Quicksilver Reading CompanionA campaign of systematic destruction carried out by French armies in the Rhineland, 1688-89.
The Campaign
When the War of the League of Augsburg began, Louis XIV ordered his generals to create a wasteland between France and its enemies. French troops burned Heidelberg, Mannheim, Speyer, Worms, and dozens of smaller towns. Castles were demolished, crops destroyed, and tens of thousands of civilians displaced.
The strategy was scorched earth — deny the region to advancing coalition armies by leaving nothing of use. Entire towns were given days to evacuate before being torched.
Consequences
The devastation horrified Protestant Europe and strengthened the alliance against France. It became a lasting symbol of French aggression in German memory. Many Palatinate refugees emigrated, some as far as the American colonies.
In the novel
The destruction of the Palatinate forms part of the backdrop to Eliza’s storyline as the wars against France intensify in Book 3.