The War of Devolution
The conflict between Spain and its territorial possessions against the might of France came to be Louis’ first show of strength. When Philip IV, the king of Spain, died in 1665 without paying Louis XIV the dowry for Maria Theresa he used this as an excuse to lay claim to the Spanish Netherlands. Louis quickly doubled his troops from forty-thousand to eighty-thousand and then launched his attack in 1667. Because of the rapid progression of his large standardized forces, the countries of English, the Dutch, and Sweden formed the Triple Alliance in 1668. Since Louis had a secret treaty with Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor, that he would gain the Spanish Netherlands upon the ill Charles II's, the new king of Spain, death he entered the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668, which granted him parts of the Spanish Netherlands, such as Lille.
The events of the War of Devolution showed it required a coalition of Europeans to stand a chance against Louis' advancements. Furthermore, the war showed that Louis' standardization of the military and his ability to quickly mobilize his government for war made him a force to be reckoned with. To the point that in this supposed defeat, he still gained lands at the expense of his rivals.