Rhineland and the Empire Marshal Duras, Vauban, and 30,000 men – all under the nominal command of the
Dauphin – besieged the Elector of Trier's fortress of Philippsburg on 27 September 1688. After a vigorous defence it fell on 30 October. Louis XIV's army proceeded to take
Mannheim, which capitulated on 11 November, shortly followed by
Frankenthal. Other towns fell without resistance, including
Oppenheim,
Worms,
Bingen,
Kaiserslautern,
Heidelberg,
Speyer and, above all, the key
fortress of Mainz. After
Coblenz failed to surrender
Boufflers put it under heavy bombardment, but it did not fall to the French. Louis XIV now mastered the Rhine south of Mainz to the Swiss border, but although the attacks kept the Turks fighting in the east, the impact on Leopold I and the German states had the opposite effect of what had been intended. The League of Augsburg was not strong enough to meet the threat, but on 22 October 1688 the powerful German princes, including the
Elector of Brandenburg,
John George III, Elector of Saxony,
Ernest Augustus of Hanover, and
Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, reached an agreement in
Magdeburg that mobilised the forces of north Germany. Meanwhile, the Emperor recalled the Bavarian,
Swabian, and
Franconian troops under the Elector of Bavaria from the Ottoman front to defend south Germany. The French had not prepared for such an eventuality. Realising that the war in Germany was not going to end quickly and that the Rhineland
blitz would not be a brief and decisive parade of French glory, Louis XIV and Louvois resolved upon a
scorched earth policy in the Palatinate,
Baden and
Württemberg, intent on denying enemy troops local resources and prevent them from invading French territory. By 20 December, Louvois had selected all the cities, towns, villages and châteaux intended for destruction. On 2 March 1689,
Count of Tessé torched Heidelberg; on 8 March
Montclar levelled Mannheim. Oppenheim and Worms were finally destroyed on 31 May, followed by Speyer on 1 June, and Bingen on 4 June. In all, French troops burnt over 20 substantial towns as well as numerous villages and remaining medieval castles. The
Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire declared war on France on 11 February 1689, beginning a
unified imperial war effort. The Germans prepared to take back what they had lost, and in 1689 formed three armies along the Rhine. The smallest of these, initially under the Elector of Bavaria, protected the upper Rhine between the lines north of Strasbourg to the
Black Forest. On the middle Rhine stood the largest army under the best Imperial general, and commander-in-chief,
Charles V, Duke of Lorraine. Charles V cleared away the French threat on
Frankfurt and opened trenches around Mainz on 22/23 July. After a bloody two months siege, the
Marquis of Huxelles finally yielded the town on 8 September. Meanwhile, on the lower Rhine stood the Elector of Brandenburg who, aided by the celebrated Dutch engineer
Menno van Coehoorn, besieged Kaiserswerth. Kaiserswerth fell on 26 June before the Elector led his army on Bonn, which,
having endured a heavy bombardment, finally capitulated on 10 October. The invasion of the Rhineland had united the German princes in their opposition to Louis XIV who had lost more than he had gained that year along the Rhine. The campaign had also created a diversion of French forces and sufficient time for William of Orange to invade England.
