Warfare dominated much of Europe's history in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. The War of the Spanish Succession concluded al-
most fifty years of ceaseless struggle by France's Louis XIV to enhance
his prestige and to increase his influence. Ironically, the war achieved
neither; but it was remarkable in the unusual amount of blood shed.

At the start of the eighteenth century, Louis XIV towered over Europe.
He had inherited the French throne at the age of four in 1643. By 1661, with
the death of Cardinal Mazarin, who had guided France's fortunes during
the young monarch's minority, Louis began his personal rule. Louis'
France was wealthy, populous, and strong, and he utilized these resources
to build a magnificent state that both dazzled
and frightened Europe.

Not content to focus on domestic affairs, the Sun King, as the self-
important Louis was called, pursued an aggressive foreign policy. In one
sense, his belligerence simply continued the seemingly interminable con-
test between the Habsburg family and the ruling dynasty of France
( Louis was the third Bourbon king) for supremacy in Europe. For more
than two hundred years these adversaries had dueled repeatedly in such
venues as Germany, Italy, and the Low Countries without a clear victor
emerging. In another sense, Louis valued foreign adventures as a means

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