ABSTRACTThe now classic Foldy–Wouthuysen transformation (FWT) was introduced as successive unitary transformations. This fundamental idea has become the standard in later developments such as the Douglas–Kroll transformation (DKT) – but it is not the only possibility. FWT can be seen as a simple special case of the general Van Vleck transformation (VVT) which besides the successive version has another, known as the canonical because of a series of nice mathematical properties discovered gradually over time. The aim of the present paper is to compare the two approaches – which give identical results in the lower orders, but not in the higher. After having recapitalised both, we apply them to Dirac's Hamiltonian for the electron in a constant electromagnetic field, written with so few assumptions about the operators that the mathematical techniques stand out separated from the terminology of relativistic quantum mechanics. FWT for a free particle is dealt with by a recent geometric approach to VVT. The original FWT is continued through the next non-zero orders. DKT is considered with special weight on equivalent formulations of the generalised and the optimised forms introduced by Wolf, Reiher and Hess.