Britain of 1588. James II's ill-advised attempts to Catholicise the army, government and other institutions had proved increasingly unpopular with his mainly Protestant subjects. His open Catholicism and his dealings with Catholic France had also strained relations between England and the Dutch Republic, but because
his daughter Mary was the Protestant heir to the English throne, her husband William of Orange had been reluctant to act against James II for fear it would ruin her succession prospects. Yet if England was left to itself the situation could become desperate for the Dutch Republic: Louis XIV might intervene and so make James II his vassal; or James, wishing to distract his subjects, might even join with Louis in a repetition of
the attack made on the Dutch Republic in 1672. By the end of 1687, therefore, William had envisaged intervention, and by early 1688 he had secretly begun to make active preparations. The birth of
a son to James's second wife in June displaced William's wife Mary as James's heir apparent. With the French busy creating their
cordon sanitaire in the Palatinate (too busy to consider serious intervention in the Spanish Netherlands or to move against the south-eastern Dutch provinces along the Rhine) the
States General unanimously gave William their full support in the knowledge that the overthrow of James II was in the security interests of their own state. The invasion fleet consisted of 463 ships and 40,000 men on board, roughly twice the size of the
Spanish Armada, with 49 warships, 76
transports carrying soldiers and 120 for the five thousand horses required by the cavalry and supply train. For propaganda purposes, English admiral
Arthur Herbert was nominally put in command, but in reality operational control remained with
Lieutenant-Admiral Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and Vice-Admiral
Philips van Almonde. Louis XIV had considered William's invasion as a declaration of war between France and the Dutch Republic (officially declared on 26 November); but he did little to stop the invasion – his main concern was the Rhineland. Moreover, French diplomats had calculated that William's action would plunge England into a protracted civil war that would either absorb Dutch resources or draw England closer to France. However, after his forces landed unhindered at
Torbay on 5 November (
O.S), many welcomed William with open arms, and the subsequent
Glorious Revolution brought a rapid end to James II's reign. On 13 February 1689 (O.S.) William of Orange became King William III of England – reigning jointly with his wife Mary – and bound together the fortunes of England and the Dutch Republic. Yet few people in England suspected that William had sought the crown for himself or that his aim was to bring England into the war against France on the Dutch side. The
Convention Parliament did not see that the offer of joint monarchy carried with it the corollary of a declaration of war, but the subsequent actions of the deposed king finally swung
Parliament behind William's war policy. British historian J. R. Jones states that King William was given Before British forces could effectively take part in the war, the English army had to be reorganised. James' commander-in-chief
Louis de Duras, Earl of Feversham, had disbanded the English army in December 1688 so it had to be effectively rebuilt from scratch.
Hendrik Trajectinus, Count of Solms and other Dutch officers and officials were appointed by William III in key positions in the English military organisation to reform the English army according to the Dutch model and train the troops in the 'Dutch Exercise', a musketry drill more commonly referred to as
platoon fire. To make their dominance over the English army less painful for the British, the Dutch agreed that an Englishman would always be in command of a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet.
Ireland and Scotland risings in Ireland and Scotland 1689–1691 After his flight from England in December 1688, James II had been given refuge by Louis XIV, who provided him financial and diplomatic assistance. Accompanied by 6,000 French troops, on 12 March 1689 he landed in Ireland, where he was backed by the majority Catholic population. His supporters were known as "
Jacobites", and the
war in Ireland was accompanied by a
rising in Scotland; for James, the main objective was to retake England and thus he viewed both Scotland and Ireland as strategic dead ends. On the other hand, Louis saw them as an opportunity to divert British resources from the Low Countries, a difference in aims that was never adequately resolved. James' Catholic deputy, the
Earl of Tyrconnell, had raised an
Army of around 36,000, although many were poorly equipped and it was almost impossible to feed, pay and supply so many. Although they quickly occupied much of Ireland, including largely Protestant
Ulster, they were unable to capture the key northern port of
Derry and were forced to retreat at the end of July. In August, Williamite general
Schomberg landed in
Belfast Lough with 15,000 reinforcements, but logistics failures meant his army stalled at
Dundalk and suffered heavily from sickness and desertion. The Scottish Jacobites suffered heavy losses in securing victory at
Killiecrankie in July 1689, including their leader
Viscount Dundee. By May 1690 the rising had been largely suppressed, although pockets of resistance continued in the
Highlands until early 1692. At the same time, William III assumed command of government troops in Ireland and gained an important success at
The Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, before victory at
Beachy Head gave the French temporary control of the
English Channel. This was followed by a French
raid on the small English town of Teignouth which combined with the defeat at Beachy Head caused panic in England. James returned to France to urge an immediate invasion of England, but the Anglo-Dutch fleet soon regained maritime supremacy, and the opportunity was lost. By the end of 1690, French and Jacobite troops were confined to the south and west of Ireland. Although repulsed with heavy losses at
Limerick in September, William transferred command to
Godert de Ginkel and returned to Flanders. Despite receiving reinforcements and a new general in the
Marquis de St Ruth, the Franco-Irish army was defeated at
Aughrim on 12 July 1691; the war in Ireland ended with the
Treaty of Limerick in October, allowing the bulk of the Williamite forces to be shipped to the Low Countries.
