The war of succession of Spain opposed 1701 to 1714 the France and the Spain with a European coalition. The stake was the throne of Spain and, through him, the domination in Europe. Last Great War of Louis XIV, it made it possible France to install a French monarch with Madrid: Philippe V, but with a reduced capacity, and the renouncement, for him and its descent, with the throne of France even if the other princes of French blood would disappear. These conditions not allowing a union as narrow as that hoped by Louis XIV.
Rappelons as, nowadays, this dynasty always reigns in Madrid.

The succession of Spain

November 1st 1700, Charles II, king d' Espagne, dies without successor. The two principal reigning families of Europe, that of France (Bourbons) and that of Austria (Habsbourgs), and both very related with Charles II, assert the throne then.

Charles II bequeathed his crown by will to Philippe, duke of Anjou, grandson of the king de France Louis XIV. This last is, indeed, by his/her mother Anne of Austria, grandson of the king Philippe III of Spain, therefore first cousin of Charles II. Philippe, old of 17  years, goes to Madrid where it is crowned under the name of Philippe V.

Origins and preparation of the war

See also: Succession of Spain (1680-1701)

The question of the succession of Spain arises since 1665 because of the debility of the king Charles II of Habsbourg (epileptic, heredosyphilitic, impotent).

Attitudes of the principal European powers

  • Spain, weakened and impoverished, primarily seeks to save its colonial empire (it gives up playing a big role in Europe);
  • Habsbourg of Austria, connects junior by the House of Spain, estimate that this heritage must quite naturally return to them;
  • the king of France estimates that it has as many rights, being wire and husband of infante;
  • the maritime powers of England and the United Provinces would like to avoid a French hegemony as well as the reconstitution of the empire of Charles Quint and are favorable to a compromise.

The death of Charles II

The last will of Charles II (October 2nd, 1700) made of the duke of Anjou the single heir to Espagnes in the condition express which the heritage is not divided: it is the victory of the Castilian party over the Austrian party, which was incarnated by the queen (Marie-Anne de Neubourg). However Charles II dies on November 1st, 1700. Louis XIV is informed on November 9th. He is then vis-a-vis a dilemma:
  • or it carries out the treaty of division of March 1700;
  • or it accepts the will of Charles II.
The the Council of in top, consulted, is divided:
  • two of them would prefer to accept the will: Pontchartrain and the Dolphin;
  • two others advise to refuse: Torcy and Beauvilliers.
Madam de Maintenon, consulted lastly, thinks to accept. The king does not decide at once: it is only after having received other mails of Madrid that it accepts the will and submits the duke of Anjou to the court under its new title, on November 16th, 1700: “Sirs, here the king of Spain”.

The advantages of this choice are the final neutralization of Spain, maritime and colonial great power (“there are no more the Pyrenees”); Spain in fact will be allied France until the Revolution (except during the Guerre of the Quadruple Alliance, under the influence of the cardinal Giulio Alberoni, war of Spain against France and England in 1719; that led to the failure of engagement of the girl of Philippe V to Louis XV in 1725). Another advantage is connect it opening of the US market in France.

The disadvantages of this choice are clear: all Europe feels threatened by dynastic alliance of France and Spain, all the more strong as, by letters patent of February 1st, 1701, Louis XIV recognizes the right of Philippe V to succeed the crown of France. The European war would be thus foreseeable.

The war

The England (which were joined during the war by the Scotland in 1707 to become the Great Britain) and the United Provinces, fearing the new power of allied France in Spain, form in 1702 the Great Alliance of $the Hague, under the aegis of the Emperor Léopold I {{er}}, with the Brandebourg, the Austria, the Piedmont and the Portugal. This alliance will last until 1712. The agreements of this alliance stipulate that England and the United Provinces will preserve all the conquests which they will be able to make in the Spanish colonies, the Empire reserving the Italian territories.

France like combined Spain and the princes voters of Bavaria and Cologne, as well as the applicant of England, Jacques III. The support of the pope Clément XI, which wants to counter the Protestant countries like England and the United Provinces, is acquired in France. Until 1704, France preserves the strategic initiative.

But during the years which follow, the armies of the coalition, directed by the prince Eugene and the duke of Marlborough, many victories over all the grounds gain: the Bataille of Blenheim in 1704 makes lose in France its sphere of activity in Germany. In 1706, the battles of Turin and Ramillies drive out France of Italy of North (Valteline) and of the Spanish Netherlands. The border of the North of France is threatened: after resounding demolished French Armies with the Battle of Audenarde, Lille is taken in August 1708.

In 1708, Louis XIV request peace. The coalition requires that it withdraw its support for Philippe V and that it is given the responsability to deposit itself his grandson by sending the French Army to him. Louis XIV refuses these humiliating conditions and continues the war. He launches a call to the French and the situation (call of June 12th, 1709) exposes to them. It is at this time that the power struggle starts to evolve/move. With Malplaquet, the French Army, although overcome, inflicts such losses with the Anglo-Prussians that those must be withdrawn and give up invading France. In 1710, with the Battle of Brihuega and the Battle of Villaviciosa, in Spain, the forces of Habsbourg are crushed. The following year, with Denain, the marshal of Villars gains against the imperial forces a decisive victory: the throne of Philippe V is saved.

The cost of the war starts to weigh at united, and the political situation develops favorably for Louis XIV: in Great Britain, there is a rise of the Pacifisme, the British supporting by heavy financial contributions the maintenance of the forces of the coalition.

In fact, it is all Europe which is exhausted. France, it also, considerably suffered from the taxes made necessary by the engagements. The exit of the war will be able to come only from the diplomacy. With the Congress of Utrecht, which joins together the belligerents since January 1712, each one tries to find an exit honourable. Philippe V preserves the throne of Spain. However Philippe must give up, for him and his descent, with the throne of France even if the other princes of French blood would disappear. Same manner, France preserves all the conquests of Louis XIV (French Flanders, Roussillon, Lille, Artois, Franche-Comté, Alsace). In America, France yields the Acadie, the Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay in Great Britain and Spain lose the monopoly of the asiento or Traite blacks. The engagements definitively cease in 1713, after a military campaign in victorious Germany for Louis XIV. The March 6th 1714 is signed the Traité of Rastatt. This Treaty marks for Austria an enlarging of its hereditary States to the detriment of its imperial power. But the Habsbourg give up the crown of Spain and Americas. In 1738, they will lose Naples and the Sicily with the profit of Charles III of Spain wire of Philippe V at the conclusion of the end of the War of succession of Poland.

A turning in the European history

The war of succession of Spain deeply marked the evolution of the report/ratio of the forces between the European powers. Great Britain affirmed itself like one of the major powers in Europe (invaluable advantages overseas and assertion of its supremacy on the seas). Spain cut definitively two centuries of family ties with Austria and becomes a secondary power in Europe. But France remains the first military power of the continent, and its colonial unit remains more important than that of Great Britain. In Utrecht, Prussia and Piedmont are set up in kingdom, while the treaty sanctions the depression of the economic power of the United Provinces, posthumous victory of Louis XIV and Colbert.

Chronology and battles

By article X of the treaty of Utrecht, Spain yields to Great Britain the bases of Minorque and Gibraltar. London will have to return Minorque to the treated of Versailles of 1783.

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

  • French defeats of the war of succession of Spain (1704-1708) by Clement Oury, Thesis of the National school of the charters, 2005

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