levo

Y313: The Ascendancy of France 1610–1715

France as an international power: aims and the struggle with the Habsburgs to 1659

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on French aims and encirclement, the regency’s policy, the Valtelline and Mantua, war against the Habsburgs and entry into the Thirty Years War, Rocroi, Westphalia and the Peace of the Pyrenees.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Evaluation

Why did France declare war on Spain in 1635?

Evaluation

Why did France feel encircled at the start of the period?

Key term

What was at stake in the Mantuan succession war of 1628–31?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    State the main aims of French foreign policy between 1610 and 1715.

    Model answer

    To break the encirclement of France by the Habsburgs, to secure defensible frontiers on the north and east, to win territory and client states, and to gain prestige and standing for the dynasty.

  2. 2

    Why did France feel encircled at the start of the period?

    Model answer

    The Spanish Habsburgs held the Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Milan and Spain itself while their Austrian cousins ruled the Empire, so France was surrounded by lands of one family and by the Spanish Road that linked them.

  3. 3

    What direction did foreign policy take under Marie de' Medici's regency?

    Model answer

    She reversed Henry IV's anti-Habsburg stance and sought friendship with Spain, sealed by the double marriage of 1615 in which Louis XIII married Anne of Austria and his sister married the future Philip IV.

  4. 4

    Why did the Valtelline matter, and how was the dispute settled in 1626?

    Model answer

    The Alpine valley carried the route by which Spanish troops moved from Italy to the Netherlands and Austria, and by the Treaty of Monzón France conceded its formal neutrality without securing lasting control.

  5. 5

    What was at stake in the Mantuan succession war of 1628–31?

    Model answer

    France backed the French claimant, the Duke of Nevers, against Spanish and imperial candidates to keep influence in northern Italy, and the Treaty of Cherasco confirmed him and left France holding Pinerolo as a gateway into Italy.

  6. 6

    How did Richelieu fight the Habsburgs before 1635?

    Model answer

    By covert war: financing the enemies of the Habsburgs, most notably in the Treaty of Bärwalde of 1631 which paid a large annual subsidy to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, while avoiding open commitment.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

Y101: Alfred and the Making of England 871–1016
Y102: Anglo-Saxon England and the Norman Conquest 1035–1107
Y103: England 1199–1272
Y104: England 1377–1455

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Franz Ferdinand was shot at in June.
SarajevoBelgradeVienna

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AA republic replaced the sultanate.
BThe caliphate was abolished in 1924.
CThe Latin alphabet was adopted.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Simony means the buying and selling of Church office.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Y313: The Ascendancy of France 1610–1715, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.