Atlantic West Europe (1708–1719): Resolution, Reconstruction, and Early Enlightenment Flourishing

Between 1708 and 1719, Atlantic West Europe—including northern France, the Low Countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), and regions along the Atlantic and English Channel coasts—witnessed critical resolutions to earlier dynastic conflicts, economic stabilization, and a renewed cultural and intellectual dynamism. The decade's pivotal moment was the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession, which profoundly reshaped geopolitical alignments, allowed economic recovery, and intensified intellectual exchanges that laid foundations for the Enlightenment.

Political and Military Developments

Climax of the War of the Spanish Succession

• The decisive allied victory at the Battle of Oudenarde (1708) significantly weakened French forces in Flanders, further limiting Louis XIV's ambitions in the Low Countries.

• The subsequent Battle of Malplaquet (1709), although tactically ambiguous due to heavy casualties on both sides, strategically undermined French military resources and accelerated diplomatic efforts toward peace.

The Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714)

• The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) dramatically reshaped Atlantic West Europe's political landscape, ensuring that Philip V remained king of Spain but prohibiting a future union of French and Spanish crowns, thus preserving European balance-of-power principles.

• Britain emerged significantly strengthened, acquiring strategic territories including Gibraltar, Minorca, and valuable commercial privileges in the Atlantic trade, profoundly affecting regional maritime dynamics.

• The Treaty of Rastatt (1714) between France and Austria finalized Habsburg control over the Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium), placing the region under Austrian rule and establishing clear territorial boundaries that would define Europe’s geopolitical order for decades.

Succession and Dynastic Shifts in France

• The death of Louis XIV (1715) concluded an era defined by absolute monarchy and territorial ambition, ushering in the regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (1715–1723), characterized by diplomatic pragmatism, domestic reform, and relative peace.

Economic and Maritime Developments

Economic Stabilization and Recovery

• The cessation of prolonged warfare allowed economic stabilization across Atlantic West Europe, enabling recovery in agriculture, commerce, and manufacturing, particularly in Flanders and northern France.

• Maritime trade intensified, notably benefiting English and Dutch port cities like London, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, while French Atlantic ports—Bordeaux, Nantes, and La Rochelle—recovered significantly, enhancing commercial prosperity, especially in wine, textiles, and sugar trade.

Expansion of Financial and Commercial Institutions

• Amsterdam retained significant economic influence, remaining Europe's major financial center. However, London's growing financial institutions—exemplified by the establishment of the South Sea Company (1711)—foreshadowed the English capital's eventual ascendance as Europe's financial powerhouse.

• Antwerp began a period of gradual economic revival under Austrian governance, though overshadowed commercially by Amsterdam’s dominance in Atlantic and global trade networks.

Religious and Intellectual Developments

Early Enlightenment Thought and Intellectual Networks

• Intellectual life flourished, driven by scholars and philosophers fostering Enlightenment ideals. Figures such as Pierre Bayle (posthumously influential after his death in 1706) continued shaping discourse, particularly in the Dutch Republic, advocating religious tolerance, skepticism, and rational inquiry.

• In France, under the relatively tolerant Orléans Regency, intellectual exchanges expanded through salons and literary circles. This environment supported early Enlightenment figures, such as Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, whose popularization of scientific ideas deeply influenced French intellectual culture.

Religious Tensions and Catholic Reforms

• Despite relative political calm, religious tensions persisted. The legacy of the Huguenot exodus still impacted economic and intellectual spheres, although repression was somewhat relaxed under the regency.

• Catholic authorities, influenced by Counter-Reformation values, continued promoting orthodox religious practices, though criticism from enlightened circles subtly challenged traditional doctrines.

Cultural and Artistic Flourishing

Transition from Baroque to Rococo

• Artistic styles transitioned distinctly toward Rococo, particularly visible in France during the Regency period, characterized by elegance, ornamental delicacy, and playful themes. Paris emerged as the primary center for Rococo artistic and architectural innovation.

• Flemish and Dutch cities, notably Brussels, Antwerp, and Amsterdam, continued patronizing Baroque traditions, although incorporating increasingly refined aesthetics influenced by French cultural trends.

Literary and Musical Innovations

• Literature and theater continued vibrant growth, exemplified by playwrights such as Alain-René Lesage and French satirists, whose works critiqued social and political institutions humorously yet incisively.

• Music thrived, exemplified by composers such as François Couperin and Flemish-born Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, whose works enriched regional musical traditions, bridging Baroque intricacy with emerging Rococo refinement.

Social and Urban Developments

Urban Revitalization and Demographic Recovery

• Urban centers like Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Antwerp experienced demographic recovery and infrastructural expansion following wartime strains. Economic stabilization spurred urban growth, improved civic infrastructure, and rising standards of living.

• Trade prosperity benefited mercantile and bourgeois classes, fostering increasing urbanization and enhancing municipal governance and civic engagement, particularly evident in Amsterdam and Antwerp.

