Italy, Piedmont and French Anti-Habsburg Strategy, 1690–1748

Abstract

This chapter uses the French strategy in Italy in the sixty years from 1690 to 1748, as a case study. Traditionally Cardinal Richelieu is credited as the original planner of the French grand strategy in the early 17th century; implemented during the Thirty Years War and successfully pursued by his successor Mazarin until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. The real strategic problem facing France was the extent of the Habsburg domains. Spanish supremacy remained firm; its power was based in Italy, and centered on the Kingdom of Naples. A major change in French policy occurred in 1690, when the Grand Alliance was established inaugurating the Nine Years' War. Bavaria and Piedmont allied with France during the War of Spanish Succession. Previously, they supported the Austrians and counted the French as enemies. Piedmont managed a significant defensive success against the French and Spaniards by entering Italy through the Alps. Keywords:Alps; Austria; French anti - Habsburg Strategy; Italy; Kingdom of Naples; Piedmont; War of Spanish Succession