War aims and the Grand Alliance The success of William's invasion of England rapidly led to the coalition he had long desired. On 12 May 1689 the Dutch and the Holy Roman Emperor had signed an offensive compact in Vienna, the aims of which were no less than to force France back to her borders as they were at the end of the
Franco-Spanish War (1659), thus depriving Louis XIV of all his gains since his personal rule began. This meant for the Emperor and the German princes the reconquest of Lorraine, Strasbourg, parts of Alsace, and some Rhineland fortresses. Leopold I had tried to disentangle himself from the Turkish war to concentrate on the coming struggle, but the French invasion of the Rhineland had encouraged the Turks to stiffen their terms for peace and make demands the Emperor could not conceivably accept. Leopold I's decision to side with the coalition (against the opposition of many of his advisers) was, therefore, a decision to intervene in the west while continuing to fight the Ottomans in the Balkans. Although the Emperor's immediate concerns were for the Rhineland, the most important parts of the treaty were the secret articles pledging England and the States-General to assist him in securing the Spanish succession should Charles II die without an heir, and to use their influence to secure
his son's election to succeed him as Emperor. William III regarded the war as an opportunity to reduce the power of France and protect the Dutch Republic, while providing conditions that would encourage trade and commerce. Although there remained territorial anomalies, Dutch war aims did not involve substantial alterations to the frontier; but William did aim to secure his new position in Britain. By seeking refuge in France and subsequently invading Ireland, James II had given William III the ideal instrument to convince the English parliament that entry into a major European war was unavoidable. With the support of Parliament, William III and Mary II declared war on 17 May (O.S.); they then passed the
Trade with France Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 34), which prohibited all English trade and commerce with France, effective 24 August. This Anglo-Dutch alignment was the basis for the
Grand Alliance, ratified on 20 December by William III representing England,
Anthonie Heinsius and Treasurer
Jacob Hop representing the Dutch Republic, and
Königsegg and
Stratman representing Emperor Leopold I. Like the Dutch the English were not preoccupied with territorial gains on the Continent, but were deeply concerned with limiting the power of France to defend against a Jacobite restoration (Louis XIV threatened to overthrow the Glorious Revolution and the precarious political settlement by supporting the old king over the new one). William III had secured his goal of mobilising Britain's resources for the anti-French coalition, but the Jacobite threat in Scotland and Ireland meant only a small English expeditionary force could be committed to assist the
Dutch States Army in the coalition in the Spanish Netherlands for the first three years of the war. The Duke of Lorraine also joined the Alliance at the same time as England, while the King of Spain (who had been at war with France since April) and the Duke of Savoy signed in June 1690. The Allies had offered Victor Amadeus handsome terms to join the Grand Alliance, including the return of Casale to Mantua (he hoped it would revert to him upon the death of the childless
Duke of Mantua) and of Pinerolo to himself. His adhesion to the Allied cause would facilitate the invasion of France through
Dauphiné and
Provence, where the naval base of
Toulon lay. In contrast Louis XIV had embarked on a policy of overt military intimidation to retain Savoy in the French orbit, and had envisaged the military occupation of parts of Piedmont (including the citadel of Turin) to guarantee communications between Pinerolo and Casale. French demands on Victor Amadeus, and their determination to prevent the Duke from achieving his dynastic aims, were nothing less than an attack on Savoyard independence, convincing the Duke that he had to stand up to French aggression. The Elector of Bavaria consented to add his name to the Grand Alliance on 4 May 1690, while the Elector of Brandenburg joined the anti-French coalition on 6 September. However, few of the minor powers were as devoted to the common cause, and all protected their own interests; some never hesitated to exact a high price for continuing their support.
Charles XI of Sweden supplied the contingents due from his German possessions to the Allied cause (6,000 men and 12 warships), while in August
Christian V of Denmark agreed to a treaty to supply William III with 7,000 troops in return for a subsidy. However, in March 1691 Sweden and Denmark put aside their mutual distrust and made a treaty of armed neutrality for the protection of their commerce and to prevent the war spreading north. To the annoyance of the Maritime Powers the Swedes now saw their role outside the great power-struggle of the Nine Years' War, exploiting opportunities to increase their own maritime trade. Nevertheless, Louis XIV at last faced a powerful coalition aimed at forcing France to recognise Europe's rights and interests.
