War Of The Spanish Succession Origins Course Of The War

King ates were Emperor Leopold ILeopold I Habsburg ( June 9, 1640- May 5, 1705), Holy Roman emperor, was the second son of the emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife Maria Anna, daughter of Philip III of Spain. Intended for the Church, he received a good education but his prospects we, a first cousin of the late king and Electoral Prince Joseph FerdinandJoseph Ferdinand may refer to: The shortlived Duke Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria ( 1692 1699) Colonel-General and Austrian Archduke Joseph Ferdinand ( 1872 1942). of BavariaWith an area of 70,553 km² and 11. 6 million inhabitants, the Free State of Bavaria ( German Bayern or Freistaat Bayern forms the southernmost of the 16 Bundeslander of Germany. Its capital is Munich. Geography Bavaria shares international borders with Au. The former presented similarly formidable problems, for Leopold's success would have reunited the powerful Spanish-Austrian HabsburgHabsburg (also spelled Hapsburg was one of the ruling houses of Europe: rulers of Austria (as dukes 1282 1453, archdukes 1453 1804, and emperors 1804 1918), kings of Bohemia 1526 1618 and 1621 1918, kings of Spain ( 1516 1700), and Holy Roman Emperors for empire of the 16th century. Although Leopold and Louis were both willing to defer their claims to a younger line of their family - Leopold to his younger son Archduke CharlesCharles VI ( October 1, 1685 October 20, 1740) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1711 to 1740 and the second son of Leopold I with his third wife Eleonore-Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuburg''. His educator was Anton Florian of Liechtenstein. On terms of a contract he w and Louis to the Dauphin's younger son, the Duc d'Anjou, the Bavarian prince remained a less threatening candidate. As a result, Joseph Ferdinand was the favored choice of EnglandEngland is the largest, the most populous, and the most densely populated of the four " Home Nations" which make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK). Occupying the south-eastern portion of the island of Great Britain, England and the NetherlandsDutch redirects here. For other uses, see Dutch (disambiguation). The Netherlands ( Dutch: Nederland is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a constitutional monarchy. It is located in northwestern Europe and borders the North Sea, Belgium.

The War of the Grand Alliance, with essentially the same groupings of countries fighting over different issues, had come to an end just as the Spanish succession was becoming critical. War exhaustion led England and France to agree on the First Partition Treaty , which designated Joseph Ferdinand as heir, in return for which the Dauphin and Archduke Charles received territory in Italy.

Joseph Ferdinand died abruptly the next year, which led to the Second Partition Treaty. Under the terms of that agreement, Charles was to become heir, but the Italian territories that had been parcelled out amongst the two men would now go entirely to France. While France, The Netherlands, and England were all happy with the new arrangement, Austria was not and vied for the entire Spanish inheritance. While the wrangling continued, Charles II unexpectedly spoke out and bequeathed his empire to Anjou, thus keeping the two thrones separate. Louis backed out of the treaty, his grandson was crowned King as Philip V, and the remaining interested parties acquiesced with misgivings.

Unfortunately, Louis overplayed his hand. He threatened a mercantilist policy in the Spanish/French dominions (thus cutting England and Holland off from Spanish trade) and recognized Philip's place in the French succession, after the Dauphin and the Dauphin's eldest son. In 1701, following the death of James II of England, a pensioner at Louis' court, Louis recognized his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, the "Old Pretender", as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, thus alienating the English. The war began slowly, with Austrian forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy invading the Spanish territories in Italy. France soon intervened, which in turn brought in England, Holland and most of the German states. Minor powers Bavaria, Portugal, and (perversely) Savoy sided with France and Spain.

2 Course of the War

There were two main theaters of the war in Europe: Spain itself and West-Central Europe, especially the Low Countries (although there was also important fighting in Italy and Germany). The latter proved the more important, as Eugene and the English commander, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough distinguished themselves as military commanders. At first, France was successful in the Alsace, and threatened the Austrian capital, but the two generals managed to link up in Bavaria and won the Battle of Blenheim. France's trans-Rhine ambitions were crushed, and the French were forced into a defensive posture. Bavaria was knocked out of the war, and Portugal and Savoy changed sides.

In Spain, Valencia and Catalonia switched side in favour of the Austrian pretender, Charles. A British fleet, Marlborough and Eugene split forces again, with the former going to the Netherlands, and the latter to Italy. Over the next two years, each drove the French back from those territories, with 1706 seeing both Marlborough's notable victory over the French army of Marshal Villeroi at the Battle of Ramillies, which resulted in the French loss of the Spanish Netherlands, and Eugene's victory at Turin .

In 1707, April 25, Battle of Almansa ( Valencian country ) Austriacist army was defeated by the Bourbon army. Then the war in Spain settled into indecisive skirmishing from which it would not emerge.

The French fought back, and managed to stall Eugene's invasion into the south of the country, and Marlborough got caught up in an endless succession of fortresses in and around Flanders. In 1708, Eugene and Marlborough once again managed to link up in Flanders, and defeated the French under the Duke of Vendôme at the Battle of Oudenarde. An attempt to march on Paris in 1709 resulted in the Battle of Malplaquet, which was won by the two generals but at such a cost to their forces that this final invasion had to be called off.

3 Peace

Britain began to get cold feet, too, as an over-decisive victory for Austria would be almost as bad for their interests as one for the French and Spanish. Marlborough fell out of grace with the English (or rather, now, British) crown and with the new Tory government and was recalled and replaced by the Duke of Ormonde, who refused to commit his troops to battle. Peace negotiations with France led to the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, in which England, Holland, and France ceased fighting with one another, and Great Britain left the Catalans alone to fight for themselves.

In 1714, September 11, Barcelona surrendered to the Bourbon army after a long siege. The Franco-Austrian hostilities lumbered on until September 1714, before the signing of the Treaty of Baden .

With the Peace of Utrecht, the wars to prevent French hegemony that had dominated the 17th century were over for the time being. Philip became the Spanish king, but was removed from the French succession. Louis XIV also agreed to stop supporting the Stuart claim to the throne of England. The Spanish Netherlands, Naples, and Milan were ceded to Austria; Sicily (replaced by Sardinia in 1720) was ceded to Savoy; Britain was given the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America; Gibraltar and Minorca were transferred from Spain to the UK; and a variety of French colonial possessions were given to Britain.

In 1715 the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain abolished the constitutions of Kingdom of Valencia and Principality of Catalonia with the Decreto de Nueva Planta.

See also: War of the Grand Alliance ( 1688– 1697)

Spanish Succession Spanish Succession Spanish Succession Spanish Succession Spanish Succession

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Home > War of the Spanish Succession

1 Origins

2 Course of the War

3 Peace

Topics: War Of The Spanish Succession, Origins, Course Of The War...