Page:A General Sketch of Political History from the Earlist Times.djvu/306

 294 THE BOURBON AGE from the Triple Alliance, and the only one of the German princes who threatened to support Holland was Frederick Holland William of Brandenburg, known as the Great isolated. Elector. The one thing on which nobody had calculated was the character of young William of Orange, who had every intention of recovering the power of his house in Holland, but was no less determined to fight for Dutch independ- ence to the last gasp. In 1672 Louis opened the attack. The Dutch navy was powerful, and proved itself a match for the combined fleets of The Invasion France and England, which suffered from the in- of Holland, ability to co-operate, by which allied navies seem to 1672, be still more seriously afflicted than allied armies. But the Dutch armies were in a deplorable condition. The partisans of the house of Orange forced the Dutch government to place William in command, but he was almost helpless, and could offer no effective resistance when the French troops entered the United Provinces. The Dutch rose in fury against the government, murdered the two De Witts, and made William stadtholder. William justified their faith in his courage and patriotism. By his order the dykes were opened, and the French troops were literally flooded out of the country. The French successes had already created so much alarm that the emperor took up arms in support of the Dutch. Louis had to fall back on the defensive. Still the brilliant military genius War with a of Turenne enabled the French to check the coalition. German forces at every point. The details of the campaigns during the next three years, especially of those con- ducted by Turenne, are of great military interest, but cannot be dealt with here. In 1675, however, Turenne himself was killed by a stray bullet, when two other brilliant commanders, the Imperialist Montecuculi and the French Conde, retired. Still, as the war continued, the successes lay rather with the French than with the allies ; and the progress of the French navy was signally demonstrated when Duquesne, the French admiral, proved himself a match for the Dutch De Ruyter in the Medi- terranean. But in effect France had been standing at bay against