Silver coin of Louis XIV, dated1674
Obverse. The Latin
inscription is
LVDOVICVS XIIII D[EI]
GRA[TIA] ("Louis
XIV, by the grace of
God").
Reverse. The Latin
inscription is
FRAN[CIÆ] ET
NAVARRÆ REX 1674
("King of France
and of Navarre,
1674").
The Persian embassy to Louis XIV
sent by Soltan Hoseyn in 1715.
Ambassade de Perse auprès de
Louis XIV, studio of Antoine Coypel.
The French were nevertheless forced to retreat from most of the Dutch Republic, which deeply shocked Louis; he retreated to St
Germain for a time, where no one, except a few intimates, was allowed to disturb him.[47] French military advantages allowed
them however to hold their ground in Alsace and the Spanish Netherlands while retaking Franche-Comté. By 1678, mutual
exhaustion led to the Treaty of Nijmegen, which was generally settled in France's favour and allowed Louis to intervene in the
Scanian War. Despite the military defeat, his ally Sweden regained much of what it had lost under the 1679 treaties of Saint-
Germain-en-Laye, Fontainebleau and Lund imposed on Denmark–Norway and Brandenburg.[48] Yet Louis's two primary goals,
the destruction of the Dutch Republic and the conquest of the Spanish Netherlands, had failed.[49]
Louis was at the height of his power, but at the cost of uniting his opponents; this increased as he continued his expansion. In
1679, he dismissed his foreign minister Simon Arnauld, marquis de Pomponne, because he was seen as having compromised too
much with the allies. Louis maintained the strength of his army, but in his next series of territorial claims avoided using military
force alone. Rather, he combined it with legal pretexts in his efforts to augment the boundaries of his kingdom. Contemporary
treaties were intentionally phrased ambiguously. Louis established the Chambers of Reunion to determine the full extent of his
rights and obligations under those treaties.
Cities and territories, such as Luxembourg and Casale, were prized for their strategic
positions on the frontier and access to important waterways. Louis also sought
Strasbourg, an important strategic crossing on the left bank of the Rhine and theretofore
a Free Imperial City of the Holy Roman Empire, annexing it and other territories in
1681. Although a part of Alsace, Strasbourg was not part of Habsburg-ruled Alsace and
was thus not ceded to France in the Peace of Westphalia.
Following these annexations, Spain declared war, precipitating the War of the Reunions.
However, the Spanish were rapidly defeated because the Emperor (distracted by the
Great Turkish War) abandoned them, and the Dutch only supported them minimally. By
the Truce of Ratisbon, in 1684, Spain was forced to acquiesce in the French occupation
of most of the conquered territories, for 20 years.[50]
Louis's policy of the Réunions may have raised France to its greatest size and power
during his reign, but it alienated much of Europe. This poor public opinion was
compounded by French actions off the Barbary Coast and at Genoa. First, Louis had
Algiers and Tripoli, two Barbary pirate strongholds, bombarded to obtain a favourable treaty and the liberation of Christian
slaves. Next, in 1684, a punitive mission was launched against Genoa in retaliation for its support for Spain in previous wars.
Although the Genoese submitted, and the Doge led an official mission of apology to Versailles, France gained a reputation for
brutality and arrogance. European apprehension at growing French might and the realisation of the extent of the dragonnades'
effect (discussed below) led many states to abandon their alliances with France.[51] Accordingly, by the late 1680s, France became
increasingly isolated in Europe.
French colonies multiplied in Africa, the Americas, and Asia during Louis's reign, and
French explorers made important discoveries in North America. In 1673, Louis Jolliet and
Jacques Marquette discovered the Mississippi River. In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur