War of Devolution - Aftermath

Aftermath

France gained some territory in Flanders, but nearly all of the Spanish Netherlands, as well as the Franche-Comté, was returned to Spain. Inwardly, Louis XIV was seething. He had hoped to take the entirety of the Spanish Netherlands and felt betrayed by the Dutch, who, to French eyes, were only independent due to French assistance in the Eighty Years' War. The War of Devolution thus led directly to the Franco-Dutch War of 1672–1678.

The consequences of the War of Devolution were manifold. From a purely military perspective, France had gained some advantages, by breaking through the ring of fortresses that surrounded the Spanish Netherlands. This simultaneously increased the French defensive power, as Vauban immediately set about expanding the conquered cities into strong fortifications. These in turn served as starting points from which further French campaigns of conquest could be launched in later wars. It is not possible to determine how high the French and Spanish losses of troops were during the war, or to ascertain civilian losses. Due to the short duration of the conflict, however, they were probably fairly low. For example, it is known that the French army sustained more than 4,000 casualties (dead or wounded) in the siege of Lille alone. The Spanish troops then lost 180 men in fighting in Brussels.

On the political level, the results were less positive for Louis XIV. The King's reputation in the Holy Roman Empire had certainly been damaged, above all due to taking the free imperial city of Besançon. Due to the perceived French expansionist drive, the League of the Rhine dissolved itself already in 1668, and other allies such as the Elector of Brandenburg also abandoned France. This U-turn of many Imperial States was made vivid when, in 1673, at the beginning of the second war of Louis XIV, they declared an imperial war on France.

The most important consequence, however, was the changed attitude of Louis XIV towards the United Provinces. The King mostly blamed them, his former close allies, for the creation of the Triple Alliance, whose pressure had put a halt to his conquests. The French foreign policy of the following years was therefore completely geared towards isolating the United Provinces, in order to attack them at a convenient opportunity. After succeeding in isolating them through alliances with several German princes, England and Sweden, Louis XIV started the Franco-Dutch War in 1672, which was to expand into a pan-European conflict. Many historians see this war as merely a continuation of the War of Devolution.