Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659)

From 1618 to 1648, European politics and diplomacy was dominated by Thirty Years' War, which provided another outlet for the contest between France, and its Habsburg rivals in Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Prior to May 1635, France avoided direct involvement, instead financing Habsburg opponents such as the Dutch Republic, and backing Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War. When the Peace of Prague (1635) seemed likely to end the fighting in May 1635, France declared war on Spain, then joined the 30 Years War against Austria. From 1640 onwards, it also supported insurgencies in Catalonia, Portugal, and Naples. For their part, the Habsburgs backed a series of Huguenot rebellions and conspiracies organised by feudal lords who resented their loss of power under Cardinal Richelieu and his successor, Cardinal Mazarin. The most significant included those led by Montmorency in 1632, the Princes des Paix plot by Louis, Count of Soissons in 1641, and Cinq-Mars in 1642. Spain also backed anti-government rebels in the 1648–1653 French civil war known as the Fronde. ; Purple: Spanish dependencies; Green: Ruled by Austria; Orange: Ruled by Spain Wider co-operation between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs was limited since their objectives did not always align. Spain was a global maritime power, and Austria was primarily a European land power and focused on the Holy Roman Empire, which contained over 1,800 states, most of them extremely small. Although the Habsburgs had been Holy Roman Emperors since 1440, their control over the empire was weakened by the 1555 Peace of Augsburg, which continued in the period leading up to 1620. Reversing the trend was a major Habsburg objective during the Thirty Years' War, but failure was acknowledged by the 1648 Peace of Westphalia. France faced the same issue of diverging objectives with its allies. The war coincided with the period of economic supremacy known as the Dutch Golden Age, and by 1640, many Dutch statesmen viewed French ambitions in the Spanish Netherlands as a threat. Unlike France, Swedish war aims were restricted to Germany, and in 1641, the Swedes considered a separate peace with Emperor Ferdinand III. From the late 16th century, Italy, especially the Kingdom of Naples, was the primary source of money for the Army of Flanders. As a result, much of the fighting focused on the Spanish Road, a land supply route connecting Spanish possessions in Italy with Flanders but also passing through areas considered vital to French security, like Alsace. The independent Duchy of Savoy and Spanish-held Duchy of Milan were strategically important to the Road but also provided access to the vulnerable southern borders of France and Habsburg territories in Austria. Richelieu aimed to end Spanish dominance in those areas, an objective that had been largely achieved at his death in 1642. Until the advent of railways in the 19th century, water was the primary means of bulk transportation, and campaigns focused on control of rivers and ports. Armies relied on foraging, while the feeding of the draught animals essential for transport and cavalry restricted campaigning in the winter. By the 1630s, the countryside had been devastated by years of constant warfare, which limited the size of the armies and their ability to conduct operations. Sickness killed far more soldiers than combat. The French army that invaded Flanders in May 1635 had been reduced by desertion and disease from 27,000 to under 17,000 by early July. ==Background==

, King of France from 1610 to 1643 The Thirty Years' War began in 1618 when the Protestant-dominated Bohemian Estates offered the Crown of Bohemia to Frederick V of the Palatinate, in place of the conservative Catholic Ferdinand II. Most of the Holy Roman Empire remained neutral, and the Bohemian Revolt was quickly suppressed. However, the war expanded when Spanish forces invaded the Palatinate and forced Frederick into exile. The removal of a hereditary prince changed the nature and extent of the war. As part of a general policy to weaken Ferdinand wherever possible, Catholic France supported his internal and external opponents. This included the Protestant Dutch Republic in its war against Spain, as well as funding first Danish and then Swedish intervention in the Empire. In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden invaded Pomerania partly to support his Protestant coreligionists, but he also sought control of the Baltic trade, which provided much of Sweden's income. Although Swedish intervention continued after Gustavus' death at Lützen in 1632, it caused tensions with Saxony and Brandenburg-Prussia, whose lands were devastated by the plague and famine that accompanied the war. A significant Imperial-Spanish victory at Nördlingen in September 1634 forced the Swedes to abandon southern Germany, and most of their German allies made peace with Ferdinand II at Prague in April 1635. Prague led to rumours of a proposed Austro-Spanish offensive in the Netherlands and led Louis XIII of France and Richelieu to decide on direct intervention. In early 1635, they signed an agreement with Bernard of Saxe-Weimar to provide 16,000 troops for a campaign in Alsace and the Rhineland, formed an anti-Spanish alliance with the Dutch, and signed the Treaty of Compiègne with Sweden. ==Phase I: 1635 to 1648 Treaty of Westphalia==

