During 1674 the French king suffered further diplomatic setbacks through the declaration of war by the Diet of the Holy Roman Emperor in May and the re-entry into the war of the Great Elector of Brandenburg in July. By the start of the campaign of 1674, the battlefield had moved from the Dutch Republic to the lands surrounding French territory, with Louis’s armies now fighting to extend the French borders. Whereas the war had started as an attempt to subdue the Dutch Republic, the French king now had to fall back on his older ambitions to make territorial gains against the Spanish Netherlands and some German states to the north and east. The entry into the war of the emperor, some German states, and Spain at the side of the Dutch and the loss of his allies in 16 forced Louis XIV (1638–1715) and his ministers to rethink the whole war and adjust its aim.
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