ABSTRACT
The total war which Louis had hoped to contain spread. In May 1689 the Emperor and the United Provinces entered into alliance. The interacting process of war and state-building can be studied at the fringe, in the wars of the north, in the enlargement of government and new military potential of Brandenburg and Russia, and – providing an object lesson in the penalty for failing to develop – the relative powerlessness of Poland. In Flanders, the old prize-fighting ring of Europe, in laborious sieges, occasional ordered confrontations of close-ranked infantry, punctuated by ferocious charges of cavalry, the French won several notable, but never conclusive victories. The commercial tariff was mitigated in favour of the Dutch, who were also allowed to garrison a line of fortresses, the ‘Barrier’ in the Spanish Netherlands. William III was recognised King of England ‘by the grace of God’.
