1700 - Netherlands - War of the Spanish Succession
The death of the king of Spain, in 1700, gave rise to a general war, which extended to almost every part of the world. He was a weak prince, without an heir to his (dominions, and thought himself empowered to appoint a successor. The events of this war belong to the history of Europe, and not to that of the Netherlands peculiarly, though the latter country was one of the prominent scenes of its transactions. The parties to this alliance were at first only the emperor of Germany, the sovereign of England, and the states-general of the united provinces; but other princes, both in Italy and in Germany, were subsequently included in it, either as allies or as auxiliaries.
The Netherlands was a part of the countries contended for, and to a limited extent, and during limited periods, the theater of bloody battles and sieges; but as the contending parties wished to occupy and not destroy the provinces, they suffered but little, and the contending armies expended so much money in the country, that the capital left behind was thought to be more beneficial than the injury sustained amounted to. The battering down the walls of some of the towns, the blowing up of forts, and even the casual trampling down of the growing crops, inflicted but transient inconvenience; whilst the large sums expended by the numerous troops of English and Dutch, officered by some of the wealthiest and profuse men in Europe, and paying for the productions of the soil rates far beyond the cost to the cultivators, remained in the country, and formed a capital the influence of which was felt long after the operations of war had ceased. In this gloomiest state of French affairs, when all was in opinion in confusion and despair, the old king at bay and too infirm England. ^0 head the remnants of his armies, the allies firmly planted in northern France, it was believed that, if they could but hold together, they would in one more campaign succeed in entirely breaking the power of their great rival.
In England, however, that change of opinion had begun which saved Louis from this last humiliation. The Tory party, vehemently opposed to Marlborough and the war, were gathering strength; the elections of 1710 went in their favor, and early in 1711 the fall of the duchess of Marlborough at court told every one that the reign of the Whigs was over. The death of Joseph I, the emperor, by placing Charles III on the imperial throne as Charles VI (December 1711), changed the whole position of affairs, and made men still more unwilling to carry on the war. It was felt that Europe could no longer sacrifice herself to place him on the throne of Spain as well as that of the empire, and to create a power which might endanger the stability of Europe, and overthrow the balance at which men were aiming.
The warfare of 1711 was languid; Prince Eugene was called away to the imperial election ; Marlborough and Villars long watched each other on the northern frontier of France. The only result was the capture by the allies of Bouchain, and the arrangement by Marlborough of "a grand project," — a plan for the invasion of France in the next campaign, when he hoped to have Eugene by his side. In the winter, however, the duke was overthrown at St James's, and his plans came to nothing.
Negotiations for peace were far more to the taste of the Tories than a vigorous foreign policy; and it was announced, late in 1711, that Utrecht had been chosen as a place of conference; the bases of an agreement were easily arrived at. In 1712 the duke of Ormond replaced Marlborough in the Low Countries; his business was to neutralize the Dutch and Germans, who were still eager for war; and in May England signed a separate truce, abandoning her allies. They continued the war a while, but after being sharply defeated by Villars at Denain (24th July 1712) they accomplished nothing more; the French retook Douai, Le Quesnoy, and Bouchain.
After various successes in some quarters, followed with reverses in other parts, France became exhausted, and was ready to make peace upon any terms; and the allies, too, were weakened and ready to enter into treaty. But the emperor and Holland wished to reduce Louis still more, when an intrigue in the English female cabinet led to a feeling in the government in favor of the pretensions of France, in opposition to the views of the allies. England resolved on peace, and entered into secret negotiations with France. Holland could hope for nothing from that power when thus left alone.
The Emperor Leopold died about this time, and was succeeded by his brother Charles, who had been during the war a competitor with the Duke of Anjou for the throne of Spain. That kingdom thus became an object of less personal consequence to him than before. In these circumstances, the negotiations were commenced in January 1712, and terminated definitively by the peace of April 1713, usually denominated, from the place where it was signed, the peace of Utrecht. By this treaty, Spain, with her transmarine dominions, were secured to the Duke of Anjou, Gibraltar and Minorca to England, while the ten provinces of Belgium Were assigned to the emperor of Germany, and now assumed the name which it long bore of the Austrian Netherlands.
