Triple Alliance

(noun)

A 1668 alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic formed to halt the expansion of Louis XIV's France in the War of Devolution. The alliance never engaged in combat against France, but it was enough of a threat to force Louis to halt his offensive and sign the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle with Spain.

Related Terms

Examples of Triple Alliance in the following topics:

  • Louis XIV's Wars

    • His ambitions pushed other leading European states to form alliances against increasingly aggressive France.
    • However, a Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic forced  France to give most of it back in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
    • During the negotiations, the Triple Alliance managed to enforce their demands: France abandoned the Franche-Comté and French troops had to withdraw from the Spanish Netherlands.
    • The King blamed it, his former close ally, for the creation of the Triple Alliance, whose pressure had put a halt to his conquests.
    • England felt threatened by the Dutch naval power and did not need much encouragement to leave the Triple Alliance.

  • The Aztec People

    • From the 13th century, the Valley of Mexico was the heart of Aztec civilization; here the capital of the Aztec Triple Alliance, the city of Tenochtitlan, was built upon raised islets in Lake Texcoco.
    • The Triple Alliance was comprised of Tenochtitlan along with their main allies of Acolhuas of Texcoco and Tepanecs of Tlacopan.
    • In 1521 Hernán Cortés, along with a large number of Nahuatl-speaking indigenous allies, conquered Tenochtitlan and defeated the Aztec Triple Alliance under the leadership of Hueyi Tlatoani Moctezuma II.

  • Aztec Religion

    • This deity was also incorporated from cultures under the Aztec Triple Alliance umbrella.

  • National Reorganization and the Dirty War

    • During this time, the military, security forces, and right-wing death squads such as the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance (Triple A) hunted down and killed left-wing guerrillas, political dissidents, and anyone believed to be associated with the socialist movement.
    • In 1973, as Juan Peron returned from exile, the Ezeiza massacre marked the end of an alliance between left- and right-wing factions of Peronism.
    • During the presidency of his widow Isabel Martinez de Peron, the far-right paramilitary death squad Triple A emerged, increasing armed struggles.

  • The Holy Alliance

  • The Alliances

  • A Global War

    • In response, France concluded an alliance with its long-time enemy Austria, an event known as the diplomatic revolution.
    • The triple Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal in Europe (main theater of the war, which absorbed the lion's share of the Spanish war effort) in 1762 was followed by a Spanish invasion of Portuguese territories in South America (a secondary theater of the war).
    • The war also brought to an end the old system of alliances in Europe.
    • Naples, Sicily, and Savoy, although sided with the Franco-Spanish alliance.

  • The Diplomatic Revolution

    • Maria Theresa of Austria had signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 in order to gain time to rebuild her military forces and forge new alliances.
    • This change in European alliances was a prelude to the Seven Years' War.
    • Consequently, it entered into a defensive alliance with Austria.
    • In 1758, the Anglo-Prussian Convention between Great Britain and the Kingdom of Prussia formalized the alliance between the two powers.
    • However, the alliance proved to be short-lived largely because Britain withdrew financial and military support for Prussia in 1762.

  • William of Orange and the Grand Alliance

    • With the Holy Roman Emperor and the petty German states, they formed another Grand Alliance.
    • Even after the formation of the Grand Alliance the French King continued to antagonize his European rivals.
    • Securing the Protestant succession was soon recognized by the Grand Alliance as one of England's main war aims.
    • With the Grand Alliance defeated in Spain, its casualties and costs mounting and aims diverging, the Tories came to power in Great Britain in 1710 and resolved to end the war.
    • Explain William's stake in the War of the Spanish Succession and the goals of the Grand Alliance.

  • Marriage to Marie-Antoinette

    • Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette's marriage confirmed and strengthened the Franco-Austrian alliance that had many opponents among the French elites and the commoners.
    • France's alliance with Austria had pulled the country into the disastrous Seven Years' War, in which it was defeated by the British, both in Europe and in North America.
    • By the time that Louis and Marie Antoinette were married, the French were generally critical of the Austrian alliance and many saw Marie Antoinette as an unwelcome foreigner.
    • Empress Maria Theresa died in 1780 and Marie Antoinette feared that the death of her mother would jeopardize the Franco-Austrian alliance but her brother, Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, assured her that he had no intention of breaking the alliance.
    • Joseph II visited his sister in 1781 to reaffirm the Franco-Austrian alliance but his visit was tainted with rumors that Marie Antoinette was sending money from the French treasury to Austria.