Triple Alliance ( English Triple Alliance ) - formed on January 23, 1668 in The Hague, the tripartite union of England , Sweden and the Republic of the United Provinces . It arose for defensive purposes in order to stop the expansion of Louis XIV in the Devolutionary War . The Union never participated in the war, but was a serious enough threat, forcing Louis to stop the offensive and sign peace with Spain in Aachen .
Reasons for the Alliance
The coalition was formed quite unexpectedly for the government of Louis XIV. The surprise was also caused by the fact that the recent French allies in the anti-Habsburg struggle - Holland, Sweden, England - came to the aid of Spain. The main reason was the wariness about the aggressive policy of France, in fact, embarked on the path of aggressive war. The initiators of the union were the Dutch, who were not satisfied with the high French customs tariff of 1667 imposed by Colbert , which undermined their trade. In addition, they were completely dissatisfied with the prospect of being in the immediate vicinity of militant feudal absolutist France, if it occupies the Southern Netherlands. The Dutch bourgeoisie chose to enter into an alliance with their age-old blood enemy, the Spanish monarchy, and was able to involve Sweden and England in the coalition. The successful formation of this coalition was also helped by the fact that the English parliament, dissatisfied with the policies of Charles II Stewart , forced him to sharply change the course, interrupt the war with Holland and enter into an alliance with France against it. At the same time, Sweden acted as a guarantor of the Westphalian Peace .