War of the Reunions

(noun)

A short conflict (1683–84) between France and Spain and its allies. It was fueled by the long-running desire of Louis XIV to conquer new lands, many of them comprising part of the Spanish Netherlands, along France's northern and eastern borders. The war was, in some sense, a continuation of the territorial and dynastic aims of Louis XIV as manifested in the War of Devolution and the Franco–Dutch War.

Related Terms

Examples of War of the Reunions in the following topics:

  • Louis XIV's Wars

    • Three major wars, the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine Years' War, and the War of the Spanish Succession, as well as two lesser conflicts, the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions, enabled France to become the most powerful state in Europe.
    • The Nine Years' War (1688–97), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, once again pitted Louis XIV against a European-wide coalition, the Grand Alliance, led by the Anglo-Dutch King William III, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, King Charles II of Spain, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, and several princes of the Holy Roman Empire.
    • Although Louis XIV had emerged from the Franco-Dutch War as the most powerful monarch in Europe, he immediately set about extending his gains to stabilize and strengthen France's frontiers, culminating in the brief War of the Reunions (1683–84).
    • During Louis's reign, France was the leading European power and it fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession.
    • There were also two lesser conflicts: the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions.

  • France's Fiscal Woes

    • Under Louis XIV, France witnessed successful reforms and growth as a global power but financial strain imposed by multiple wars left the state bankrupt, while under Louis XV, lost wars and limited reforms reversed the gains of the initial years of economic recovery.
    • During his reign, France fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the War of the League of Augsburg, and the War of the Spanish Succession.
    • There were also two lesser conflicts: the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions.
    • As a result of lost wars, Louis was forced to return the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium), territory won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, but given back to Austria by the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748.
    • Under Louis XV,  financial strain imposed by wars, particularly by the disastrous for France Seven Years' War, and by the excesses of the royal court contributed to fiscal problems and the national unrest that in the end culminated in the French Revolution of 1789.

  • The Compromise of 1877

    • The Compromise of 1877 was a purported bargain in which the White House was awarded to the Republican Party after the election of 1876.
    • Vann Woodward in his 1951 book, Reunion and Reaction.
    • The creation of legislation to help industrialize the South and get it back on its feet after the loss during the Civil War.
    • With the removal of Northern troops, the President had no method to enforce Reconstruction, thus the Compromise of 1877 signaled the end of American Reconstruction.
    • The Democrats gained control of the Senate, and had complete control of Congress, having taken over the House in 1875.

  • The Outbreak of the Korean War

  • Madison and the Pressure for War

    • The term "war hawks" was a name used for a historical group of Democratic-Republicans in the early nineteenth century who pushed for war with Great Britain.
    • The war hawks were primarily from southern and western states of the United States.
    • The war hawks advocated going to war with Britain for reasons related to the interference of the British Royal Navy in American shipping, which was hurting the American economy and, the war hawks believed, injuring American prestige.
    • War hawks in both the South and the West also anticipated an easy opportunity for increasing the size of the new republic in the event of war: They hoped for the incorporation of British North America (present-day Canada) into the republic.
    • A portrait of Henry Clay, the leader of the war hawks' western faction, painted after the War of 1812.

  • European Wars in the Colonies

    • The British and the Dutch vied over the colony of New Netherland, the British and the Spanish fought the War of Jenkins' Ear, and the British and the French fought in a series of wars that concluded in 1763 with the French and Indian War.
    • The war was largely subsumed by the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742.
    • Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second war for control of the continent and was the counterpart of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe.
    • King George's War, 1744–1748, was the North American phase of the concurrent War of the Austrian Succession.
    • This last of the wars for empire, however, also sowed the seeds of trouble.

  • Range Wars

    • Famous range wars included the Lincoln County War, the Pleasant Valley War, the Mason County War, and the Johnson County Range War.
    • The Lincoln County Range War arose between two factions over the control of dry goods trade in the county.
    • The conflict was marked by back-and-forth revenge killings, starting with the murder of Tunstall by members of the Evans Gang.
    • Of all the feuds that have taken place throughout American history, the Pleasant Valley War was the most costly, resulting in an almost complete annihilation of the two families involved.
    • Assess the significance of range wars in late nineteenth century America

  • French Explorers

    • Major French exploration of North America began under the rule of Francis I of France.
    • In 1534, Francis sent Jacques Cartier on the first of three voyages to explore the coast of Newfoundland and the St.
    • In the middle of the 18th century, a series of colonial conflicts began between France and Britain, which ultimately resulted in the destruction of most of the first French colonial empire and the near complete expulsion of France from the Americas.
    • With the decay of the Ottoman Empire, in 1830 the French seized Algiers, thus beginning the colonization of French North Africa.
    • Finally, colonies were founded in the Indian Ocean, on the Île de Bourbon (Réunion, 1664), Isle de France (Mauritius, 1718), and the Seychelles (1756).

  • A Global War

    • Although the question of whether the Seven Years' War was the first world war remains ambiguous, the war marked a shift in the European balance of power that shaped the world far beyond Europe.
    • However, this label has also been given to various earlier conflicts, including the Eighty Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession, and to later conflicts, including the Napoleonic Wars.
    • Although Frederick the Great's preemptive invasion of Saxony in 1756 marks the conventional beginning of the Seven Years' War, key developments in North America preceded the outbreak of the war in Europe.
    • The triple Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal in Europe (main theater of the war, which absorbed the lion's share of the Spanish war effort) in 1762 was followed by a Spanish invasion of Portuguese territories in South America (a secondary theater of the war).
    • While the question of whether the Seven Years' War was, indeed, the first world war remains ambiguous, the war had certainly global impact and marked a shift in the European balance of power.

  • The Cold War's Costs and Consequences

    • The costs of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as its numerous proxy wars, were extensive.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today.
    • Many of the proxy wars and subsidies for local conflicts ended along with the Cold War, and the incidence of interstate, ethnic, and revolutionary wars, as well as refugee and displaced persons crises, has declined somewhat in the post-Cold War years.
    • However, many of the political issues begun during the Cold War years continue today.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.