{{Location map many|Belgium|caption = 1635–1659; key locations in northern France and the Spanish Netherlands (current Belgium borders shown; Arras, Valenciennes and Dunkirk were part of the Spanish Netherlands)|relief=yes|border = black| width = 260| float = left In May, a French army of 27,000 invaded the Spanish Netherlands and defeated a smaller Spanish force at Les Avins and besieged Leuven on 24 June, where they were joined by Dutch reinforcements. Disease and lack of supplies quickly reduced the besieging army, which withdrew in the face of a relief force under Ottavio Piccolomini on 4 July. Led by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, the Spanish took the initiative and captured Limbourg, Gennep, Diest and Goch and besieged Dutch garrisons in the Duchy of Cleves. The French retreated across the border, and the Dutch, under Frederick Henry, marched urgently on the strategic position of Schenkenschans. Captured by the Spanish on 28 July, it was recovered only after a long and costly siege. After that failure, the States General of the Netherlands opposed further large-scale land operations in favour of attacks on Spanish trade. In the campaign of 1636, Philip switched his focus to recovering territories in the Low Countries, while a Franco-Savoyard offensive in Lombardy was defeated at Tornavento in June. A Spanish incursion led by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand into northern France quickly captured the key fortified town of Corbie in August, but despite causing panic in Paris, the Cardinal-Infante decided to halt the advance on Paris because he deemed his stretched supply lines to be too great a risk. The attack would not be repeated during the war since the Cardinal-Infante himself would fall ill in the coming years. As agreed at Compiègne in 1635, the French replaced Swedish garrisons in Alsace. Prior to his death in 1639, Bernard of Saxe-Weimar won a series of victories over the Imperials in the Rhineland, notably the capture of Breisach in December 1638. Severing the Spanish Road meant the Spanish armies in Flanders had to be resupplied by sea, which made them vulnerable to attack by the Dutch States Navy, which destroyed a large Spanish fleet at the Battle of the Downs in 1639. Although most convoys managed to get through, that illustrated the difficulties Spain faced in sustaining its war effort in the Low Countries. With Spanish resources stretched to the limit in Europe, the Dutch used the opportunity to attack their possessions in the Americas, Africa and Asia, especially those belonging to the Portuguese Empire, which was also ruled by Philip IV. Spanish inability to protect those interests caused increasing unrest in Portugal. Damage to the economy and tax increases imposed to pay for the war led to protests throughout Spanish territories, which in 1640 erupted into open revolts in Portugal and Catalonia. In 1641, the Catalan Courts recognised Louis XIII of France as Count of Barcelona and the ruler of the Principality of Catalonia. However, they soon found the new administration differed little from the old, which turned the war into a three sided contest between the Franco-Catalan elite, the rural peasantry and the Spanish. {{Location map many|Baden-Württemberg|caption = 1635–1648; key locations Rhineland campaign|relief=yes|border = black| width = 200| float = right Louis XIII died on 14 May 1643, and was succeeded by his five-year-old son, Louis XIV, whose mother, the former Spanish princess, Anne of Austria, took control of the Regency Council that ruled in his name. Five days later, Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé defeated the Spanish Army of Flanders at Rocroi. Victory gave Condé, a royal prince and effective ruler of large parts of eastern France, leverage in his struggle with Queen Anne and Cardinal Mazarin. Despite some successes in northern France and the Spanish Netherlands, including victory at Lens in August 1648, France was unable to knock Spain out of the war. In the Holy Roman Empire, Imperial victories at Tuttlingen and Mergentheim were offset by French success at Nördlingen and Zusmarshausen. In Italy, French-backed Savoyard offensives against the Spanish-ruled Duchy of Milan achieved little because of lack of resources and the disruption caused by the 1639 to 1642 Piedmontese Civil War. Victory at Orbetello in June 1646, and the recapture of Naples in 1647 left Spain firmly in control of the region. The 1648 Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War, recognised Dutch independence and ended the drain on Spanish resources. Under the October 1648 Treaty of Münster, France gained strategic locations in Alsace and Lorraine, as well as Pinerolo, which controlled access to Alpine passes in Northern Italy. However, the peace excluded Italy, Imperial territories in the Low Countries and French-occupied Lorraine. Although Emperor Ferdinand was now at peace with France, the fighting between France and Spain continued. ==Phase II: 1648 to 1659==

