They were all in pursuance of a serious and definite purpose.

Just or unjust, wise or unwise, they were planned in order to reach some boundary, or to secure some strategic position essential to France.

These wars were: First--The war upon the Spanish Netherlands, ending with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1668.
Second--The invasion of the Dutch Republic, ending with the peace of Nymwegen, 1678.
Third--War with the coalition of European States, closing with the Treaty of Ryswick, 1697.
Fourth--War of the Spanish Succession, closed by the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713.
The first of these wars, undertaken because Louis believed and intended that Flanders should belong to France, to which it was geographically allied, was ostensibly undertaken in order to recover the unpaid dowry which had been promised by Spain in exchange for Louis' renunciation of any claim upon the throne of Spain which might result from his marriage with the Infanta Maria Theresa.

His conquest of the Spanish possessions in Flanders might have been supposed to set at rest forever the question of a claim upon the Spanish throne.

But we shall hear of that again.