Was Louis XIV’s Foreign policy between 1661and 1700 Aggressive?
...oraries were more ready to go to war than he was” Francois Bluce and Ragnhild Hatton supporters of Louis The war of devolution 1667-8 Philip IV of Spain died and left his unhealthy son to the throne. Philips widow was acting as regent. Louis thought this weakness could be used to Frances advantage. He could strengthen Frances northeastern border. He used his wife’s claim to the Spanish throne as an excuse to invade Spanish territory claiming it was hers. I think this was defiantly an aggressive policy by Louis because his wife is the daughter of Philip IV and could therefore fight a legal battle to get the land. But he instead invades. Richard Wilkinson’s quote is appropriate for this war. The Dutch war 1672-9 is harder to justify than the war of devolution. Between 1668 and 1672 Louis openly prepared for the invasion of Holland, while his ministers wondered about the rightness of this cause. Louis wanted to invade Holland because of the protestant King William of Orange. And he saw an easy opportunity to gain some Land as Holland was already in a war with England. Louis didn’t want a long battle. He wanted a lightening strike. “Meticulously planned, brilliantly conducted and purposefully concluded.” Louis wanted to teach the Dutch a lesson that they would never interfere with the king’s policies with the Spanish Netherlands. This policy was defiantly aggressive towards Holland Louis wanted to show off his army and teach Holland a lesson but got tied up in a long expensive war this time he paid for being aggressive. The Nine Years War1688-97 in the nine years war Louis didn’t set out to conquer anyone only to r...