The Dutch – French War of 1726
Louis XIII
(August 31 1726 – August 30 1733)
January of 1723 Louis XIII was brought news of an alliance between its two eastern neighbours and his advisors suspected that war would soon be coming to France. Border guards were stuck on alert and the Iberian and Sicilian garrisons called north to help with the defences that had been prepared for this exact possibility. When notification from the Dutch arrived that they no longer required military access through France, followed shortly by the Greeks, the French army was in position and fully prepared.
August 31st 1726 the Dutch officially declared war on France and its vassals of Bavaria and Austria, with Byzantium joining the war shortly after. Bavaria and Austria were quickly overrun while in France the initial assaults into Italy were repulsed at a high cost in lives on both sides. Once the two German states were under control of the Netherlands though the French defences in Northern Italy proved to be too thin and were overrun.
In Northern France the Dutch pushed into Flanders and Lorraine attempting to smash the French armies. Losses were again high on both sides but the initial successes went to the Dutch and it became obvious that if the French armies did not concentrate their defence on one area all of France would be overrun. The decision was made to pull all troops into Northern France and deal with the main Dutch forces, trusting the defence of Italy to the local garrisons.
With French troops focused solely on pushing out the Dutch they quickly turned the momentum of the war successfully drove the invaders out of France. Dutch armies pulled back to regroup allowing a quick reorganization of French infantry using the lessons learned from the conflict
(1). Several months of quiet were then broken with French troops marching across the border into Luxemburg.
Despite several attempts to drive the French armies out of the Netherlands the Dutch forces were consistently repulsed with heavy casualties even when outnumbering the French armies. Louis XIII felt confident enough with the efforts against the Dutch that he dispatched a 50,000 strong cavalry army back to Italy to relieve in an attempt to lift several sieges. The relief force would catch the Byzantium forces by surprise, destroying two armies consisting of 19,000 cavalry each, before pressing on towards Venice. The French navy was called in to block the straights so the Greek army had no place to retreat and the 22,000 strong siege force was destroyed.
Byzantium reinforcements would begin to arrive though trapping the cavalry force in Venice and with the western front still quiet another 30,000 French cavalry was sent in hopes of driving out the Greeks from Italy for good. This proved to be a huge mistake though as they were intercepted by a force of over 80,000 Greek cavalry and destroyed.
The war would become quiet with sieges progressing slowly and neither side seeming interested in confrontation as war exhaustion in all three nations rose. Luxemburg would fall and French troops marched into Liege while talks began in earnest for peace. Demands by the Byzantium Empire for Sicily and southern Italy were rejected by France and the counter offer of Judea, with Bavaria and Austria falling under Dutch influence, did not sit well with the aggressors.
With negotiations breaking down a Dutch force of 100,000 cavalry and 46,000 infantry hit the French forces in Liege. French forces consisted of 7,000 cavalry, 7,000 artillery and 67,000 infantry. Despite being outnumbered almost two to one the French forces stood their ground and fought valiantly against the Dutch. On May 30, 1733, the Dutch soldiers would retreat from Liege leaving behind over dead 73,000 Dutch soldiers, at the cost of only 7,832 French. The crushing defeat of the Dutch forces would unofficially end the war and a formal peace was signed three months later on August 30th with France releasing Bavaria and Austria to the Netherlands and Byzantium receiving Judea and the two surrounding provinces.
The peace did not sit well with the French populace though as they believed that given time France could have demanded reparations from the Dutch and Greek forces and minor rebellions would spring up around the empire. The result of these rebellions would see Madurai gain its independence from France in 1738.
French nobles wanted revenge for the war forced on them by the Dutch. Diplomatic offers to negotiate for Bavaria had been made several times and ignored while the Greek Emperor had assured France that they would only resort to war if disputes could not first be settled through diplomacy. Despite this King Louis XIII desired stability in Europe and would again try diplomacy in hopes that France would not have to see another costly war. A memorial would be erected in Paris to honour the over 400,000 French lives lost in the conflict.
Dutch/Byzantium Offensive and conquests in France at hieght of war.
French counteroffensive and approximate areas of control at end of war.
(1) With advances in Land tech I took the chance of upgrading my infantry which really helped lower my casualties.