An Introduction to the Wars of Louis XIV

Louis's efforts to extend the boundaries of France were confined for the most part to the north and east, -- to regions now occupied by France herself, by Belgium, the German Empire, and the tiny duchy of Luxemburg. But in his time the map was no such simple matter as it is to-day. France was still hemmed in by Spain on the south, north, and east, as she had been since the times of Charles V, for Spain still held the southern Netherlands and Franche Comté. Then there was a maze of little duchies, counties, bishoprics, and more or less independent towns lying between France and the Rhine, belonging to the weak Holy Roman Empire. Some of this region France had already added to her possessions, as will be seen on the map, and there was reason to believe that she might take advantage of the general demoralization of the Empire to add more. Paris, the French capital, seemed altogether too near the frontier; but, should Louis succeed in adding territory at the expense of Spain and the little states toward the Rhine, it might become nearly the center of an enlarged France...