AP European History

## Learning Outcomes

- Explain why Louis XIV’s expansion alarmed other European states
- Identify the main anti-French coalitions formed against Louis XIV
- Recall the importance of **1686**, **1688–1697**, **1701–1714**, and **1713**
- Distinguish between the **League of Augsburg** and the **Grand Alliance**
- Explain how **William of Orange** linked Dutch resistance to English foreign policy
- Analyse how the **Treaty of Utrecht** preserved the balance of power rather than destroying France

## AP European History Syllabus

For the AP European History, you are expected to understand balance-of-power diplomacy in the age of Louis XIV, with a focus on the following syllabus points:

- Know that the **balance of power** meant preventing any one state from dominating Europe
- Identify how Louis XIV’s wars and annexations led to repeated anti-French coalitions
- Understand the significance of the **Triple Alliance (1668)** as an early attempt to check French expansion
- Explain the distinction between the **League of Augsburg (1686)** and the broader **Grand Alliance (1689)**
- Understand how the **Glorious Revolution (1688–1689)** brought English resources into the struggle against France
- Know why the **War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714)** was about more than a dynastic claim
- Explain how the **Peace of Ryswick (1697)** and **Treaty of Utrecht (1713)** reflected balance-of-power goals
- Recognise that Catholic and Protestant states alike joined anti-French coalitions when French power threatened their interests

## Test Your Knowledge

_Attempt these questions before reading this article. If you find some difficult or cannot remember the answers, look more closely at that area during your revision._

1. Why did other European states see Louis XIV as a threat?
2. What was the difference between the League of Augsburg and the Grand Alliance?
3. How did the Glorious Revolution strengthen opposition to France?
4. Why did the War of the Spanish Succession alarm Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Austria?
5. What did the Treaty of Utrecht do to prevent Bourbon domination of Europe?

## Introduction

In **Unit 3: Absolutism and Constitutionalism**, Louis XIV often appears as the clearest example of royal absolutism. But AP European History does not treat him only as a domestic ruler. He also matters because his foreign policy helped turn **balance-of-power politics** into a defining feature of European diplomacy between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

Louis XIV ruled the strongest state in western Europe. France had a large population, a powerful army, and a centralised monarchy. That strength by itself worried other rulers. What made the situation more serious was that Louis did not act like a satisfied king guarding what he already had. He kept pressing for more land, more influence, and greater dynastic advantage. As a result, states that often disagreed with one another repeatedly united to stop him.

> **Key Term: balance of power**
> The diplomatic principle that states should act to prevent any one power from becoming dominant in Europe.

### Why Louis XIV alarmed Europe

Louis XIV did not provoke coalitions simply because he was an absolute monarch. That point matters. Other rulers in Europe, including Catholic rulers, did not form alliances against him because they opposed absolutism in theory. They opposed him because his actions threatened their security and independence.

France was already in a strong position when Louis began ruling personally in **1661**. Under **Richelieu** and **Mazarin**, the French monarchy had already become more centralised. Louis then increased royal authority further at home through **Versailles**, control over the nobility, and the use of officials rather than great aristocrats in government. Abroad, he aimed to expand French frontiers and influence.

His expansion took several forms. One was open war, such as the **War of Devolution** and the later wars against the Dutch and the Habsburgs. Another was more legalistic but still threatening.

> **Key Term: Policy of Reunions**
> Louis XIV’s strategy of using legal claims and special courts in the late 1670s and 1680s to annex neighbouring territories, increasing fear of French expansion.

The Policy of Reunions worried Europe because it showed that Louis could gain territory even without a full-scale war. If he could keep finding legal pretexts for annexation, then neighbouring rulers could never feel secure. The seizure of places such as **Strasbourg** made this fear more concrete. A stronger France on the Rhine meant greater pressure on the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Netherlands.

Religion added to these fears, but it was not the only cause. In **1685**, Louis revoked the Edict of Nantes by the **Edict of Fontainebleau**, ending legal toleration for French Protestants. This drove many **Huguenots** into exile, especially to England and the Dutch Republic.

