Using a combination of aggression, annexation, and quasi-legal means, he then set about extending his gains to strengthen France's frontiers, culminating in the to War of the Reunions.
The Truce of Ratisbon guaranteed these new borders for twenty years, but concerns among European Protestant states over French expansion and anti-Protestant policies led to the creation of the Grand Alliance, headed by William of Orange.
In September Louis led an army across the Rhine to seize additional territories beyond it. This move was designed to extend his influence and pressure the Holy Roman Empire into accepting his territorial and dynastic claims. Over the next few years, fighting focused around the Spanish Netherlands , the Rhineland , the Duchy of Savoy , and Catalonia.
Although engagements generally favoured Louis' armies, neither side was able to gain a significant advantage, and by the main belligerents were financially exhausted, making them keen to negotiate a settlement. Under the terms of the Peace of Ryswick , French control over the entirety of Alsace was officially recognized, but Lorraine and gains on the right bank of the Rhine were relinquished and restored to their rulers. Louis XIV also recognised William III as the rightful king of England, while the Dutch acquired barrier fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands to help secure their borders and were granted a favorable commercial treaty.
However, both sides viewed the peace as only a pause in hostilities, since it failed to resolve who would succeed the ailing and childless Charles II of Spain as ruler of the Spanish Empire, a question that had dominated European politics for over 30 years.
