History of Strasbourg remained neutral during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), and retained its status as a Free Imperial City. However, the city was later annexed by Louis XIV of France to extend the borders of his kingdom. Louis' advisors believed that, as long as Strasbourg remained independent, it would endanger the King's newly annexed territories in Alsace, and, that to defend these large rural lands effectively, a garrison had to be placed in towns such as Strasbourg. Indeed, the bridge over the Rhine at Strasbourg had been used repeatedly by Imperial (Holy Roman Empire) forces, and three times during the Franco-Dutch War
European institutions in Strasbourg more or less close association with them, are: International Commission on Civil Status, Eurocorps (created in 1993), the International Institute of Human Rights (founded in 1969), the European Science Foundation (founded in 1974), EuroScience (founded in 1997), the Assembly of European Regions (established in 1985) and the Human Frontier Science Program (conceived in 1986, launched in 1989). Strasbourg is also, since its inception in 1991, the main seat of the Franco-German television channel Arte. Starting from its establishing date on 1 December 2012, also the new European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of