> **Key Term: Huguenots**
> French Calvinists, many of whom fled France after Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685.

That decision had two effects students should connect. First, it damaged France economically by driving out skilled and commercially active people. Second, it increased distrust of Louis among Protestant powers. Yet the key AP point is still strategic: rulers resisted Louis mainly because they feared **French hegemony**, not because they were defending Protestantism alone.

An early warning sign came with the **Triple Alliance of 1668**, when **England**, the **Dutch Republic**, and **Sweden** cooperated to check French gains after the War of Devolution. This matters because it shows the pattern before the most famous coalition wars. States were already beginning to think in balance-of-power terms.

> **Test Tip:** If an SAQ or LEQ asks why alliances formed against Louis XIV, do not stop at religion. The stronger answer is that rulers feared French expansion would upset the balance of power.

### William of Orange and the growth of anti-French alliances

The most important individual linking anti-French resistance together was **William of Orange**. Students often know him as **William III of England**, but his importance began before that. He was first the leading political and military figure in the **Dutch Republic**, where resistance to French power was a matter of survival.

The Dutch had special reasons to fear Louis XIV. They were commercially wealthy but territorially vulnerable. French attacks during the **Franco-Dutch War** showed that the Dutch Republic could not rely on trade wealth alone; it needed allies. William therefore became the driving force behind broader anti-French diplomacy.

This led to the **League of Augsburg** in **1686**.

> **Key Term: League of Augsburg**
> A coalition formed in 1686 to resist Louis XIV, including the Holy Roman Emperor, Spain, Sweden, and several German princes.

The League of Augsburg was a defensive response to French expansion. It was not yet the fullest anti-French coalition possible, because England had not fully joined. That changed with the **Glorious Revolution** of **1688–1689**. When James II was overthrown and William of Orange became king of England as **William III**, the struggle against France changed in scale.

This is one of the most useful cause-and-effect chains in Unit 3:

- Louis XIV’s expansion threatened the Dutch Republic
- William of Orange organised resistance
- William became king of England after the Glorious Revolution
- English resources now supported Dutch resistance
- anti-French coalitions became much stronger

That is why the **Grand Alliance** matters.

> **Key Term: Grand Alliance**
> The expanded anti-French coalition formed in 1689, including England, the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, and other states.

Students often confuse the League of Augsburg with the Grand Alliance. The simplest distinction is this: the **League of Augsburg** was the earlier coalition formed in **1686**; the **Grand Alliance** was the broader wartime coalition that emerged after William III brought England fully into the struggle.

The war that followed is called the **Nine Years’ War**, the **War of the League of Augsburg**, or the **War of the Grand Alliance**. These are names for the same major conflict of **1688/1689–1697**. France fought a broad European coalition because more and more powers believed that stopping Louis was necessary for their own survival.

The war ended with the **Peace of Ryswick** in **1697**. Louis XIV had to recognise William III as king of England and return many conquered territories, though France kept some earlier gains. The significance is bigger than the details: Europe had shown it could cooperate to contain France.

> **Test Tip:** In multiple-choice or short-answer questions, watch the dates. **William of Orange** before 1688 is mainly the Dutch leader. **William III** after 1688 is both Dutch leader and king of England.

### The War of the Spanish Succession and the Treaty of Utrecht

The biggest test of balance-of-power diplomacy came after the next succession crisis. When the Spanish king **Charles II** died childless, the question was who would inherit the Spanish monarchy and empire. His chosen heir was **Philip of Anjou**, grandson of Louis XIV.

On paper, this looked like a dynastic matter. In practice, it raised a major strategic danger. If a Bourbon prince ruled Spain and remained in line for the French throne, then France and Spain might become a huge Bourbon power stretching across Europe and overseas. That possibility alarmed Britain, the Dutch Republic, Austria, and other states.

> **Key Term: War of the Spanish Succession**
> The war fought from 1701 to 1714 to prevent Bourbon control of both France and Spain from upsetting the European balance of power.

