(1689–97) Third major war of Louis XIV of France, in which his expansionist plans were blocked by an alliance led by Britain, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and the Austrian Habsburgs.
The deeper issue underlying the war was the rivalry between the Bourbon and Leopold I joined other European nations in the League of Augsburg . The league proved ineffective, but in 1690 Britain, Brandenburg, Saxony, Bavaria, and Spain, alarmed at Louis's successes, joined with Leopold to form the Grand Alliance. As war broke out in Europe and in overseas colonies, including America (see King William's War ), Louis found his military inadequately prepared, and France suffered heavy naval losses. In 1695 Louis started secret peace negotiations, which culminated in the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697). The underlying conflict between the Habsburg and Bourbon rulers and English-French conflicts remained unresolved and resurfaced four years later in the War of the {{link=Spanish Succession, War of the">Spanish Succession .