Out of the many military conflicts during his reign as King of France, the War of the Spanish Succession was Louis XIV’s most devastating military blunder. Unlike past conflicts, such as the Nine Years’ War and the War of the Devolution, Louis committed several fatal blunders which terribly weakened his army and robbed France of any possible gains from the conflict. The war was triggered by the death of King Charles II of Spain, who did not have any children of his own. He passed the throne to Philip of Anjou (who became Philip V of Spain), who also happened to be Louis XIV’s grandson. This alarmed many of Spain’s neighbors, including England and the Holy Roman Empire, who all worried that Louis would be able to control his young grandson and manipulate him into joining forces to conquer all of Europe, finally realizing Louis’s aggressive military ambitions for France. To prevent such a development, England, the Holy Roman Empire, the United Provinces of the Netherlands, formed the Grand Alliance and declared that the Holy Roman Emperor was hereditarily entitled to part of the Spanish Empire. Perhaps inevitably, war brought out soon after but things went poorly for Louis’s army almost immediately. All of Louis’s past conflicts had drained the royal treasury and the King didn’t have enough funds left to purchase new weapons, updated armor, or to adequately train new soldiers and generals. Consequently, the French army was poorly trained, poorly led, and equipped with old-fashioned weapons and outdated tactics. They won almost no battles at all, especially whenever the mighty and well-trained English army was involved. The war ended in a stalemate in 1714 but France gained no territories or promises in the resulting peace treaty – and Louis was not strong enough to insist otherwise. He passed away one year later.

Today, the Prussian King Frederick William I is credited by historians with building the strongest, largest, and overall best army in all eighteenth century Europe. Frederick William I inherited his love for the military from his grandfather and namesake, Frederick William, but he took his grandfather’s military buildup to an entirely new level. Frederick William I believed that in order for Prussia to exercise firm domestic control and to win respect (and even fear) internationally, the nation must have the mightiest army possible. This idea soon developed into an obsession and the King spent most of his reign focused pretty much entirely on military affairs (he even re-organized his government bureaucracy according to military rules). When Frederick William I took the throne in 1713, the Prussian army included about thirty-nine thousand soldiers, but by the time of his death in 1740, the army had expanded to over eighty thousand men. Frederick William I favored his military men in all things: special laws and rules applied just to members of the military and military membership quickly came to be considered the highest form of social class in Prussia, with many Junkers (noble landlords) competing to become officers. The King’s military buildup, reforms, and policies completely fused together the Prussian state, Junker class, and the military, so that Prussia became entirely inseparable and even inoperable without its army. But curiously enough, Frederick William I refused to deploy his army into any actual combat situations; his soldiers were for show only, a tool to control the Prussian people and impress and intimidate foreign powers.

As part of his ambitious plan to increase Russia’s influence, czar Peter the Great was determined to expand his country’s territorial holdings. He especially coveted a section of the Baltic coastline, which would allow Russia to have year-round access to warm water ports ideally situated for international trade. However, most of the Baltic was controlled by Sweden, but Peter was not about to let that stop him. In 1700, he boldly invaded the Baltic region, issuing a direct challenge to the Swedish King Charles XII to either defend or risk losing his Baltic territory. The conflict, known as the Great Northern War, lasted for twenty-one years, and despite several crushing early losses, Peter’s forces only grew stronger as the war dragged on. The conflict finally ended in 1721, when Sweden at last capitulated. Russia gained a great deal of new territory, including parts of Finland, Estonia, Livonia, and most importantly, Peter’s long-desired Baltic coastline and lucrative warm water ports.

The Qing Dynasty began in 1644 when invaders from Manchuria overthrew the Ming Dynasty. It lasted until 1912 (not including an abortive restoration in 1917). It was the last dynasty in Chinese history.

The English Civil War was fought between 1642-1651 between forces loyal to parliament (called Parliamentarians or “Roundheads”) and forces loyal to the crown (called Royalists or “Cavaliers”). The war began during the reign of the English King Charles I. The war ended in victory for the Parliamentarians and the execution of Charles I.

The War of the Roses is aptly named because the two opposing houses were both represented by roses, though, of different colors. The House of Lancaster bore the red rose, while the House of York proudly displayed the white rose.

The Hundred Years War was a conflict between the respective houses of the leaders of France and England during which the English House of Plantaganet and French House Valois fought for control of France. The war took a great toll on the population of both countries. After the failure of the English to claim the throne of France, Henry VI experienced a mental breakdown and was considered incapable of ruling. His fragile mental state encouraged the Lancasters and the Yorks to begin their quests for the throne and begin a century long battle for the title of King of England.

The English Civil War was essentially a war between the monarchy and parliament for ultimate authority over the government of England. It also featured a conflict between Anglicanism (the religion of the vast majority of Parliament) and Catholicism (the religion of the monarchy at the time). The war ended in victory for the Parliamentarians and the execution of Charles I.

The majority of the Thirty Years’ War was fought in territory that comprises the modern state of Germany. Germany at the time was not a unified country, rather it was a collection of principalities and electorates, most of whom were administered under the Holy Roman Empire. The Thirty Years’ War devastated the population of Central Europe, by some estimates as many as a third of the population died as a result of the conflict.

The Peace of Westphalia was signed in 1648, bringing to an end the hostilities of the devastating Thirty Years’ War.