The French Dream of Louis XIV: Crusades everywhere in Europe, just to realize the "natural border"

seems to have a "dead knot" that cannot be avoided, that is, all countries that want to fight for hegemony have a fascination with expanding their territory. There are almost no exceptions to the major powers in modern history such as Britain, France, and Russia. Among them, the "mainland powers" seem to be the most "fascinated" by territorial expansion, and the most familiar one is the expansion of the Russian Empire. In fact, France, which is also a "mainland power", has been obsessed with land expansion since the second half of the 17th century. This expansion is most concentrated in France's "natural border" plan.

The expansion of the Russian Empire in the 18th century

France, a "star country" in modern European and even world history, has never been absent from major historical events in Europe and the world since the Thirty Years War began in 1618. , France is already one of the "starring actors" on stage plays in modern world history. Among the many French monarchs, the one we all know very well is Napoleon. Needless to say, he created the most glorious history in France. But although another person said that he did not have the same "contributions" as Napoleon, he was also an outstanding king in French history. He is the "Sun King" in French history. He has a particularly famous saying: "I am the country". He is the core of French kingship in the 17th century-Louis XIV. What he did for France during his tenure can be summed up in one sentence: France wants to realize its national goals and dreams of "natural borders". For this reason, he "struggled his whole life" and launched many foreign wars.

In the first and seventeenth centuries, Louis XIV’s prominent advantages and his dream of "natural borders" in France

1661, the French King Louis XIV, who had been a "puppet" for 18 years, finally took over the power of the country from his mother, and he was in power. (I have to say that history is always so "similar", also in this year the Emperor Kangxi of China came to the throne). After the pro-government, France controlled by Louis XIV is a powerful absolute monarchy on the European continent. Prior to this, France had experienced the long-term centralized construction of two generations of great statesmen, Richelieu and Mazarin, and had become a highly unified monarchy and secular state. At the same time, in the twenty years of campaigning since 1635, France has established an absolute advantage over the Habsburgs, and she has become the most powerful monarchy in Europe.

French King Louis XIV

At this time, Louis XIV's significant advantages are reflected in these aspects:

is first of all a powerful and unified centralized monarchy . France is not like the Habsburg Empire under the reign of Charles V. Although large, it is fragmented and fragmented; it is not like Germany, which is full of states and has no future. It is composed of many homogeneous parts. Composed, organic, and unified modern country.

Secondly, the two branches of the old rivals of the Habsburg family, namely, the Spanish Empire and the Austrian Empire (Holy Roman Empire) are already weak and are not rivals of France. France already has an unshakable "European Brother" geopolitical advantage on the European continent. No single country can be an opponent of France, including Britain or the Netherlands or even Sweden. This is also a rare geographical advantage that France has in modern history.

Thirdly, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 after the Thirty Years’ War and the Peace of Pyrenees in 1659 after the Fascist War gave France many real benefits. For example, the former treaty allowed France to acquire Alsace and confirmed the French occupation of Metz, Tu and Verdun; the latter allowed France to acquire Roussillon in Spain and Artois in the Netherlands. What's more terrible is that the "Pyrenees Peace Treaty" also stipulated that Louis XIV marry Spanish Princess Teresa as his wife, which planted the seeds for the subsequent inheritance war. Stimulated by these dominant positions, especially the acquisition of numerous territories through treaties, Louis XIV decided to start his French dream-realizing "natural borders". Therefore, can be said to have a dominant position, and the acquisition of territory is the raw material and catalyst for Louis XIV’s external expansion.

Today's Pyrenees on the border between France and West

The "natural border" is an idea about the French border proposed by Richelieu, one of the main founders of the modern French country. In other words, the border of the so-called France has to reach such a state: to the east to extend to the Rhine; to the south to reachThe Alps and the Pyrenees are naturally going north and west to the Atlantic Ocean. In other words, it is necessary to regard natural geographical things as the boundary of France's rule. The plan of actually reflects France's ambition to expand its territory under the powerful monarchy. It is also France's "national dream" in the 17th century, and it is also a strategic goal firmly pursued by Louis XIV. To achieve this goal, from the perspective of geopolitics at the time, the most direct enemies faced by France are Spain, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire (Austria and other German states), because the territories of these countries are Louis XIV. The captured goal. At the same time, there is a potential Britain. This emerging country floating on the island is watching the geopolitical changes on the European continent. In fact, the subsequent French expansion wars were also launched around these countries and regions. The European war seemed to break out at any time along with Louis XIV's expansion ambitions.

