13.1.51 to 13.1.55

The Empire of the last Spanish Habsburgs (1643-1713) Traditionally, historians mark the Battle of Rocroi (1643) as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe. Supported by the French, the Catalonians, Neapolitans, and Portuguese rose up in revolt against the Spanish in the 1640s. With the Spanish Netherlands effectively lost after the Battle of Lens in 1648, the Spanish made peace with the Dutch and recognized the independent United Provinces in the Peace of Westphalia that ended both the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War. War with France continued for eleven more years. Although France suffered from a civil war from 1648-1652 the Spanish economy was so exhausted that they were unable to effectively cope. Naples was retaken in 1648 and Catalonia in 1652, but the war came effectively to an end at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) where the French army under Vicomte de Turenne defeated the remnants of the Spanish army of the Netherlands. Spain agreed to the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 that ceded to France Roussillon, Foix, Artois, and much of Lorraine. Portugal had rebelled in 1640 under the leadership of John IV of Portugal, a Braganza pretender to the throne. He had received widespread support from the Portuguese people, and the Spanish—who had to deal with rebellions elsewhere, along with the war against France—were unable to respond, and the Spanish and Portuguese had existed in a de facto state of peace from 1644 to 1657. When John IV died in 1657, the Spanish attempted to wrest Portugal from his son Alfonso VI of Portugal, but were defeated at Ameixial (1663) and Monte Claros (1665), leading to Spain's recognition of Portugal's independence in 1668. Charles II and his regency were incompetent in dealing with the War of Devolution that Louis XIV of France prosecuted against the Spanish Netherlands in 1667-1668, losing considerable prestige and territory, including the cities of Lille and Charleroi. In the Nine Years' War Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands. French forces led by the Duke of Luxembourg defeated the Spanish at Fleurus (1690), and subsequently defeated Dutch forces under William III, who fought on Spain's side. The war ended with most of the Spanish Netherlands under French occupation, including the important cities of Ghent and Luxembourg. The war revealed to the world how vulnerable and backward the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy were, though the ineffective Spanish government took no action to improve them.