- France-Habsburg rivalry
The term "France-Habsburg rivalry" ( _de. Habsburgisch-Französischer Gegensatz) describes the rivalry between the House of
Habsburg , rulers of theHoly Roman Empire as well asSpain , and the kingdom ofFrance , lasting from1516 until1756 .Since the late Middle Ages the Austrian Habsburgs sought peaceful coalitions by marriage, described by their motto: "Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria, nube! - Wars may be led by others - you, happy Austria, marry!" Following this tradition
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I married Mary, the lastValois duchess ofBurgundy in 1477. 19 years later their sonPhilip the Handsome marriedJoanna of Castile , only heiress to the Spanish throne. Maximilian's grandson Charles united all these possessions, when he became King of Spain (as Charles I) in 1516 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 (as Charles V). He ruled over a vast "Empire on which the sun never sets". Now France had the Habsburgs on three sides as its neighbor, withSpain to the south, theCounty of Flanders to the north and theFranche-Comté to the east.Even though the realm of Charles V was divided between the German and the Spanish branches of his dynasty in 1555, most of the territories of the
Burgundian Inheritance , including Flanders, stayed with the Spanish crown. France regarded the encirclement by the Habsburg powers as a permanent threat and led several wars during the next 200 years, to prevent a Spanish-Habsburg pre-eminence in Europe. Among this conflicts theThirty Years' War was the most significant one, devastating large parts ofGermany , and shaping a new political map of Europe.After 1648 France became predominant in central Europe. As a consequence of the peace treaty of Munster and the
Treaty of the Pyrenees , Spain was reduced to a second-rank power, and since the second Turkish siege ofVienna in 1683, the Austrian Habsburgs focused more and more on their conflicts with theOttoman Empire in theBalkans . After the death of the last Spanish Habsburg Charles II in 1700 kingLouis XIV of France claimed the Spanish throne for his grandson Philip. This caused theWar of the Spanish Succession . In thetreaty of Utrecht Louis succeeded in installing theBourbon dynasty in Spain and in bringing the Habsburg encirclement of France to an end. After 200 years the rivalry had lost its original cause, but the two powers remained hostile for another 40 years.Only in 1756, in the
Seven Years' War against the new power ofPrussia , France and Austria became allies for the first time. This alliance was later sealed with the marriage of Austrian princessMarie Antoinette to the French Dauphin, later KingLouis XVI .The
Napoleonic Wars put an end to theHoly Roman Empire , but they also marked the beginning of a newFrench-German enmity that led to twoWorld War s.
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