Richelieu

2. The first shot of Louis XIV's expansion: the War of Inheritance (1667-1668), the French is not a master

Louis XIV's expansion ambitions are already very restless, he seems to be like someone with a play idea Like children, they are already impatient for action. At this moment, a big thing made him start an article.

In 1660, in accordance with the 1659 "Pyrenees Peace Treaty" between France and Spain, Louis XIV married the Spanish Princess Teresa. The problem is that King Philip IV of Spain was not kind, and he did not give a dowry to his daughter, let alone a dowry stipulated in black and white. The 500,000 kronor dowry agreed in the treaty at the time was not honored by Spain, which gave Louis XIV a reason. Five years later, after the untrustworthy Spanish king died, Louis XIV immediately used this as an excuse to request part of the inheritance of Spain. (According to the treaty, Louis XIV was not eligible for inheritance in Spain, but he used Spain as a violation Refuses to recognize this clause for not giving a dowry), what does he want? What he wants is the entire Spanish Netherlands. Z1z can clearly see that this is no longer a question of dowry. What Louis XIV actually sought was the rule of the entire Netherlands, and he wanted to put it under the French crown. Spain must not agree to this one hundred, because this is not a matter of 500,000, and it is directly related to Spain’s national destiny, so the legacy war is inevitable (this war is also called the "war of power" , Because it belonged to him in Louis XIV's eyes).

King Philip IV of Spain

Louis XIV considered one of the most important factors before launching the war against Spain, and that was Britain. At this time, Britain was busy with the war with the Netherlands, and it had no time to take care of the contradictions between France and the West, but France still made preparations and promised certain benefits for Britain. In 1667, Louis XIV entered into a secret agreement with the King of England, promising to grant British subsidies and promise part of the Spanish colonies to change zones to British neutrality, and strengthen the Rhine Alliance. So in 1667, Louis XIV entered and occupied part of the Spanish Netherlands in an undeclared war, and the war began.

But the British are not stupid, how can they lose their way for a little money. Britain knew that once France occupied the Spanish Netherlands, especially Belgium, the southern part of the strait would be almost entirely French territory, and Britain would be completely exposed to France. It's worth it. The French family has long suffered a long time ago, so I don't plan to be neutral. The Netherlands is even more dissatisfied and uneasy about this. The actions of France directly threaten the national security and interests of the newly born Netherlands. Therefore, Britain formed an anti-French alliance with the Netherlands and Sweden in 1668. They hope to sacrifice part of Spain's interests in exchange for peace between the two countries. If Louis XIV does not agree, they will declare war on France. In this case, Louis XIV was helpless. Seeing that the duck that is about to be obtained can only be released. In May of the same year, Spain and France signed the "Aachen Peace Treaty" under the pressure of the anti-French alliance, ending this war of power. The agreement stipulated:

France occupied the twelve cities of Charleroi, Douai, Tourne, Lille and their surrounding lands in the Spanish Netherlands; the Spanish land occupied by France during the withdrawal of the war-Francesca Thai.

This legacy war is Louis XIV’s first military operation to achieve the goal of "natural borders". Although has achieved a lot from the results, it has not achieved the capture of all the Spanish Netherlands at the beginning of the war.Lan's goal, it can be said that Louis XIV was unfavorable and encountered setbacks. Of course he won't be willing to stop here, and new plans will come into being.

3. The second shot of Louis XIV's expansion: the French-Dutch War (1672-1679), France reached its peak

To achieve the goal of moving the French border to the Rhine, the Netherlands is the biggest problem for France. Coupled with the Dutch intervention in France in the War of Inheritance and the blow of Dutch maritime superiority to French trade, Louis XIV decided to make a clear calculation with the Netherlands. So France set the target of the war on the Netherlands.

