278 Ch. 7 • The Age of Absolutism, 1650-1720
Map 7.4 Extension of France’s Frontiers under Louis XIV Louis XIV sough
to expand his dynastic territories through wars fought between 1643 and 1715.
International conditions seemed conducive to such grandiose plans. En
gland had been divided by civil war in the 1640s, and its restored monarch
Charles 11, faced mounting political opposition at home (see Chapter 6). T<
the north, Sweden confronted a Danish threat to its control of the Balti*
Sea. In Central Europe, the Austrian Habsburgs confronted other Germai
princes, as well as threats from Poland-Lithuania and the Turks.
Louis XlV's “grand strategy” was to contain the two Habsburg powers
Spain and Austria, by initiating a series of wars. Each conflict followed th>
king s violation of a previous agreement or formal treaty, and was accompa
nied by the claim that French aggression was “just.” Each war was to pa
for itself: French armies would force local populations to offer “contribu