Expanding war: 1690–1691 The main fighting of the Nine Years' War took place around France's borders: in the
Spanish Netherlands; the
Rhineland;
Catalonia; and
Piedmont-Savoy. The importance of the Spanish Netherlands was the result of its geographic position, sandwiched between France and the Dutch Republic. Initially
Marshal Humières commanded French forces in this theatre but in 1689, while the French concentrated on the Rhine, it produced little more than a stand-off – the most significant engagement occurred when William's second-in-command, the
Prince of Waldeck, defeated Humières at the
Battle of Walcourt on 25 August. However, by 1690 the Spanish Netherlands had become the main seat of the war where the French formed two armies: Boufflers' army on the
Moselle, and a larger force to the west under Humières' successor – and Louis XIV's greatest general of the period –
Marshal Luxembourg. On 1 July Luxembourg secured a clear tactical victory over Waldeck at the
Battle of Fleurus; but his success produced little benefit – Louis XIV's concerns for the dauphin on the Rhine (where
Marshal de Lorge now held actual command) overrode strategic necessity in the other theatres and forestalled a plan to besiege Namur or Charleroi. For the Emperor and the German princes, though, the most serious fact of 1690 was that the Turks had been victorious on the Danube, requiring them to send reinforcements to the east. The Elector of Bavaria – now Imperial commander-in-chief following Lorraine's death in April – could offer nothing on the lower or upper Rhine, and the campaign failed to produce a single major battle or siege. , 1690 The smallest front of the war was in Catalonia. In 1689 the
Duke of Noailles had led French forces there aimed at bringing further pressure to bear on the Spanish by re-igniting a
peasant rising against Charles II, which initially broke out in 1687. Exploiting the situation, Noailles captured
Camprodon on 22 May, but a larger Spanish army under the
Duke of Villahermosa forced him to withdraw back to
Roussillon in August. The Catalan campaign settled down in 1690, but a new front in Piedmont-Savoy proved more eventful. A ferment of religious animosities and Savoyard hatred of the French produced a theatre characterised by massacres and atrocities: constant guerrilla attacks by the armed populace were met by draconian reprisals. In 1690
Saint-Ruth took most of the Victor Amadeus II's exposed Duchy of Savoy, routing the Savoyard army in the process until only the great fortress of
Montmélian remained in ducal hands; while to the south in Piedmont,
Nicolas Catinat led 12,000 men and soundly defeated Victor Amadeus at the
Battle of Staffarda on 18 August. Catinat immediately took
Saluzzo, followed by
Savigliano,
Fossano, and
Susa, but lacking sufficient troops, and with sickness rife within his army, Catinat was obliged to withdraw back across the
Alps for the winter. French successes in 1690 had checked the Allies on most of the mainland fronts, yet their victories had not broken the Grand Alliance. With the hope of unhinging the coalition French commanders in 1691 prepared for an early double-blow: the
capture of Mons in the Spanish Netherlands, and
Nice in northern Italy. Boufflers invested Mons on 15 March with some 46,000 men, while Luxembourg commanded a similar force of observation. After some of the most intense fighting of all of Louis XIV's wars the town inevitably capitulated on 8 April. Luxembourg proceeded to take
Halle at the end of May, while Boufflers bombarded
Liège; but these acts proved to have no political nor strategic consequence. The final action of note in the Low Countries came on 19 September when Luxembourg's cavalry surprised and defeated the rear of the Allied forces in a minor action near
Leuze. Now that the defence of the Spanish Netherlands depended almost wholly on the Allies William III insisted on replacing its Spanish governor, the
Marquis of Gastañaga, with the Elector of Bavaria, thus overcoming delays in getting decisions from Madrid. In 1691 there was little significant fighting in the Catalan and Rhineland fronts. In contrast, the northern Italian theatre was very active.
Villefranche fell to French forces on 20 March, followed by Nice on 1 April, forestalling any chance of an Allied invasion of France along the coast. Meanwhile, to the north, in the Duchy of Savoy, the Marquis of La Hoguette took Montmélian (the region's last remaining stronghold) on 22 December – a major loss for the Grand Alliance. However, by comparison the French campaign on the Piedmontese plain was far from successful. Although
Carmagnola fell in June, the
Marquis of Feuquières, on learning of the approach of
Prince Eugene of Savoy's relief force, precipitously abandoned the
Siege of Cuneo with the loss of some 800 men and all his heavy guns. With Louis XIV concentrating his resources in Alsace and the Low Countries, Catinat was forced onto the defensive. The initiative in northern Italy now passed to the Allies who, as early as August, had 45,000 men (on paper) in the region, enabling them to regain Carmagnola in October. Louis XIV offered peace terms in December, but anticipating military superiority for the following campaign Amadeus was not prepared to negotiate seriously.
