and use their port building some galleys for the Spanish navy. As a punishment, on 5 May a French fleet commanded by Admiral Abraham Duquesne left the Mediterranean naval base of Toulon and began a bombardment of Genoa on 17 May 1684, which lasted for the next 12 days apart from a short truce for negotiations. By the time it concluded on 28 May, two thirds of the city had been destroyed. Peace and treaty While Louis refused to send aid to the Empire and even dispatched secret envoys to encourage the Ottomans, contemporary accounts indicate that it would be unseemly for him to continue fighting the Empire on its western border. Thus, Louis agreed to the Truce of Ratisbon, guaranteeing 20 years of peace between France and the Empire and asking his first cousin, King Charles II of England, to arbitrate the disputed border claims. Aftermath The war, like its immediate continental predecessors, failed to resolve the festering conflict between the French Bourbon dynasty and the Spanish and Austrian branches of the Habsburg dynasty. The brief but brutal conflict was one of the precursors to the lengthier Nine Years' War. References Sources Reunions Reunions Wars involving France Wars involving Spain 1683 in France 1684 in France Conflicts in 1683 Conflicts in 1684 France–Spain relations 1683 in Spain 1684 in Spain Wars involving the Republic of Genoa Reunions