Reinforced Regional Identities and Autonomy

• Despite increased centralization efforts, regional identities remained robust, notably among Flemish, Dutch, and Breton populations. Local customs, dialects, and governance structures continued resiliently, resisting full cultural assimilation into broader centralized frameworks.

Legacy and Long-Term Significance

The era 1708–1719 marked a critical transition for Atlantic West Europe:

• Politically, the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession established enduring territorial boundaries and power balances, stabilizing the region politically for several decades.

• Economically, peace allowed recovery, enabling the resumption of robust commercial activities, strengthening maritime trade, and enhancing financial institutions vital for future prosperity.

• Intellectually, the continued rise of Enlightenment thought promoted critical inquiry, rationalism, and secular intellectual traditions, fundamentally reshaping European cultural and intellectual discourse.

• Culturally, the transition toward Rococo aesthetics in art and music laid foundations for later 18th-century artistic developments, significantly influencing European tastes and styles.

Overall, this era solidified political, economic, and intellectual foundations essential to Atlantic West Europe's subsequent prominence in European and global historical trajectories.

The allied campaign of 1709 had begun in mid June after a late start owing to the unusually harsh winter preceding it.

Unable to bring the French army under Marshal Villars to battle, owing to strong French defensive lines and the Marshal's orders from Versailles not to risk battle, the Duke of Marlborough has concentrated instead on taking the fortresses of Tournai and Ypres.

Tournai had fallen after an unusually long siege of almost seventy days, by which time it is early September, and rather than run the risk of disease spreading in his army in the poorly draining land around Ypres, Marlborough instead moves eastwards towards the lesser fortress of Mons, hoping by taking it to outflank the French defensive lines in the west.

Villars moves after him, under new orders from Louis XIV to prevent the fall of Mons at all costs – effectively an order for the aggressive Marshal to give battle.

After several complicated maneuvers, the two armies face each other across the gap of Malplaquet, southwest of Mons.

The allied army, mainly consisting of Dutch and Austrian troops, but also with considerable British and Prussian contingents, is led by Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy, while the French and a contingent of Bavarians are commanded by Villars and Marshal Boufflers.

Boufflers is officially Villars' superior but is voluntarily serving under him.

The allies have about eighty-six thousand troops and one hundred guns and the French have about seventy-five thousand and eighty guns.

They are encamped within cannon range of each other near what is now the France/Belgium border.

At 9.00 AM on September 11, the Austrians attack with the support of Prussian and Danish troops under the command of Count Albrecht Konrad Finck von Finckenstein, pushing the French left wing back into the forest behind them.

The Dutch under command of John William Friso, Prince of Orange, on the Allied left wing, attack the French right flank half an hour later, and succeed with heavy casualties in distracting Boufflers enough so that he cannot come to Villars' aid.

Villars is able to regroup his forces, but Marlborough and Eugène attack again, assisted by the advance of a detachment under General Withers advancing on the French left flank, forcing Villars to divert forces from his center to confront them.

At around 1.00 PM, Villars is badly wounded by a musket ball that smashes his knee, and command passes to Boufflers.

The decisive final attack is made on the now weakened French center by British infantry under the command of the Earl of Orkney, which manages to occupy the French line of redans.

This enables the Allied cavalry to advance through this line and confront the French cavalry behind it.

A fierce cavalry battle now ensues, in which Boufflers personally leads the elite troops of the Maison du Roi.

He manages no less than six times to drive the Allied cavalry back upon the redans, but every time the French cavalry in its turn is driven back by British infantry fire.

Boufflers, realizing by 3.00 PM, that the battle cannot be won, finally orders a retreat, which is made in good order.

The Allies have suffered so many casualties in their attack that they cannot pursue him.

By this time, they have lost over twenty-one thousand men, almost twice as many as the French.

By the norms of warfare of the era, the battle is an allied victory, because the French withdraw at the end of the day's fighting, and leave Marlborough's army in possession of the battlefield, but with double the casualties.

In contrast with the Duke's previous victories, however, the French army has been able to withdraw in good order and relatively intact, and remains a potent threat to further allied operations.

Villars claims that a few more such French defeats will destroy the allied armies; and the historian John A. Lynn in his book The Wars of Louis XIV 1667-1714 terms the battle a Pyrrhic victory, but the attempt to save Mons fails, and the fortress falls on October 20.

Nonetheless, news of Malplaquet, the bloodiest battle of the eighteenth century, stuns Europe.

The rumor that even Marlborough had died becomes one of the most popular French folk songs, Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre.

Marlborough receives no personal letter of thanks from Queen Anne for the last of his four great battlefield victories.

Richard Blackmore's Instructions to Vander Beck is virtually alone among English poems in attempting to celebrate the "victory" of Marlborough at Malplaquet, while it moves the English Tory party to begin agitating for a withdrawal from the alliance as soon as they form a government the next year.