Heavy fighting: 1692–1693 After the sudden death of the influential Louvois in July 1691 Louis XIV had assumed a more active role in the direction of military policy, relying on advice from experts such as the
Marquis of Chamlay and Vauban. Louvois' death also brought changes to state policy with the less adventurous
Duc de Beauvilliers and the
Marquis de Pomponne entering Louis' government as ministers of state. From 1691 onwards the king and Pomponne pursued efforts to unglue the Grand Alliance, including secret talks with Emperor Leopold I and, from August, attempts of religious solidarity with Catholic Spain. The approaches made to Spain came to naught (the Nine Years' War was not a
religious war), but the Maritime Powers were also keen for peace. Talks were hampered, however, by Louis' reluctance to cede his earlier gains (at least those made in the Reunions) and, in his deference to the principle of the divine right of kings, his unwillingness to recognise William III's claim to the English throne. For his part William was intensely suspicious of the Sun King and his supposed designs for universal monarchy. . Dutch military engineer and rival of Vauban Over the winter of 1691/92 the French devised a grand plan to gain the ascendancy over their enemies – a design for the invasion of England in one more effort to support James II in his attempts to regain his kingdoms; and a simultaneous assault on
Namur in the Spanish Netherlands. The French hoped that Namur's seizure might inspire the Dutch to make peace, but if not, its capture would nevertheless be an important pawn at any future negotiations. With 60,000 men (protected by a similar force of observation under Luxembourg), Marshal Vauban
invested the stronghold on 29 May. The town soon fell but the citadel – defended by van Coehoorn – held out until 30 June. Endeavouring to restore the situation in the Spanish Netherlands William III surprised Luxembourg's army near the village of
Steenkirk on 3 August. The Allies enjoyed some initial success, but as French reinforcements came up William III's advance stalled. The Allies retired from the field in good order, and both sides claimed victory: the French because they repulsed the assault; the Allies because they had saved Liège from the same fate as Namur. However, due to the nature of late 17th-century warfare the battle, like Fleurus before it, produced little of consequence. (
See below). , (1692) by
Adriaen van Diest. The last act of the battle – French ships set on fire at La Hogue. While French arms had proved successful at Namur the proposed descent on England was a failure. James II believed that there would be considerable support for his cause once he had established himself on English soil, but a series of delays and conflicting orders ensured a very uneven naval contest in the English Channel. The
engagement was fought at the tip of the
Cherbourg peninsula, and lasted six days. At the action off Cape Barfleur on 29 May, the French fleet of 44 rated vessels under Admiral Tourville put up stern resistance against Admirals
Russell's,
Rooke's and
Almonde's 82 rated English and Dutch vessels. Nevertheless, the French were forced to disengage: some escaped, but the 15 ships that had sought safety in Cherbourg and La Hogue were destroyed by English seamen and
fireships on 2–3 June. With the Allies now dominant in the English Channel James II's invasion was abandoned. Yet the battle itself was not the death-blow for the French navy: the subsequent mismanagement and underfunding of the fleet under
Pontchartrain, coupled with Louis' own personal lack of interest, were central to France's loss of naval superiority over the English and Dutch during the Nine Years' War. Meanwhile, in southern Europe the Duke of Savoy with 29,000 men (substantially exceeding Catinat's number who had sent some troops to the Netherlands) invaded Dauphiné via the mountain trails shown to them by the Vaudois. The Allies invested
Embrun, which capitulated on 15 August, before sacking the deserted town of
Gap. However, with their commander falling ill with smallpox, and concluding that holding Embrun was untenable, the Allies abandoned Dauphiné in mid-September, leaving behind seventy villages and châteaux burned and pillaged. The attack on Dauphiné had required Noailles give up troops to bolster Catinat, condemning him to a passive campaign in Catalonia; but on the Rhine the French gained the upper hand. De Lorge devoted much of his effort imposing contributions in Swabia and up to Franconia. In October the French commander relieved the siege of
