France and the Holy Roman Empire lay down their arms
Seeking to expand French territory, primarily at the expense of the Holy Roman Empire, Louis XIV, the “Sun King”, developed the “Reunion Policy”, to justify what in essence was naked conquest of territory up to the Rhine. Louis arranged for French courts to pass judgments staking a French claim to the areas in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, based on outdated feud law. In 1683, with the emperor’s army tied up by the Ottoman siege of Vienna, Louis XIV launched an invasion of the western Holy Roman Empire whilst it was too weak to defend itself.
After a series of swift French victories, Louis XIV, Emperor Leopold I and representatives of the Holy Roman Empire met in Regensburg on 15 August 1684 to sign a 20-year truce. Whilst the Empire did not formally recognize the territorial changes, it did agree to leave the administration of the areas of Lorraine and Alsace, annexed by Louis, to the French. This included the large imperial city of Strasbourg, which Louis had occupied without any legal justification. Even though the agreement was only a truce, French military strength meant that hardly anyone in the Empire truly believed the territories signed away would ever be regained. Moreover, Louis moved only a few years later to annex the Palatinate. The appetite of the Sun King was far from being satiated.
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