In modern history, there is a very interesting feature before every war, that is, the isolation of the target country through diplomatic relations. This seems to be a major criterion in European history since the birth of the Westphalian system. In order to isolate the Netherlands, Louis XIV once again made a series of diplomatic preparations. His primary goal is still Britain. At this time, the Stuart dynasty in England had just been restored, and Charles II needed the support of France. Louis XIV played the old trick again, using money bribes and secret funding to win British support. Britain and France also signed the "Dover Secret Pact" and formed an alliance to fight the Netherlands together. Also under the persuasion of Britain and the heavy bribery of France, Sweden was bought by France, and Austria directly declared neutrality. At this time the Netherlands was reorganized into a lonely family. After achieving these "achievements", France decided to immediately start a war against the Netherlands.

The French-Dutch War in 1672

In April 1672, France declared war on the Netherlands under the pretext of high Dutch tariffs hindering French export trade. After the war began, due to the isolation of the Netherlands and the influence of its internal political faction struggles, the Netherlands quickly lost. France quickly occupied several provinces in the south. At this moment of crisis, the Dutch ruler Prince Orange personally commanded the army to fight the French army. He called on the Dutch people to resist surrender and bravely resist the enemy. In the end, the dike was directly waterproofed, which prevented the French attack and saved the capital Amsterdam. At this time, the Netherlands succeeded in blocking the British and French navies with its naval superiority, and the war situation changed. But Orange knew that if he wanted to repel the French army, he must adopt an alliance strategy, otherwise it would be impossible to resist the attack of Louis XIV with the power of the Netherlands. So he relied on his superb grasp of the international political situation in Europe to form the Hague Anti-French Alliance with Austria, Spain and other countries. At the same time, King Charles II of England encountered problems and once again abandoned France and announced his withdrawal from the Anti-Dutch Alliance, but remained neutral. In this case, Louis XIV lost again, and the battlefield was not conducive to France, so under the mediation of Britain (actually it was equal to France paying money to ask Britain to come forward), France, the Netherlands, Spain, etc. signed in 1678 and 1679. The treaties are collectively referred to as the "Nimmegen Peace Treaty." Regulations:

France will return all the Dutch territories it invaded and restore the borders between the two countries before the war; France will return the five places occupied by Charleroi in 1668 to Spain, and replace them with Valenciennes and Cambrai. After waiting for seven territories, Spain ceded Francis Comte to France; France gave up its right to station troops in Philipsburg under the Peace of Westphalia, and Austria agreed to France's possession of Bressac on the banks of the Rhine; Principality Lin ceded Longwei and Nancy to France.

The French army reached the Rhine during the French-Dutch War

. From this we can see that Louis XIV seized the Dutch territory and expanded the border to the Rhine. The peace treaty once again interrupted Louis XIV’s "natural border" expansion plan. However, France also gained a lot of benefits in this war and seized a lot of places. Especially shortly after the end of the war, he also occupied the lands of some German states, as well as Luxembourg in the Spanish Netherlands. Facing the mighty France and the ambitious Louis XIV, the Western European countries were frightened and hoped that they could cease war with France. In 1684, the Netherlands, Spain, Austria and other countries and France concluded a 20-year "Regensburg Armistice Agreement." The agreement temporarily ended the war between France and the aforementioned European countries, and also announced the temporary suspension of Louis XIV’s expansion plan. However, it marked that France under the rule of Louis XIV had reached the peak of this period. In fact, France could obtain greater strategic opportunities as long as it maintained this posture. However, Louis XIV was too rampant and his ambitions could not be calmed down. He decided not to stop the expansion, and the next expansion completely failed.

4. The third shot of Louis XIV’s expansion: the Grand League War (1688-1697), France’s decline from prosperity

Since the formation of the nation-state France, she has been in the wars all around. After the first two wars, France has not Can achieve the goal, but in fact it has already accounted for a lot of benefits. At this time, the French national strength has been damaged, but Louis XIV thought that he could not meet the status quo and could not be confused by this small profit, so the armistice agreement was not yet signed. A new war was planned in his heart, and this time he was targeting the Holy Roman Empire.