Ebernburg on the left bank of the Rhine before returning to winter quarters. in a contemporary print By 1693 the French army had reached an official size of over 400,000 men (on paper), but Louis XIV was facing an economic crisis. France and northern Italy witnessed severe harvest failures resulting in widespread famine which, by the end of 1694, had accounted for the deaths of an estimated two million people. Nevertheless, as a prelude to offering generous peace terms before the Grand Alliance Louis XIV planned to go over to the offensive: Luxembourg would campaign in Flanders, Catinat in northern Italy, and in Germany, where Louis XIV had hoped for a war-winning advantage, Marshal de Lorge would attack
Heidelberg. In the event, Heidelberg fell on 22 May before Luxembourg's army took to the field in the Netherlands, but the new Imperial commander on the Rhine,
Prince Louis of Baden, provided a strong defence and prevented further French gains. In the Low Countries, the French took
Huy and on 23 July, Luxembourg found William's army near the villages of Neerwinden and Landen. The
ensuing engagement on 29 July was a close and costly encounter but French forces, whose cavalry once again showed their superiority, prevailed. William was however able to quickly replace his losses, while Luxembourg's infantry was so battered that he had to refrain from besieging Liège, the city that had been the main objective for the French that year. To still make something of the campaign Louis ordered Luxembourg and Vauban to take Charleroi, the last Spanish stronghold on the Sambre, sandwiched between the French fortifications of Mons and Namur. The French captured the town on 10 October which, together with the earlier prizes of Mons, Namur and Huy, provided the French with a new and impressive forward line of defence. In northern Italy, meanwhile, Catinat marched on
Rivoli (with reinforcements from the Rhine and Catalan fronts), forcing the Duke of Savoy to abandon the siege and bombardment of Pinerolo (25 September – 1 October) before withdrawing to protect his rear. The resultant
Battle of Marsaglia on 4 October 1693 ended in a resounding French victory. Turin now lay open to attack but further manpower and supply difficulties prevented Catinat from exploiting his gain, and all the French could get out of their victory was renewed breathing-space to restock what was left of Pinerolo. Elsewhere, Noailles secured the valuable seaport of
Rosas in Catalonia on 9 June before withdrawing into Roussillon. When his opponent, Medina-Sidonia, abandoned plans to besiege
Bellver, both sides entered winter quarters. Meanwhile, the French navy achieved victory in its final fleet action of the war. On 27 June Tourville's combined
Brest and Toulon squadrons ambushed the
Smyrna convoy (a fleet of between 200 and 400 Allied merchant vessels travelling under escort to the Mediterranean) as it rounded
Cape St. Vincent. The Allies lost approximately 90 merchant ships with a value of some 30 million livres.
War and diplomacy: 1694–1695 French arms at Heidelberg, Rosas, Huy, Landen, Charleroi and Marsaglia had achieved considerable battlefield success, but with the severe hardships of 1693 continuing through to the summer of 1694 France was unable to expend the same level of energy and finance for the forthcoming campaign. The crisis reshaped French strategy, forcing commanders to redraft plans to fit the dictates of fiscal shortfalls. In the background, Louis XIV's agents were working hard diplomatically to unhinge the coalition but the Emperor, who had secured with the Allies his 'rights' to the Spanish succession should Charles II die during the conflict, did not desire a peace that would not prove personally advantageous. The Grand Alliance would not come apart as long as there was money available and a belief that the growing strength of their armies would soon be much greater than those of France. , 1694 In the Spanish Netherlands Luxembourg still had 100,000 men; but he was outnumbered. Lacking sufficient supplies to mount an attack, Luxembourg was unable to prevent the Allies from capturing Dixmude, and on 27 September 1694 the Allies under the
Duke of Holstein-Plön recaptured Huy, an essential preliminary to future operations against Namur. Elsewhere, de Lorge marched and manoeuvred against Baden on the Rhine with undramatic results before the campaign petered out in October; while in Italy, the continuing problems with French finance and a complete breakdown in the supply chain prevented Catinat's push into Piedmont. However, in Catalonia the fighting proved more eventful. On 27 May Marshal Noailles, supported by French warships, soundly defeated the
Marquis of Escalona's Spanish forces at the
Battle of Torroella on the banks of the river
Ter; the French proceeded to take
Palamós on 10 June,
Gerona on 29 June, and
Hostalric, opening the route to Barcelona. With the Spanish King threatening to make a separate peace with France unless the Allies came to his assistance, William III prepared the Anglo-Dutch fleet for action. Part of the fleet under Admiral
