A PRETEXT FOR WAR
As of 1685, Louis XIV had asserted the Palatine hereditary title for his brother, Philippe, the Duke of Orléans and husband to Liselotte von der Pfalz. The war started under this pretext was part of French Reunion politics: Louis had the Paris courts validate his claim to the title and then attacked the western regions of the Holy Roman Empire. In this manner, he had already annexed large portions of the Alsace, Luxembourg, the Palatinate and what would be Saarland to the French state.