Editing Louis XIV (section)

===France as the pivot of warfare===
[[File:De-La-Torre-Jean-Du-Mont--Mémoires MG 0958.tif|thumb|Louis{{Nbsp}}XIV]]

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]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Lynn|1999|p=46.}}</ref> The wars were very expensive but defined Louis{{Nbsp}}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.{{Sfn|Nathan|1993|p=633}} 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 in Europe, Asia, Africa and America; the Duke of Savoy [in Italy], England, Scotland, Ireland, and all their colonies in the East and West Indies; and Holland with all its possessions in the four corners of the world where it has great 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 states secretly aid France's enemies by the troops that they hire to them, the money they lend them and by protecting and covering their trade.<ref>Quoted in {{Harvnb|Symcox|1974|pp=236–237}}</ref>

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{{Nbsp}}II] expelled from his country; the Grand Duke of Tuscany; the Dukes of Mantua, Modena, and Parma [all in Italy]; and the other faction of the Swiss. Some of these are sunk in the softness that comes of years of peace, the others are cool in their affections....The English and Dutch are the main pillars of the Alliance; they support it by making war against us in concert with the other powers, and they keep it going by means of the money that they pay every year to... Allies.... We must therefore fall back on privateering as the method of conducting war which is most feasible, simple, cheap, and safe, and which will cost least to the state, the more so since any losses will not be felt by the King, who risks virtually nothing....It will enrich the country, train many good officers for the King, and in a short time force his enemies to sue for peace.<ref>Quoted in {{Harvnb|Symcox|1974|pp=237, 242}}</ref>