Louis XIV
experiences during the Fronde, when men of high birth readily took up the rebel cause against their king, who was actually the
kinsman of some. This victory over the nobility may thus have ensured the end of major civil wars in France until the French
Revolution about a century later.
Under Louis, France was the leading European power, and most wars pivoted around its
aggressiveness. No European state exceeded it in population, and no one could match its
wealth, central location, and very strong professional army. It had largely avoided the
devastation of the Thirty Years' War. Its weaknesses included an inefficient financial
system that was hard-pressed to pay for its military adventures, and the tendency of most
other powers to gang up against it.
During Louis's reign, France fought three major wars: the Franco-Dutch War, the Nine
Years' War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. There were also two lesser conflicts:
the War of Devolution and the War of the Reunions.[64] The wars were very expensive but
defined Louis XIV's foreign policy, and his personality shaped his approach. Impelled "by
a mix of commerce, revenge, and pique", Louis sensed that war was the ideal way to
enhance his glory. In peacetime, he concentrated on preparing for the next war. He taught
his diplomats that their job was to create tactical and strategic advantages for the French
military.[6] By 1695, France retained much of its dominance but had lost control of the seas
to England and Holland, and most countries, both Protestant and Catholic, were in alliance
against it. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, France's leading military strategist, warned
Louis in 1689 that a hostile "Alliance" was too powerful at sea. He recommended that
France fight back by licensing French merchant ships to privateer and seize enemy
merchant ships while avoiding its navies:
France has its declared enemies Germany and all the states that it embraces; Spain with all its dependencies inEurope, Asia, Africa and America; the Duke of Savoy [in Italy], England, Scotland, Ireland, and all their coloniesin the East and West Indies; and Holland with all its possessions in the four corners of the world where it hasgreat establishments. France has ... undeclared enemies, indirectly hostile, hostile, and envious of its greatness,Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Venice, Genoa, and part of the Swiss Confederation, all of which statessecretly aid France's enemies by the troops that they hire to them, the money they lend them and by protectingand covering their trade.[65]
Vauban was pessimistic about France's so-called friends and allies:
For lukewarm, useless, or impotent friends, France has the Pope, who is indifferent; the King of England[James II] expelled from his country; the Grand Duke of Tuscany; the Dukes of Mantua, Modena, and Parma [allin Italy]; and the other faction of the Swiss. Some of these are sunk in the softness that comes of years ofpeace, the others are cool in their affections....The English and Dutch are the main pillars of the Alliance; theysupport it by making war against us in concert with the other powers, and they keep it going by means of themoney that they pay every year to... Allies.... We must therefore fall back on privateering as the method ofconducting war which is most feasible, simple, cheap, and safe, and which will cost least to the state, the moreso since any losses will not be felt by the King, who risks virtually nothing....It will enrich the country, train manygood officers for the King, and in a short time force his enemies to sue for peace.[66]
Louis decided to persecute Protestants and revoke the 1598 Edict of Nantes, which awarded Huguenots political and religious
freedom. He saw the persistence of Protestantism as a disgraceful reminder of royal powerlessness. After all, the Edict was the
pragmatic concession of his grandfather Henry IV to end the longstanding French Wars of Religion. An additional factor in