Then the Dutch gave up all thoughts of further war, and came in to the English truce; war ceased on all hands, and negotiations went on merrily at Utrecht. At last, in April 1713, peace was signed by all the powers except the empire on the basis of the treaty of Ryswick. The Germans, once more abandoned by their allies, found it impossible to continue long. Villars out-generaled Prince Eugene, and by defeating him before Freiburg in the Brisgau, and taking that town, showed to the emperor that ho also would do well to come to terms. In 1714 two more treaties were signed by the princes of the empire and the Austrians, and the Succession War at last came to an end. England was the chief gainer: she secured her succession through the house of Hanover, which now became a ninth electorate; the Pretender was to be compelled to leave France; the crowns of France and Spain were never to rest on one head; Dunkirk was dismantled; Newfoundland, Acadia, and the Hudson's Bay Territory were transferred from France to her; a friendly commercial treaty followed.
Holland got a strong barrier on the side of Franco; the Spanish Netherlands were handed over to the United Provinces, which undertook to transfer them to Austria on the final conclusion of peace. She, too, made a favorable commercial treaty with France. Far lighter were the terms of peace than those which the triumvirate had tried to force on Louis XIV.; yet the aged monarch must have deeply felt the permanent retrogression which they involved. His splendid ambitions were shown to be unattainable, after they had well-nigh ruined France in the pursuit; she had paid already a terrible price for the glories of a grand monarch and a great age. It would require the awakening of the Revolution to restore her to her right place in Europe. Holland, secure from all disturbance, withdrew from the political arena.
When war was declared in 1702, Marlborough was named the commander-in-chief of English and Dutch troops, and thenceforward became the chief man in the famous "triumvirate" of Marlborough, Heinsius, and Prince Eugene.
In France the Dutch invaded Flanders, and fought the drawn battle of Eckeren; in 1704 they and the English took Gibraltar; in the same year they took part in the great battle of Blenheim. In 1705 Marlborough led them into the Netherlands; but, hampered by the deputies of the States, he achieved little. In 1706 he won the battle of Ramillies, and swept the French out of the Netherlands.
In 1708 came Oudenarde, and after it an unsuccessful attempt of Louis XIV to detach the Dutch from the alliance; in 1709 the terrible battle of Malplaquet and the capture of Mons. After this great changes followed in England, and Marlborough's power came to an end. Negotiations for peace, often tried before, drew towards success in 1712, and in 1713 the peace of Utrecht was signed. While France received Aire, St Venant, Bethune, Utrecht and Douay, the Spanish Netherlands were formally handed over to the United Provinces, which in their turn passed them on, after conclusion of a barrier treaty, to Austria; henceforth they are known as the Austrian Netherlands. A favorable commercial treaty was also made between the Dutch and France.
The peace of Utrecht made the republic almost as powerful on shore as she had been by sea; at the same time it taught her that the great powers around her would use her resources for war, and abandon her when they wanted peace: she therefore determined henceforth to stand clear of all foreign complications. With 1713 the importance of Holland in European politics came almost to an end.
The ruling party in the States took an active part in securing George I on the throne of England; and the old ill-will between the provinces died entirely out, so that they were secure in a position of tranquility; they also made a fair conclusion their difficulties with Austria. These, however, arose again when in 1723 the emperor set on foot the Ostend East India Company, which was at once regarded as offensive by the Amsterdam merchants.
For the sake of crushing this competition, the States in 1731 guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction of Charles VI. In 1743 they joined England in supporting the claims of Maria Theresa, queen of Hungary, and fell consequently into complications with France, which invaded the barrier country. In 1744 they granted a subsidy in money and put 20,000 men in the field, and became a member of the Quadruple Alliance with Austria, England, and Saxony.
In 1745 the Provinces took their part in the rout of Fontenoy, after which Marshal Saxe overran the Austrian Netherlands, while England and Holland were alike paralyzed by the Jacobite rising in Scotland. The States lost every barrier-town, and lay defenseless before the French, who in 1747 entered Dutch Flanders, and made an easy conquest.
And now the Orange party, supported by English aid, began to lift its heal. The Provinces had fallen so low that all men began to wish for a dictator. Accordingly Prince William Charles Henry Frise was proclaimed stadlholder, captain, and admiral-general of Zealand at Terveer, under the title of William IV. The movement thus begun spread like wildfire, all Zealand accepted him with enthusiasm, and Holland was not far behind; even at Amsterdam and the Hague the popular feeling was too strong to be resisted, and the Government had to give way. William IV became captain and admiral-general of the whole union, and stadtholder of the Seven Provinces; a little later these offices were declared hereditary in both male and female lines.
