Leopold sustained three wars against Louis XIV. The first war ended by the treaty of Nymwegen, in 1679, and the second by the peace of Ryawick, in 1697. It was in this second war that the French minister Louvois ordered the French commanders, in the name of his sovereign, to waste the Palatinate by fire and sword. The atrocities committed at Mannheim, Speyer, Oppenheim, and especially at Heidel berg, which was taken and destroyed twice, in 1638 and 1693, are frightful. The same system was pursued at the same time, in 1690.91, in Piedmont, the sovereign of which was allied to the emperor. Catinat, who commanded the French on the banks of the Po, had instructions from Louvois to destroy everything. After some devastation Catinat, who was not a cruel man, asked for fresh instructions, and represented the deplorable state of the innocent populations. "Burn and destroy, and burn again," was the answer of Louvois. (Botta, Storia d'Italia,' book mil.) The third war of Leopold against Louis XIV. was that of the Spanish succession, to which his son the archduke Charles had undoubted claims. Leopold however did not live to see the termination of it; he died in 1705, and one of his last acts was to confer by letters-patent on the Duke of Marlborough the dignity of prince of the empire, for the victory of Blenheim.
The principal interoal events in Germany during the reign of Leopold are :-1, The establishment of a ninth electorate in favour of Ernest Augustus, duke of Brunswick Luneburg, who in 1692 became the first elector of Hanover. This was the act of Leopold, who procured tho consent of the other electors to it, in return for important aid in money and troops from two princes of that family. 2, The assumption of the regal title by Frederic, elector of Brandenburg and duke of Prussia, in 1701. Leopold acknowledged him, as he stood in need of his assist ance, and Holland, England, and Sweden followed the example. France, Spain, and the Pope refused to acknowledge the new King of Prussia for some time longer. 3, The establishment of a permanent Diet attended, not by the electors in person, but by their representatives. Leopold's disposition was well-meaning, but weak, irresolute, and inclined to bigotry. He had the good fortune to meet with, and perhaps the merit of finding out and appreciating, able ministers and generals, whilst his very want of shining talent and the fear excited by the unprincipled ambition of his antagonist Louis XIV. procured him allies in various quarters of Europe. He was succeeded by his eldest son. (Joszru I.)