ABSTRACT

At the beginning of 1624 the Palatines placed their hopes on England for a resumption of war. The course of events till the end of 1625 exposed the fissures running through Palatine plans for a grand anti-Habsburg alliance. The one achievement of the year was an international conference that established The Hague Alliance, between England, Denmark, and the United Provinces, in December 1625, with the ostensible purpose of procuring Frederick's restitution. During the rise and fall of The Hague Alliance, Frederick had continued to rely on his seemingly limitless supply of faith and hope. But connecting The Hague Alliance with the league of France, Savoy, and Venice, and working in Bethlen Gábor as well was an all but impossible task. The Catholic powers involved in this struggle were only marginally more successful in uniting their aims than the Protestants. A conference in Brussels in May 1626 had achieved less unity than the meetings for The Hague Alliance.