War of Devolution
| War of Devolution | |||||||||
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 Louis XIV visiting a trench during the war. Painting by Charles Le Brun. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 France
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Triple Alliance:  Dutch Republic Kingdom of England Swedish Empire
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 230.000 | 400.000 | ||||||||
The War of Devolution (1667–68) saw Louis XIV's French armies overrun the Habsburg-controlled Spanish Netherlands and the Franche-Comté (Free County of Burgundy), but forced to give most of it back by a Triple Alliance of England, Sweden, and the Dutch Republic in the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
Upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV, who had nominally been king since 1643, began to rule France in his own right. Having been raised in a culture that expected young princes to seek "glory" on the battlefield, Louis was looking for an opportunity to go to war.
In 1665, Louis believed that he had a pretext to go to war with Spain and allow him to claim the Spanish Netherlands (present-day Belgium). However, Louis's claims to the Spanish Netherlands were tenuous: in 1659, France and Spain had concluded the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which ended 24 years of war between the two states. With the Treaty, King Philip IV of Spain had to cede certain territories, and also had to consent to the marriage of his daughter Maria Theresa of Spain to the young Louis XIV of France. Furthermore, it was agreed that with this marriage, Maria Theresa explicitly renounced all rights to her father's inheritance. As compensation, a dowry of 500,000 gold écus was promised to the Bourbon Louis XIV; this was not paid, however.
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