In 1511, François, the Regent for his nephew, French king Charles VIII, was elected Roman king (as Franz I). He had to find out soon that the title was far from having much actual power. To counter this, he founded the Alliance des Alpes (German: Alpenbund) with Venice, Bavaria and Württemberg-Carinthia. The new alliance was mainly directed against the Rum-Seljuks. Together, they fought the Seljuks in the first French-Seljuk War 1567-74, the Great Seljuk War 1599-1604 and the second French-Seljuk War 1635-46, all of them successful. But France used the alliance also to interfere in German politics.
Under François IV, France also interfered in the second Swiss-Savoy War, with the result that both Savoy and Switzerland also joined the alliance. 1660-64, it also engaged in the Luxemburgian War of Succession, dividing up this country, which was widely criticized in the HRE.
After the lost Anti-French War, the Alliance des Alpes had to be dissolved.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Member States | |||
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Bavaria | Bourbon Hungary | France | Savoy | Switzerland | Venice | Württemberg-Austria | |||
| Wars fought | |||
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Anti-French War | First French-Seljuk War | Luxemburgian War of Succession | Great Seljuk War | Second / Third French-Seljuk War |
