While France controlled much of the surrounding area, the bridge over the Rhine at Strasbourg had been used by Imperial troops to invade Alsace on three occasions during the Franco-Dutch War.

Spain declared war on France on 26 October 1683 and on the night of 3–4 November, an army under the Duke of Humières entered the Spanish Netherlands and surrounded Courtrai.

[8] Between 22 and 26 December, a second force under Marshal François de Créquy bombarded Luxembourg with 3,000 to 4,000 mortar shells but with winter approaching and the city refusing to yield, he withdrew.

[11] Despite its limited scope and length, the war is remembered as being especially bloody, since Louis XIV deliberately employed violence as state policy, with the aim of pressuring enemy officials to surrender.

[13] A separate but related conflict took place in the Republic of Genoa, whose bankers and financial houses such as the Centurioni, Palavicini and Vivaldi families had longstanding relationships with Spain,[14] and had been lending money to its government since the 16th century.

[16] As a punishment, on 5 May a French fleet commanded by Admiral Abraham Duquesne left the Mediterranean naval base of Toulon and began a bombardment of Genoa on 17 May 1684, which lasted for the next 12 days apart from a short truce for negotiations.

Thus, Louis agreed to the Truce of Ratisbon, guaranteeing 20 years of peace between France and the Empire and asked his first cousin, Charles II of England, to arbitrate the disputed border claims.