Berkeley would remain in the north, first leading the disastrous
amphibious assault on Brest on 18 June, before bombarding French coastal defences at
Dieppe,
Saint-Malo,
Le Havre, and
Calais. The remainder of the fleet under Admiral Russell was ordered to the Mediterranean, linking up with Spanish vessels off
Cádiz. The Allied naval presence compelled the French fleet back to the safety of Toulon, which, in turn, forced Noailles to withdraw to the line of the Ter, harassed en route by General Trinxería's
miquelets. By shielding Barcelona in this way the Allies kept Spain in the war for two more years. In 1695 French arms suffered two major setbacks: first was the death on 5 January of Louis XIV's greatest general of the period, Marshal Luxembourg (to be succeeded by the
Duke of Villeroi); the second was the
loss of Namur, which was considered to be the strongest fortress in Europe. In a role reversal of 1692 Coehoorn conducted the siege of the stronghold under William III, and the Electors of Bavaria and Brandenburg. The French had attempted diversions with the
bombardment of Brussels, but despite Boufflers' stout defence Namur finally fell on 5 September. The siege had cost the Allies a great deal in men and resources, and had pinned down William III's army through the whole summer campaign; but the recapture of Namur, together with the earlier prize of Huy, had restored the Allied position on the Meuse, secured communications between their armies in the Spanish Netherlands and those on the Moselle and Rhine, while greatly damaging Louis' reputation. Meanwhile, the recent fiscal crisis had brought about a transformation in French naval strategy – the Maritime Powers now outstripped France in shipbuilding and arming, and increasingly enjoyed a numerical advantage. Suggesting the abandonment of fleet warfare, ''guerre d'escadre
, in favour of commerce-raiding, guerre de course,'' Vauban advocated the use of the fleet backed by individual shipowners fitting out their own vessels as
privateers, aimed at destroying the trade of the Maritime Powers. Vauban argued that this strategic change would deprive the enemy of its economic base without costing Louis XIV money that was far more urgently needed to maintain France's armies on land. Privateers cruising either as individuals or in complete squadrons from
Dunkirk, St Malo and the smaller ports, achieved significant success. For example, in 1695, the
Marquis of Nesmond, with seven ships of the line, captured vessels from the English East India Company that were said to have yielded 10 million livres. In May 1696,
Jean Bart slipped the blockade of Dunkirk and struck a Dutch convoy in the
North Sea, burning 45 of its ships; on 18 June 1696 he won the battle at
Dogger Bank; and in May 1697, the
Baron of Pointis with another privateer squadron attacked and
seized Cartagena, earning him, and the king, a share of 10 million livres. For their part, the Allied navy expended more shells on St Malo, Granville, Calais, and Dunkirk; likewise on Palamos in Catalonia where Charles II had appointed the Marquis of Gastañaga as the governor-general. The Allies sent Austrian and German reinforcements under
Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, a cousin of the Queen of Spain, while the French replaced the ailing Noailles with the
Duke of Vendôme who would become one of Louis XIV's best generals. But the balance of military power was turning dangerously against the French. In Spain, in the Rhineland, and in the Low Countries, Louis XIV's forces only barely held their own: the bombardment of the French channel ports, the threats of invasion, and the loss of Namur were causes of great anxiety for the King at Versailles. In the meantime the diplomatic breakthrough was made in Italy. For two years the Duke of Savoy's Minister of Finance,
Gropello, and the
Count of Tessé (Catinat's second-in-command), had secretly been negotiating a bi-lateral agreement to end the war in Italy. Central to the discussions were the two French fortresses that flanked the Duke's territory – Pinerolo and Casale, the latter now completely cut off from French assistance. By now Victor Amadeus had come to fear the growth of Imperial military power and political influence in the region (now more than he feared the French) and the threat it posed to Savoyard independence. Knowing, therefore, that the Imperials were planning to besiege Casale the Duke proposed that the French garrison surrender to him following a token show of force, after which the fortifications would be dismantled and handed back to the Duke of Mantua. Louis XIV was compelled to accept, and after a sham siege and nominal resistance Casale surrendered to Amadeus on 9 July 1695; by mid-September the place had been razed.
