the Empire and thus excluded, but many of the Union's leaders were senior Dutch officers, including its head, Georg Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck. He made its most significant innovation; for the first time, members funded a central 'Union' army, rather than providing individual contingents, greatly enhancing its effectiveness. His model was used for the 1682 Laxenburg Alliance, which grouped Austria with the Upper Rhenish and Franconian Circles to defend the Rhineland but the War of Reunions proved it could not oppose France on its own. When Philip William inherited the Palatinate in May 1685, Louis claimed half of it, based on the marriage of Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate to Philippe of Orléans, creating another crisis. Victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna in 1683 allowed Leopold to refocus on the western portions of the Empire. The League of Augsburg was formed in July 1686 by combining the Laxenburg Alliance with the Burgundian Circle, Swedish Pomerania, and Bavaria. On 27 September 1688, French forces invaded the Rhineland and attacked Philippsburg, launching the Nine Years' War. The coalition was strengthened when the Glorious Revolution deposed James II in November 1688 and William of Orange became William III/II of England and Scotland. The Dutch Republic declared war on France in March 1689, followed by England in May. Membership; League of Augsburg v Grand Alliance The overlap between the various coalitions is often confusing. The Empire contained hundreds of members, each belonging to an Imperial Circle (see map), an administrative unit for collecting taxes and mutual support; the Swabian Circle alone had over 88 members. Individual states could form or join alliances, such as the 1685 agreement between Brandenburg-Prussia and the Dutch Republic, while Leopold signed the Grand Alliance as Archduke of Austria. However, only the Imperial Diet could commit the entire Empire; unlike the 1701–1714 War of the Spanish Succession, the Nine Years' War was not declared an 'Imperial' one. A number of foreign monarchs became personally involved, because they held titles and lands within the Empire. Sweden was technically neutral, but Charles XI of Sweden was also Duke of Swedish Pomerania, a member of the Lower Saxon Circle and part of the League. The same applied to the Spanish Netherlands, a member of the Burgundian Circle, but not the Kingdom of Spain, which joined the Grand Alliance in 1690. Lastly, some writers fail to differentiate between the Grand Alliance,