England on the sea, Austria on the land, indicated the direction that French effort was to take.
As regards the condition of France in 1660, and her readiness to move onward in the road marked by Richelieu, it may be said that internal peace was secured, the power of the nobles wholly broken, religious discords at rest; the tolerant edict of Nantes was still in force, while the remaining Protestant discontent had been put down by the armed hand.

All power was absolutely centred in the throne.

In other respects, though the kingdom was at peace, the condition was less satisfactory.

There was practically no navy; commerce, internal and external, was not prosperous; the finances were in disorder; the army small.
Spain, the nation before which all others had trembled less than a century before, was now long in decay and scarcely formidable; the central weakness had spread to all parts of the administration.

In extent of territory, however, she was still great.