Road to Ryswick: 1696–1697 In the winter of 1695–1696, Louis XIV had come to the conclusion that he had been drawn into an unwinnable war of attrition by the maritime powers. He therefore initiated peace talks with William III. However, William only wanted to make peace after bringing Louis to his knees and therefore planned a large offensive in the Spanish Netherlands, but a
monetary crisis in England made this impossible. A French
counter-offensive was prevented by the
Bombardment of Givet, while a plan for an
invasion of England had earlier been discarded after the
Jacobite assassination plot on William was discovered. Most other fronts were also relatively quiet throughout 1696: the armies along the Rhine, and in Catalonia, marched and counter-marched but little was achieved. Louis XIV's hesitancy to engage with the Allies (despite the confidence of his generals) may have reflected his knowledge of the secret talks that had begun more than a year earlier – with
François de Callières acting for Louis XIV, and
Jacob Boreel and
Everhard van Weede Dijkvelt representing the Dutch. By the spring of 1696 the talks covered the whole panorama of problems that were proving an obstacle to peace. The most difficult of these were the recognition of the Prince of Orange as the King of England and the subsequent status of James II in France; the Dutch demand for a barrier against future French aggression; French tariffs on Dutch commerce; and the territorial settlements in the Rhine–Moselle areas regarding the Reunions and the recent conquests, particularly the strategically important city of Strasbourg. Louis XIV had succeeded in establishing the principle that a new treaty would be fixed within the framework of the Treaties of Westphalia and Nijmegen, and the Truce of Ratisbon, but with the Emperor's demands for Strasbourg, and William III's insistence that he be recognized as King of England
before the conclusion of hostilities, it hardly seemed worthwhile in calling for a peace conference. In Italy the secret negotiations were proving more productive, with the French possession of Pinerolo now central to the talks. When Amadeus threatened to besiege Pinerolo the French, concluding that its defence was not now possible, agreed to hand back the stronghold on condition that its fortifications were demolished. The terms were formalised as the
Treaty of Turin on 29 August 1696, by which provision Louis XIV also returned, intact, Montmélian, Nice, Villefranche,
Susa, and other small towns. Amongst other concessions Louis XIV also promised not to interfere in Savoy's religious policy regarding the Vaudois, provided the Duke prevents any communication between them and French Huguenots. In return, Amadeus agreed to abandon the Grand Alliance and join with Louis XIV – if necessary – to secure the neutralisation of northern Italy. The Emperor, diplomatically outmanoeuvred, was compelled to accept peace in the region by signing the
Treaty of Vigevano of 7 October, to which the French immediately acceded. Italy was neutralised and the Nine Years' War in the peninsula came to an end. Savoy had emerged as an independent sovereign House and a key second-rank power: the Alps, rather than the River Po, would be the boundary of France in the south-east. The Treaty of Turin started a scramble for peace. With the continual disruption of trade and commerce politicians from England and the Dutch Republic were desirous for an end to the war. France was also facing economic exhaustion, but above all Louis XIV was becoming convinced that Charles II of Spain was near death and he knew that the break-up of the coalition would be essential if France was to benefit from the dynastic battle ahead. The contending parties agreed to meet at
Ryswick (Rijswijk) and come to a negotiated settlement. But as talks continued through 1697, so did the fighting, and on 16 April the Allies, under Maximilian of Bavaria, re-took
Deinze. The main French goal that year in the Spanish Netherlands was
Ath. Vauban and Catinat (now with troops freed from the Italian front)
invested the town on 15 May while Marshals Boufflers and Villeroi covered the siege; after an assault on 5 June the Count of Roeux surrendered and the garrison marched out two days later. The Rhineland theatre in 1697 was again quiet: the French commander,
Marshal Choiseul (who had replaced the sick de Lorge the previous year), was content to remain behind his fortified lines. Although Baden took Ebernburg on 27 September, news of the peace brought an end to the desultory campaign, and both armies drew back from one another. In Catalonia, however, French forces (now also reinforced with troops from Italy) achieved considerable success when Vendôme, commanding some 32,000 troops, besieged and captured Barcelona. The garrison, under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, capitulated on 10 August. Yet it had been a hard-fought contest: French casualties amounted to about 9,000, and the Spanish had suffered some 12,000 killed, wounded or lost. ==North American theatre (King William's War)==