Since the birth of Louis XIV, France has continuously been at war with Spain and more generally with Habsburg hegemony in Europe. It participates directly in the last third of what was then called the Thirty Years' War concluded in 1648 by the Treaties of Westphalia. France must then manage internal conflicts linked to the Fronde led by the Prince of Condé but of which Spain is the main support.
Louis XIV, the warrior
On June 23, 1658 in Dunkirk, the French recently allied with the English (governed at the time by Lord Oliver Cromwell) won an important victory against Condé and Spain during the Battle of the Dunes. It was one of the first big victories for young Louis, who was only 20 at the time.
Louis XIV devoted 32 out of 54 years to war. The king let Colbert govern and with the help of Michel Le Tellier then the Marquis de Louvois, he reorganized the army:unification of salaries, creation of the Hôtel des Invalides in 1670, reform of recruitment. This new political impetus limits desertion and increases the standard of living of the military. He asks Vauban to build a belt of fortifications around the territory (policy of the pre-square). He then had an army of 300,000 men and, to strengthen the power of France in the world, engaged the kingdom in a multitude of wars and battles:
* from 1667 to 1668, the War of Devolution;
* from 1672 to 1678, the Dutch War which ended with the famous Treaty of Nijmegen;
* from 1688 to 1697, the War of the League of Augsburg (also called the Nine Years' War);
* from 1701 to 1713, the War of the Spanish Succession.
These wars considerably enlarge the French territory. Under the reign of Louis XIV, France conquered Haute-Alsace, Metz, Toul, Verdun, Roussillon, Artois, French Flanders, Cambrai, Franche-Comté, Sarre, Hainaut and Basse-Alsace. These acquisitions consecrated French hegemony in Europe and those who, like the Doge of Genoa, risked challenging the king were quick to pay the consequences.
However, the permanent state of war leads the state to the brink of bankruptcy, forcing it to levy heavy taxes on the people, but also on the nobility (poll tax, tenth tax). Even the royal family has to pay taxes. Under Louis XIV, the nobility became courtesan and submissive. The king grants political power to the bourgeois, Colbert is the best example. Louis XIV only gives few political initiatives to the nobility, of which he is wary. His successor, Louis XV, did not pursue this policy.
At the beginning of his reign the other great power in Europe was Spain. In 1715, it was the United Kingdom, and in particular England, which became the most formidable competitor
The Navy
When Mazarin died in 1661, the Royal Navy, its ports and its arsenals were in a sorry state. Only about ten ships of the line are in proper working order. During the same period, the English navy had 157 vessels (half of which were large vessels, carrying 30 to 100 guns), a ratio of 1 to 8 with the French navy. The fleets of the Republic of the United Provinces have 84 of them. Contrary to a widespread idea, Louis XIV took a personal interest and contributed with Colbert to the development of the French navy. In 1662, he created the corps des galères, which had the advantage of constituting a fleet that was both military and commercial. He chairs the Navy Council once a week and follows with the greatest care the details of the mobilization of resources, fixing each year the extent of the armaments, appointing in person all the naval officers or even choosing the name of each ship made. The king wants his sea army to become as powerful and feared as his land army, not so much to fight as rather to have a deterrent to not fight. On March 7, 1669, he created the title of Secretary of State for the Navy and officially named Colbert as the first holder of the post. From then on, Colbert and his son mobilized unprecedented human, financial and logistical resources which made it possible, practically ex nihilo, to make France a leading naval military power. The objective set by Colbert was to reach a fleet of 120 vessels, including 72 with at least 50 guns. When he died in 1683, the Royal had 117 ships, 1,200 officers and 53,000 sailors. From 1661 to the death of Louis XIV in 1715, 381 ships and frigates were built.