The War of Devolution (24 May, 1667 – 2 May, 1668) was a war between Louis XIV's France and Habsburg Spain fought in the Spanish Netherlands. It was resolved in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
| War of Devolution | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Louis XIV visiting a trench during the war | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| France | Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Louis XIV | Charles II | ||||||
The war was the first of Louis' wars of territorial aggrandizement. The prize: the rich market cities of the Catholic Low Countries and their long-established textile trade, which competed with French interests; the ports that offered advantageous positions opening on the English Channel and the North Sea; and opportunity to control river traffic at the mouth of the Rhine.
Background
Louis' claims upon the Spanish Netherlands were tenuous. His wife, Marie Thérèse, the daughter of Philip IV of Spain, had renounced her rights of a Spanish inheritance in return for a large dowry at the time of her marriage. The dowry had yet to be paid, however. When Philip finally died in 1665, Louis' lawyers justified Louis' possible claims by arguing that, while Spanish laws of succession meant the throne of Philip IV would pass to his son Carlos II, ancient laws of Brabant ruled that the Spanish Netherlands could "devolve" to Philip's daughter from his first marriage, Louis' wife. France pressed the claim in 1667; Spain contested it. Louis began preparing for war. His able financial minister Colbert reorganized the army and expanded it from 50,000 to 80,000 men.
War
Spain, a cumbersome fragmented nation struggling with the first modern bout of inflation, could put up little resistance to the French assault, under the wise veteran, the Turenne. With no main Spanish army in Flanders, the initial stages of the war in 1667 became a series of French sieges against Spanish-held towns and fortresses that were undermanned and with no hope of relief; most of these sieges ended quickly and Turenne, at times with Louis in attendance, took towns such as Charleroi, Tournai, and Douai in a campaign the French remembered as the "promenade militaire." The only long siege was that of Lille, from August 28 to September 25.
The great success of the French began to worry the other powers of Europe, especially long-time French allies, the Netherlands. The Dutch as well as England, the various German states, and Sweden had been quite content to have Spain, a weakened kingdom that no longer posed a serious threat to their borders, in control of the strategic southern Low Countries. If France gained control of the Spanish Netherlands it would mean a strong and aggressive state on the Dutch border, and in control of the excellent ports opposite England and the North Sea. Thus the Dutch formed the Triple Alliance in January 1668, joining the Dutch Republic, England, and Sweden. They issued a decree granting Louis the territory he had demanded at the start of the war, but warned that if the French continued their offensive beyond those lines the three would join the Spanish in repelling them.
French troops under the skillful Prince de Condé (the "Grand Condé") swiftly occupied the Franche-Comté in February, but then, with his troops ranged across a long possible front, ill positioned to resist the Triple Alliance, Louis agreed to their demands.
Aftermath
France gained some territory in Flanders, but the Spanish Netherlands, as well as the Franche-Comté, were returned to Spain. Inwardly he was seething. He had hoped to take the entirety of the Spanish Netherlands and felt betrayed by the Dutch, who, to French eyes, were only independent due to French help in their war of independence. The War of Devolution thus led directly to the Franco-Dutch War of 1672–1678, with Charles II co-opted by Louis' gold to fight against the Dutch.