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Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)

Franco–Spanish War
HeimBattleRocroy.jpg
La Bataille de Rocroi by François Joseph Heim.
Date 1635–1659
Location Northern, Eastern and Southern France, Northern Spain, the Spanish Netherlands, Italy, Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea
Result Treaty of the Pyrenees
Territorial
changes
French Flanders, Roussillon and Perpignan annexed by France
Belligerents
 France
 Duchy of Savoy
Ducado de Modena (antes de 1830).svg Duchy of Modena (1647–1649 and 1655–1659)
 Duchy of Parma (1635–1637)
 Commonwealth of England (from 1657)
Flag of Catalonia.svg Principality of Catalonia (1640-1641)
Spain Spain
Ducado de Modena (antes de 1830).svg Duchy of Modena (1635–1646)
Royal Standard of Great Britain (1603-1649).svg Royalists of the British Isles (from 1657)
Commanders and leaders
Kingdom of France Louis XIII
Kingdom of France Louis XIV
Kingdom of France Cardinal Richelieu
Kingdom of France Cardinal Mazarin
Kingdom of France Viscount of Turenne
Kingdom of France Henri II de Condé
Kingdom of France Louis II de Condé (from 1643 to 1652)
Kingdom of France Count of Gassion
Kingdom of France Cardinal La Valette
Kingdom of France Count of La Mothe
Kingdom of France Duke of Choiseul
Kingdom of France Count of Harcourt
Kingdom of France Duke of La Meilleraye
Kingdom of France Duke of Châtillon
Kingdom of France Duke of La Ferté
Kingdom of France Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis
Kingdom of France Urbain de Maillé-Brézé
Kingdom of France Armand de Maillé-Brézé
Armoiries Savoie-Carignan 1656.svg Prince Thomas (from 1642)
Commonwealth of England Sir William Lockhart
Flag of Catalonia.svg Pau Claris (1640-1641)
Spain Philip IV of Spain
Spain Count-Duke of Olivares
Spain Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand
Spain Francisco de Melo
Spain Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
Spain John of Austria
Spain Marquis of Caracena
Spain Admiral of Castile
Spain Viceroy Pedro Fajardo
Spain Duke of Fernandina
Spain Duke of Maqueda
Spain Duke of Ciudad Real
Spain Marquis of Leganés
Kingdom of France Louis II de Condé (from 1652)
Armoiries Savoie-Carignan 1656.svg Prince Thomas (from 1635 to 1642)
Royal Standard of Great Britain (1603-1649).svg Duke of York

The Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) was a military conflict that was the result of French involvement in the Thirty Years' War. After the German allies of Sweden were forced to seek terms with the Holy Roman Empire, the first French minister, Cardinal Richelieu, declared war on Spain because French territory was surrounded by Habsburg territories. The conflict was a continuation of the aims of the War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–31) in which France invaded northern Italy to take possession of territory claimed by the Spanish Habsburgs. The Franco-Spanish War ended in 1659 with the Treaty of the Pyrenees.

For years, the Kingdom of France, under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties, had been the rival of the House of Habsburg, whose two branches ruled the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, respectively. For much of the 16th and 17th centuries, France faced Habsburg territory on three sides; the Spanish Netherlands to the north, the Franche-Comté on its eastern border, and Spain to the south. The Habsburgs thus stood in the way of French territorial expansion, and France faced the possibility of invasion from multiple sides. France therefore sought to weaken Habsburg control over its possessions.

During the Thirty Years' War, in which various Protestant forces battled Imperial armies, France provided subsidies to the enemies of the Habsburg Empire. France generously supported a Swedish invasion of the Empire after 1630. After a period of extraordinary success, the Swedish-led forces were decisively defeated in 1634 by a combined Imperial-Spanish army in the Battle of Nördlingen, leading many of Sweden's allies to defect to the Imperial side. Although Sweden itself continued to fight, it was seriously weakened.


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