Holy Roman Empire

This is another war on the issue of inheritance. In 1685, the Elector of Balladin of the Habsburg family died. As he left no heirs, Louis XIV, in the name of his younger brother-in-law (Princess Balladin), asked to inherit the estate (territory and property). This matter was related to the interests of the Holy Roman Empire, so Emperor Leopold I came forward to arbitrate, but Louis XIV firmly believed in obtaining this inheritance and rejected the emperor. Through this incident, the Holy Roman Empire knew that France’s expansion ambitions could not be satisfied, so in 1686 it formed an alliance with France’s enemies, Spain, Sweden, and some German states to develop the expansion of Louis XIV in France, namely "Augsburg alliance".

In 1688, Louis XIV declared war on the Holy Roman Empire. Originally this was just a "small war", the Holy Roman Empire was not an opponent of France at all, and the French army was progressing smoothly. But I didn't expect things to get worse. This is also a strategic error of Louis XIV. In November he declared war on the Netherlands, which was a fatal mistake, just as serious as Napoleon's declaration of war on Russia later. Because the "Glorious Revolution" took place in Britain at this time, the king was already the Dutch ruling William, which meant that the war against Holland was actually a war against Britain. So Britain openly opposed France's expansion ambitions. So taking this opportunity, the Holy Roman Emperor and the Netherlands formed an alliance, followed by powerful countries such as Britain, Brandenburg, and Saxony. France is facing immense pressure and danger. This originally small war suddenly turned into a "European War" between France and the "Grand League", and it lasted for nine years, so it was also called the "Nine Years" war".

The glorious revolution

Louis XIV after years of war of attrition, it is really unbearable. So he can only adopt foreign policy to divide the alliance as much as possible. In 1695, France won the battle between Britain and the Netherlands. The war was too much for everyone, so they were ready to negotiate a peace. In 1697, France signed the "Riswick Peace Treaty" with Spain, Britain, the Netherlands, and the Holy Roman Empire, ending this war of attrition for many years. The treaty stipulates:

France will return all the Spanish territories annexed after the "Nimmegen Peace Treaty" to Spain (a small part of it is retained); France recognizes William III as King of England; France will occupy the Holy Rome in this war The territory of the empire was returned to Emperor Leopold I, who ceded Strasbourg to France, Alsace was completely under French rule; France returned Lorraine to the Duke of Lorraine and so on.

The Great Alliance War greatly consumed France's national power. A France that was so strong that it had no opponents has changed into an inconspicuous "general power". France has lost the territories it had seized in the war, and it has also lost control of the sea. What's even worse is that the nine-year war not only offended many countries, made too many enemies, worsened their geopolitical environment, and "emptied their bodies" excessively. At this time, France looks strong on the surface, but in fact it is imaginary inside. France went from prosperity to decline.

France in the 17th and 18th centuries

5. Summary of the failure of France's "natural border" strategy

Louis XIV has continuously launched wars of aggression and expansion to realize the "natural border" since his administration. The three large-scale external use of troops has increased the prestige and national strength of France to a certain extent (France has indeed acquired a lot of land). However, Louis XIV did not realize his dream. After just 30 years of expansion, the French borders still failed to reach the goal. "Natural borders" are still a distant dream. Therefore, in general, the country of France Louis XIV The dream did not come true.

However, from a long-term strategic point of view, Louis XIV suffered a big loss. Not to mention that France has gone through the Thirty Years' War, and it has grown up with European countries, and its internal consumption is huge. What's more serious is that during this period of time, Britain quickly rose. France was the unparalleled largest power in Europe before the war. After the war, I am afraid that Britain can at least stand on the same starting line with it, and in fact, the expansion of Louis XIV has not yet occurred. It ended, and soon the Spanish Succession War began. This war has nothing to do with "natural borders", but it is also an important part of his expansion and hegemony. However, this will make him lose even more miserably. Britain has completely stood on top of France. Since then, the war between France and Britain has become an important part of the 18th century. The theme of century Europe.

The Seven Years' War between Britain and France

is a good old Chinese saying, "Although the country is big, belligerent will perish; although the world is safe, forgetting war will endanger." War is only a policy tool. It cannot be used, but it cannot cure all diseases. Louis XIV is a typical case!

References: Shi Yinhong's "History of Modern and Contemporary International Relations", Fang Qinglian and other "History of International Relations" Modern Volume