{{Location map many|Italy North|caption = Northern Italy; key locations 1635–1659 (note Pinerolo, ceded to France in 1648) |border = black|width =360|float = left|relief = yes|Italy Piedmont#Italy When financial pressure forced Philip IV of Spain to declare bankruptcy in 1647, he focused on retaking Catalonia, while remaining on the defensive elsewhere. Although many of the troops captured at Rocroi soon returned to service, in their absence a significant part of Flanders was overrun, including Dunkirk, a major base for Spanish privateers attacking Dutch and French shipping. However, Spain's position improved when the Dutch war ended in 1648, along with the outbreak of civil war in France, the Fronde. The resulting turmoil allowed Philip IV to retake most of the lost territories in Flanders, including Ypres, but neither side was able to gain a significant advantage. In 1650, Spanish success in crushing the Neapolitan Revolt was offset by the loss of Barcelona to French-backed Catalan rebels. Mazarin forced Condé into exile in the Spanish Netherlands in 1651, where his immense prestige in territories adjacent to the Spanish possession of Franche-Comté made him a valuable ally for Philip. Over the course of 1652, Spain recaptured both Dunkirk and Barcelona, and although limited combat continued in Roussillon, the front by 1653 had stabilised along the modern Pyrenees border. However, doing so forced Philip into bankruptcy again, while the end of the Fronde allowed Mazarin to resume attacks on Milan, possession of which would allow France to threaten Habsburg Austria. The attempt failed despite support from Savoy, Modena and Portugal. By now, the two antagonists were exhausted, with neither able to establish dominance. From 1654 to 1656, major French victories at Arras, Landrecies and Saint-Ghislain were offset by Spanish victories at Pavia and Valenciennes. Under pressure from Pope Alexander VII, Mazarin offered peace terms but refused to accept Philip's insistence for Condé to be restored to his French titles and lands. Since the Spanish king viewed this as a personal obligation to Condé, the war continued. France had previously relied on the Dutch to provide naval support against Spain, which ended after Westphalia. In 1657, Mazarin replaced the loss by negotiating an anti-Spanish alliance with the Commonwealth of England. That expanded the scope of the Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660), and France withdrew support for the exiled Charles II of England, whose supporters joined the Spanish as a result. After the Anglo-French capture of Dunkirk in June 1658, Philip requested a truce, which Mazarin refused. On 15 August, Spain won an important victory at Camprodon in Catalonia, Oliver Cromwell's death in September led to political chaos in England, and fighting in northern Italy ended when French allies Savoy and Modena agreed to a truce with the Spanish commander Caracena. ==Treaty of the Pyrenees and marriage contract==

, ruler from 1621 to 1665 On 8 May 1659, France and Spain began negotiating terms; Cromwell's death in September 1658 weakened England, which was allowed to observe but excluded from the talks. Although the Anglo-Spanish War was suspended after the 1660 restoration of Charles II, it did not formally end until the Treaty of Madrid (1667). Under the Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed on 5 November 1659, France gained Artois and Hainaut along its border with the Spanish Netherlands, as well as Roussillon. These were more significant than often assumed; in combination with the 1648 Treaty of Münster, France strengthened its borders in the east and south-west, while in 1662, Charles II sold Dunkirk to France. Acquisition of Roussillon established the Franco-Spanish border along the Pyrenees, but divided the historic Principality of Catalonia, an event still commemorated each year by French Catalan-speakers in Perpignan. In addition to these territorial loses, Spain was forced to recognize and confirm all of the French territorial gains at the Peace of Westphalia. France withdrew support from Afonso VI of Portugal, while Louis XIV renounced his claim to be Count of Barcelona, and king of Catalonia. Condé regained his possessions and titles, as did many of his followers, such as the Comte de Montal, but his political power was broken, and he did not hold military command again until 1667. An integral part of the peace negotiations was the marriage contract between Louis and Maria Theresa, which he used to justify the 1666 to 1667 War of Devolution, and formed the basis of French claims over the next 50 years. The marriage was more significant than intended, since it was agreed shortly after Philip's second wife, Mariana of Austria, gave birth to a second son, both of whom died young. Philip died in 1665, leaving his four-year-old son Charles as king, once described as "always on the verge of death, but repeatedly baffling Christendom by continuing to live." ==Aftermath and historical assessment==

