While in reality a skirmish, rather than a battle, Ortenbach was part of a series of events that enabled the French to secure Alsace and capture both Kehl and the crossing over the Rhine near the Imperial city of Strasbourg.

In the 1667-1668 War of Devolution, France captured most of the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté, before the Triple Alliance of the Dutch Republic, England and Sweden forced them to relinquish most of these gains in the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.

De Créquy was instructed not to seek battle and ensure the retention of Freiburg; despite his successful defence of Alsace, Louis had limited confidence in him due to his defeat at Konzer Brücke in 1675 and subsequent loss of Trier.

[7] In the 1677 campaign, the Imperialists sustained severe losses from disease and hunger due to the strain placed on their supply lines by constant marching and counter-marching; Freiburg was captured in November because they were incapable of defending it.

[8] As in the previous year, the Imperial army began to disintegrate due to disease and desertion forcing Charles to withdraw behind the Kinzig, a tributary of the Rhine providing a natural defence barrier in front of Offenburg.

[10] In the January 1679 Treaty of Nijmegen, France retained Kehl and Freiburg-im-Breisgau; Emperor Leopold then further damaged relationships with his German allies by unsuccessfully demanding he be granted the Free Imperial Cities of Gengenbach, Zell-am-Harmersbach and Offenburg as 'compensation.