International Wars during the Enlightenment

Franco - Dutch War  (1672 - 1678)

After the Dutch Republic teamed with England and Sweden to stop Louis the XIV of France from conquering the Spanish Netherlands in the War of Devolution (1667-1678), Louis went to war against the Dutch Republic with England, France, Sweden and Cologne on his side. The Dutch were later joined by the Austrian Habsburg lands, Brandenburg-Prussia and Spain, which led to their being able to hold off France.  


Nine Years War  (1688 - 1697)  

Louis XIV again attempts extend his political authority, this time by attacking in the Rhineland.  Austria, England, the Dutch Republic, Spain, and Savoy allied against him.  The French armies were generally successful, but France, England and the Dutch Republic were financially exhausted by 1697 and agreed to a compromised peace in which Louis XIV retained the whole of Alsace but was forced to return Lorraine to its ruler and give up any gains on the right bank of the Rhine.  Louis also accepted William III as the rightful King of England, while the Dutch acquired a Barrier fortress system in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their borders.  The war was also fought in India and the American colonies (where it is known as King William's War.


War of Spanish Secession  (1701 - 1714)     

A European international war for the crown of Spain between the Austrian Habsburgs and the French Bourbons after the death of the Habsburg King Charles II in 1700.  Again, England and the Dutch sided with the Habsburgs against France.  In the end, the Bourbon Philip V is King of Spain, but Spain losses some major European holdings like northern Italy to the Austrian Habsburgs. 


During the 1700s, European powers will engage in two further international wars before the French Revolution begins in 1789; the War of Austrian Secession (1740 - 1748) and the Seven Year's War (1756 - 1763).