, whose marriage to Louis XIV was part of the peace negotiations The Treaty of the Pyrenees was traditionally viewed as ultimately deciding the war in favour of Louis XIV, with France replacing Spain as the predominant European power. Modern analyses tend to suggest a more balanced outcome, with some arguing neither side emerged as a clear victor. Historians have overwhelming supported the concept that France achieved a successful outcome to the conflict through military action. Recently, a number of experts from either perspective on the result of the treaty, view the conflict as militarily indecisive, with both sides stuck in an ensuing stalemate pattern from 1637 to 1659. The treaty has also been seen as a major foreign policy success for Mazarin, although he was forced to accept less satisfactory terms than were available in November 1647. One view is that Spain escaped surprisingly lightly considering its position post-war, despite having achieved worse terms than what was offered in 1656. In territorial terms, Spain remained the predominant European power for years to come, but its economic and military power suffered an abrupt decline after 1659. Although it was an important participant in the European coalitions against Louis XIV during the Franco-Dutch War and the Nine Years' War, Madrid was increasingly unable to defend territories outside the mainland from France without foreign support. The Spanish Netherlands, with many of its fortresses in disrepair and its troops poorly supplied, became particularly vulnerable to French attack. ==Financial and military impact==

Taking on the Spanish Empire, then the strongest military power in Europe, required French forces of unprecedented size and an associated expansion of the taxation and supply base needed to support them. To meet these needs, official estimates for the army expanded from 39,000 in 1630 to around 150,000 shortly before the declaration of war in May 1635. However, at this stage the French state was unable to support such large numbers; of the 27,000 men who took part in the invasion of the Spanish Netherlands in May of the same year, fewer than 15,000 remained a month later. Throughout the war, both sides struggled to support offensives outside their own boundaries; the Spanish invasion of northern France in 1636 was withdrawn due to a lack of supplies and was not repeated. (1643) is often seen as the end of the battlefield supremacy of the tercios. Including those supplied by Bernard of Saxe-Weimar and paid by France, between 1635 and 1642 official troop levels averaged 150,000 to 160,000, with a peak of 211,000 in 1639. These are based on official muster rolls and should be treated with caution, since officers were paid for numbers reported, rather than those actually present; in addition, during this period on average another 10% was absent due to sickness, although most generally recovered. Parrott estimates variances between "Reported" and "Actual" averaged up to 35% for the French and 50% for the Spanish, although John A. Lynn suggests an average of 60%. Throughout the war, military strategy and objectives were often secondary to finding adequate provisions, especially given the primitive infrastructure then available. It was not until the 1660s that Louvois created systems which allowed France to sustain an army of nearly 200,000 men for extended periods, and crucially ensure co-ordinated strategy between different fronts. At the start of the war, the more experienced Spanish were better equipped while their resources made it easier to replace losses. The French sought to negate those advantages by fighting on multiple fronts and supporting anti-Spanish forces in Catalonia, Naples and Portugal. Loss of Dutch naval support after 1648 severely impacted France's ability to challenge the Spanish at sea, until replaced with the English alliance in 1657. At its peak in 1632, the Spanish army contained around 300,000 regulars and 500,000 local militia, who were in general suitable only for garrison duty. In 1632, only 30% of the Castilian militia possessed firearms, and although this briefly improved, by 1659 this had fallen to less than 13% of the 465,000 listed in their registers. A considerable portion of these were ethnic Spaniards; approximately 288,000 soldiers recruited from Castile and Aragon died, became prisoners, or went missing during the war according to a "very moderate" estimate, an average of 12,000 losses per year, not limited to combat only. These 288,000 equaled 25-30% of all Castilian and Aragonese men who served in the army from 1635 to 1659 and excludes a large number of those non-fatally wounded. According to one military historian, France suffered 300,000 killed or wounded, with a total of 200,000 deaths in the war on both sides. , April 1648 During the 1630s, the Spanish state increasingly relied on its Italian territories for recruits and money; historian Davide Maffi calculating Milan provided around 4,000 recruits per year, along with 6 million scudi in annual taxes. From 1631 to 1636 alone, Naples provided 3.5 million scudi, significant naval resources and 53,500 recruits, making it an important rear support zone of the empire. In addition to maintaining its own garrison and navy, from 1630 to 1643 Naples supplied an average of 10,000 recruits a year to war theaters, an annual subsidy of one million ducats to support other areas of the Spanish Empire, and paid a third of Milan's government expenditures. As a result, its public debt quintupled and by 1648 interest payments constituted 57% of revenue, while taxes tripled between 1618 and 1688, crushing the southern Italian economy. In October 1647, revolts in Sicily and Naples were quickly suppressed, but they exposed the weakness of Spanish rule in Italy and alienation of the local elites from Madrid. In 1650, the governor of Milan claimed only Parma could be relied upon. == Notes ==