The War of Spanish Succession

Upon the death without heirs of King Charles II of Habsburg, the void in the Spanish throne was the cause of a vast European conflict (1701-1713). Shortly before his death, Charles II had in fact designated Philip of Anjou (1683-1746) as his heir, the grandson of King Louis XIV of France. The Sun King could also claim to have had a close relationship with the deceased sovereign, of which he was a blood cousin. Contrary to the union between the crowns of France and Spain, the Habsburgs of Austria proposed their candidate, Archduke Charles, who was soon supported by an international coalition formed by the United Provinces, England, Prussia, Portugal, the Duchy of Savoy and several German princes (1701, the Grand Coalition of The Hague). The dominance of pro-Austrian troops on the battlefield, however, was thwarted when, in 1711, Archduke Charles succeeded his elder brother Joseph I on the imperial throne. Not wanting an emperor who followed in the footsteps of Charles V and his vast empire, the Allies agreed with the Bourbons in the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), while the peace between Spain and the Empire came the following year, with the Treaty of Rastadt (1714). Among the many consequences of the treaties were: the Spanish Crown was ceded to Philip V of Bourbon; the new king lost the Iberian Italian possessions of the Empire with the exception of Sicily, which was instead assigned to the Savoy along with a royal title; England won the military and commercial strongholds of Gibraltar and Minorca.

Read more:

• L. Frey, A question of empire. Leopold I and the war of Spanish succession, 1701- 1705, New York 1983.
• L. Frey, The treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession. An historical and critical dictionary, Westport 1995.
• A. Álvarez-Ossorio Alvariño, Famiglie, nazioni e Monarchia. Il sistema europeo durante la Guerra di Successione spagnola, in «Cheiron», 39-40 (2003).