands.[4] As required by the 1662 Franco-Dutch Treaty of Paris, France entered the Second Anglo-Dutch War in July 1665, providing an excuse for its military build up. Louis also calculated that to make it harder for the Dutch to oppose him.[5] In September, Philip died, leaving his four-year-old son Charles as king, and his widow, Mariana of Austria, as regent.[6]

Louis argued since her dowry remained unpaid, Maria Theresa's renunciation was invalid and so her rights "devolved" to him under the Jus Devolutionis, an obscure law restricting inheritance to children from a first marriage. He used it to claim much of the Spanish Netherlands. In April 1666, Mariana's daughter Margaret Theresa married Mariana's brother Leopold. If Charles died, Leopold would inherit the Spanish Empire.[7]

Talks on ending the Anglo-Dutch War opened in Breda in May 1667. Louis launched the War of Devolution on 24 May, and by September, his troops had occupied much of the Spanish Netherlands.[8] On 27 May, the Treaty of Madrid ended the 1654-1660 Anglo-Spanish War, and England agreed to mediate an end to the Portuguese Restoration War in return for commercial concessions.[9] The Dutch Medway Raid in June forced England to conclude the war. The Treaty of Breda was signed on 31 July, and negotiations began for a common front against France.[10]

Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary, 1653 to 1672; although the treaty was seen as a Dutch triumph, he recognised the dangers.

For De Witt, the French alliance secured his position against the Orangist opposition and ensured Dutch economic supremacy. For the same reasons, England, Spain and Leopold sought to break it. By 1667, the prospect of France replacing Spain as a neighbour meant that most of the States General and the Dutch populace saw an English alliance as essential for mutual survival.[11]

Although Charles preferred France, he viewed Breda as a personal humiliation and blamed Louis, who failed to deliver on a promise to ensure that the Dutch accepted English terms. This perspective was widely shared by his advisors, including chief minister Lord Arlington, many of whom also viewed Spain as a better partner than France. Losses from war and the Great Fire of London meant that the Parliament and the City of London Corporation wanted peace, which seemed to be best achieved by partnership with the Dutch seemed.[12]

Negotiations were led by SirWilliam Temple, the English ambassador in The Hague and Brussels, for whom French expansion was a bigger threat than Dutch economic strength.[13] He was supported by François-Paul de Lisola; born in Besançon, capital of Franche-Comté, he served as Imperial ambassador in London from 1667 to 1668 and The Hague from 1669 to 1673. The gistorian and political theorist Mark Goldie viewed the 1667 work 'The Buckler of State and Justice' as a key document in establishing France as England's enemy, rather than Spain.[14]

The Great Fire of London; domestic disasters, combined with losses from the Anglo-Dutch War, meant a majority in England wanted peace

In September, De Witt asked Louis his conditions for withdrawing from the Spanish Netherlands and offered to mediate with Spain to ensure their acceptance. Louis agreed, but only if the Dutch enforced them on both parties; this meant when Spain rejected his terms, the States of Holland passed resolutions on 10 December and 14 January 1668, approving military support for France.[15] On 20 January 1668, Louis and Leopold agreed a secret Partition Treaty, dividing the Spanish Empire if Charles died.[16]

The French ambassador, Godefroi, Comte d'Estrades, was well-informed on negotiations for the Alliance and assured Louis that he could delay approval by bribes. However, Temple persuaded the States General to approve it before asking the provincial bodies although normal practice was the other way around. Once the States General announced their decision, public enthusiasm was so great thag no one dared take d'Estrades' money. On 23 January 1668, the Alliance was signed by England and the Republic.[17]

Seeking to widen the coalition, Temple invited Sweden to join; it had signed a treaty with the Dutch in July 1667 and controlled the Baltic trade in vital naval supplies, including pitch and timber for shipbuilding.[18]

The Alliance contained three separate elements; a defensive alliance, a guarantee of terms for ending the War of Devolution and secret clauses.[19] Spain was held partially responsible for the war by arranging the 1666 marriage between Leopold and Margaret Theresa and so had to bear some of the cost. As agreed in September, France would withdraw from the Spanish Netherlands but retain Lille, Armentières, Bergues, Douai Tournai, Oudenarde, Courtrai, Veurne, Binche, Charleroi and Ath.[20]

The Alliance guaranteed to enforce compliance by Spain by a secret clause requiring it to end the war with Portugal. With Louis clearly preparing action, another clause committed to forcing France back to its 1659 boundaries if it continued the war. The English Parliament approved £300,000 if needed, and the States General activated 48 warships, and the recruitment of 18,000 additional troops.[21]

As a condition of signing, Sweden demanded reimbursement of 480,000 rixdollars, costs incurred for an attempt to capture Bremen in 1666, which it claimed was for the benefit of Spain. The Dutch and the English refused to pay and passed the obligation onto Spain; after protracted debate, Sweden signed on 5 May (NS), bringing together the three major powers in the Baltic and the North Seas.[22]

French troops entered Franche-Comté on 5 February. Its conquest was complete on 19 February, and Louis decided to make peace.[23] Key factors included the cost of the war, which was far higher than expected, and reports of being close to death. If so, the agreement with Leopold meant that Louis could achieve his objectives peacefully, and France was not yet ready for a war with Spain, England, the Dutch and the Holy Roman Empire.[24]

The April 1668 Treaty of Saint Germain between England, the Dutch and France set out the terms used at Aix-la-Chapelle in May. In Article 6, the Dutch and English undertook to enforce them if Spain did not comply, mirroring the 'secret' clause of the alliance against France. In reality, there was no English support for war with Spain on behalf of France or the Dutch, especially given the commercial terms of the 1667 Treaty of Madrid; besides, the Royal Navy was in no state to fight a war.[25]

HMS St Andrew; launched in 1670 as part of an expansion of the Royal Navy, intended to provide military support for the Triple Alliance

In the short term, the partnership was undermined by diverging interests. De Witt and Charles saw it as a way to improve their bargaining position with Louis, a perspective at odds with most of their domestic support. The chief driver in England was a desire for peace, rather than a preference for the Dutch, and the failure to resolve commercial disputes resulted in the Third Anglo-Dutch War. For Sweden, it provided an opportunity to end the Dutch treaty with its regional rival, Denmark-Norway, and to remove concessions imposed by the 1656 Treaty of Elbing.[26]

However, it marked the end of the longstanding Franco-Dutch alliance and the first step in creating the anti-French coalition that continued until the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. The balance of power concept advocated by Temple had two important implications for English policy: the ability to enforce it and a network of allies. From 1668 to 1674, Parliament voted large sums to strengthen the Royal Navy, and English diplomacy began to focus on powers like Sweden, Brandenburg and Denmark, instead of only Spain, the Dutch, France or the Holy Roman Empire.[27]

De Witt hoped to make Louis moderate his demands; in the end, it fuelled Louis's resentment at 'Dutch ingratitude' and highlighted the limits of De Witt's control of the States General. Louis decided that acquiring the Spanish Netherlands was best achieved by first defeating the Dutch and do began preparations for the 1672-1678 Franco-Dutch War. The Treaties of Breda and the Alliance were viewed as Dutch diplomatic triumphs and although De Witt was well aware of the dangers, he failed to convince his colleagues.[28]

Although Charles' personal preference led to the 1670 Secret Treaty of Dover, the long-term trend was against him. Commercial tensions provided limited backing for the Third Anglo-Dutch War, but an alliance with Catholic France was deeply unpopular, and both countries made peace in the February 1674 Treaty of Westminster.[29]

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