Quadruple Alliance

Quadruple Alliance 1. 1718. After the War of the Spanish Succession, Philip V of Spain was anxious to regain territory. France, Britain, and the Dutch formed a defensive Triple Alliance in 1717, which the Emperor Charles VI joined in 1718. A British naval squadron defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape Passaro immediately after the treaty had been signed in 1718, and a French invasion of Spain in 1719 forced Philip to come to terms. 2. 1815. At the end of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars in 1815, the victorious powers—Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria—formed a Quadruple Alliance to hold periodic conferences to consider matters of common interest—the so‐called Congress system. Meetings were held at Aix‐la‐Chapelle (1818), Troppau (1820–1), and Verona (1822), but differences between the allies were soon apparent. See holy alliance. 3. 1834. In the 1830s, the young queens of Portugal and of Spain were challenged by their uncles. Britain and France formed a Quadruple Alliance with Spain and Portugal in 1834 to protect them, as constitutional rulers, against intervention by Metternich.