War of the Spanish Succession

Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain. After his death, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out as France and Austria vied for the Spanish empire.

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) was a major European armed conflict that arose in 1701 after the death of the last Spanish Habsburg king, Charles II. Charles had bequeathed all of his possessions to Philip, duc d'Anjou (Philip V), a grandson of the French King Louis XIV. The war began slowly, as the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I fought to protect his own dynasty's claim to the Spanish inheritance. As Louis XIV began to expand his territories more aggressively; however, other European nations (chiefly England and the United Provinces) entered on the Holy Roman Empire's side to check French expansion (and, in the English case, to safeguard the Protestant succession). Other states joined the coalition opposing France and Spain in an attempt to acquire new territories, or to protect existing dominions. The war was fought not only in Europe, but also in North America, where the conflict became known to the English colonists as Queen Anne's War.

The war proceeded for over a decade, and was marked by the military leadership of notable generals such as the Duc de Villars and the Duke of Berwick for France, the Duke of Marlborough for England, and Prince Eugene of Savoy for the Austrians. The war was concluded by the treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714). As a result, Philip V remained King of Spain, but was removed from the French line of succession, thereby averting a union of France and Spain. The Austrians gained most of the Spanish territories in Italy and the Netherlands. As a result, France's hegemony over continental Europe was ended, and the idea of a balance of power became a part of the international order due to its mention in the Treaty of Utrecht.

Beginning of the war

When the French court first learned of the will, Louis XIV's advisors convinced him that it was safer to accept the terms of the Partition Treaty than to risk war by claiming the whole Spanish inheritance. However, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, marquis de Torcy, the French foreign secretary, successfully argued that whether France accepted the whole or a part of the Spanish Empire, it would still have to fight Austria, which did not accept the nature of the partition stipulated by the Treaty of London. Furthermore, the terms of Charles's will stipulated that Anjou was only to be offered the choice of the whole Spanish Empire or nothing—if he refused, the entire inheritance was to go to Archduke Charles. Knowing that the Maritime Powers—England and the United Provinces—would not join France in a fight to impose the partition treaty on the unwilling Austrians and Spanish, Louis determined to accept his grandson's inheritance. Charles II died on 1 November 1700, and on 24 November Louis XIV proclaimed Anjou King of Spain. The new King, Philip V, was declared ruler of the entire Spanish empire, contrary to the provisions of the Second Partition Treaty. William III, however, could not declare war against France, since he did not have the support of the elites who determined policy in both England and the United Provinces. He reluctantly recognised Philip as King in April 1701.

Louis, however, took too aggressive a path in his attempt to secure French hegemony in Europe. He cut off England and the Netherlands from Spanish trade, thereby seriously threatening the commercial interests of those two countries. William III secured the support of his subjects and negotiated the Treaty of the Hague with the United Provinces and Austria. The agreement, reached in September 1701, recognised Philip V as King of Spain, but allotted Austria that which it desired most: the Spanish territories in Italy, forcing it to accept as well the Spanish Netherlands, thus protecting that crucial region from French control. England and the Netherlands, meanwhile, were to retain their commercial rights in Spain.

A few days after the signing of the treaty, the former King of England, James II (who had been deposed by William III in 1688) died in France. Although Louis had treated William as King of England since the Treaty of Ryswick, he now recognized James II's son, James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender"), as the rightful monarch. Louis's action alienated the English public even further, and gave William grounds for war. England and the United Provinces had already begun raising armies, but had not actually declared war. Armed conflict began slowly, as Austrian forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy invaded the Duchy of Milan, one of the Spanish territories in Italy, prompting French intervention. England, the United Provinces, and most German states (most notably Prussia and Hanover), sided with Austria, but the Wittelsbach Electors of Bavaria and Cologne, the King of Portugal, and the Duke of Savoy supported France and Spain. In Spain, the cortès of Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia declared themselves in favour of the Austrian Archduke. Even after William III died in 1702, his successor in England, Anne, continued the vigorous prosecution of the war, under the guidance of her ministers Godolphin and Marlborough.

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Final stages

In 1710, the allies launched a final campaign in Spain, but failed to make any progress. An army under James Stanhope reached Madrid together with the Archduke Charles, but it was forced to capitulate when a relief army came from France. The alliance, in the meantime, began to weaken. In Great Britain, Marlborough's powerful political influence was lost, as the source of much of his clout—the friendship between his wife and the Queen—came to an end, with Queen Anne dismissing the Duchess of Marlborough from her offices and banishing her from the court. Moreover, the Whig ministry which had lent its support to the war fell, and the new Tory government that took its place sought peace. Marlborough was recalled to Great Britain in 1711, and was replaced by the Duke of Ormonde.

In 1711, the Archduke Charles became Holy Roman Emperor as Charles VI following the sudden death of Joseph, his elder brother; now, a decisive victory for Austria would upset the balance of power just as much as a victory for France. The British, led by Secretary of State Henry St John, began to secretly correspond with the Marquis de Torcy, excluding the Dutch and Austrians from their negotiations. The Duke of Ormonde refused to commit British troops to battle, so the French under Villars were able to recover much lost ground in 1712.

Peace negotiations bore fruit in 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht was concluded, and Great Britain and the Netherlands ceased fighting France. Barcelona, which had been captured by the allies in 1705, finally surrendered to the Bourbon army in 1714 following a long siege, ending the presence of the allies in Spain. Hostilities between France and Austria lumbered on until 1714, when the Treaties of Rastatt and Baden were ratified, marking the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Spain was slower in ratifying treaties of peace; it did not formally end its conflict with Austria until 1720, after it had been defeated by all the powers in the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

Result

Under the Peace of Utrecht, Philip V was recognised as King of Spain, but renounced his place in the French line of succession, thereby precluding the union of the French and Spanish crowns (although there was some sense in France that this renunciation was illegal). He retained the Spanish overseas empire, but ceded the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia to Austria; Sicily and parts of the Milanese to Savoy; and Gibraltar and Minorca to Great Britain. Moreover, he granted the British the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America for thirty years, the so-called asiento. Philip also issued the Decretos de Nueva Planta, ending the autonomy of Aragon, Valencia, and Catalonia—territories in Spain that had supported the Archduke Charles.

No important changes were made to French territory in Europe. Grandiose imperial desires to turn back the French expansion to the Rhine which had occurred since the middle decades of the seventeenth century were not realized, nor was the French border pushed back in the Low Countries. France agreed to stop supporting the Stuart pretenders to the British throne, instead recognising Anne as the legitimate queen. France gave up North American various colonial possessions, recognising British sovereignty over Rupert's Land and Newfoundland, and ceding Acadia and its half of Saint Kitts. The Dutch were permitted to retain various forts in the Spanish Netherlands, and were permitted to annex a part of Spanish Gelderland.

With the Peace of Utrecht, the wars to prevent French hegemony that had dominated the seventeenth century were over for the time being. France and Spain, both under Bourbon monarchs, remained allies during the following years. Spain, stripped of its territories in Italy and the Low Countries, lost most of its power, and became a second rate nation in Continental politics.

References

• Acton, J. E. E., 1st Baron. (1906). Lectures on Modern History. London: Macmillan and Co.
• Sainty, Guy Stair. (2004). "The French Succession: The Renunciations of 1712, the Treaties of Utrecht and Their Aftermath in International Affairs."
• "Spanish Succession, War of the." (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. London: Cambridge University Press.
• Wolf, John B. (1951). The Emergence of the Great Powers, 1685-1715. New York: HarperCollins.