This is a classic AP Euro distinction. The war was not only about who inherited Spain. It was about stopping a **Bourbon super-state**. Students who explain only the family connection miss the bigger point. The coalition opposed not just Philip himself but the potential union of the French and Spanish crowns.

The anti-French side again included powers that did not agree on everything else. That is exactly what balance-of-power politics means. States set aside other disputes because preventing French predominance mattered more.

The settlement came with the **Treaty of Utrecht** in **1713**.

> **Key Term: Treaty of Utrecht**
> The 1713 peace settlement that allowed Philip V to remain king of Spain but forbade any union of the French and Spanish crowns.

Utrecht is one of the most important diplomatic settlements in the course. It did not destroy France. It did not remove the Bourbons from Spain. Instead, it imposed limits designed to preserve equilibrium. **Philip V** stayed on the Spanish throne, but he had to renounce any claim to the French throne. That solution reveals the logic of the age: containment, not annihilation.

The treaty also benefited other powers. **Britain** gained **Gibraltar** and the **asiento**, increasing its commercial and naval strength. **Austria** gained the **Spanish Netherlands** and important Italian territories. These adjustments were part of the effort to stop any single monarchy from becoming too strong.

This outcome is why Utrecht is such strong evidence for the balance-of-power theme. Europe accepted a Bourbon in Spain so long as the wider system remained safe. That is a more precise judgement than saying “France lost” or “Britain won.”

### Why this matters for AP analysis

This subtopic is useful because it connects several AP themes and skills at once. Chronologically, it belongs in the period from **1648 to 1815**, especially Unit 3. Thematically, it fits **States and Other Institutions of Power** and **National and European Identity**. In historical reasoning terms, it is mainly a **causation** topic.

The strongest way to write about it is to show a repeated pattern:

- Louis XIV expanded French power
- other states feared he would dominate Europe
- they built coalitions to resist him
- diplomacy increasingly centred on preserving the balance of power

There is also an important comparison within Unit 3. **French absolutism** under Louis XIV and **English constitutionalism** after the Glorious Revolution developed at the same time, but they met each other in foreign policy. William III’s England could mobilise parliamentary resources against Bourbon France, so domestic constitutional change in England had international consequences.

For LEQ or SAQ responses, students should make sure they use specific evidence rather than vague phrases. Better evidence includes: **Triple Alliance (1668)**, **League of Augsburg (1686)**, **Glorious Revolution (1688–1689)**, **Nine Years’ War (1688–1697)**, **Peace of Ryswick (1697)**, **War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714)**, and **Treaty of Utrecht (1713)**.

A strong thesis might say that Louis XIV’s expansionist and dynastic policies repeatedly provoked anti-French coalitions because other European powers feared that French control of territory, frontiers, and dynastic claims would destroy the balance of power.

## Key Point Checklist

_This article has covered the following key knowledge points:_

- The balance of power meant preventing any one state from dominating Europe
- Louis XIV alarmed other states because France was already strong and he kept expanding it
- The Policy of Reunions increased fears of French territorial aggression
- The revocation of the Edict of Nantes in **1685** increased hostility toward Louis XIV, especially among Protestant states
- The **Triple Alliance of 1668** was an early effort to check French expansion
- The **League of Augsburg** formed in **1686** as a coalition against Louis XIV
- The **Grand Alliance** of **1689** was broader than the League of Augsburg and included England under William III
- The **Glorious Revolution** brought English resources into the anti-French struggle
- The **Nine Years’ War** ended with the **Peace of Ryswick (1697)**, which limited Louis XIV and recognised William III
- The **War of the Spanish Succession** was fought to prevent a Bourbon union of France and Spain
- The **Treaty of Utrecht (1713)** allowed Philip V to rule Spain but barred any union of the French and Spanish crowns
- European diplomacy aimed to contain France, not to destroy it completely

## Key Terms and Concepts

- balance of power
- Policy of Reunions
- Huguenots
- League of Augsburg
- Grand Alliance
- War of the Spanish Succession
- Treaty of Utrecht


Balance of Power - Louis XIV provoked anti-French coalitions