Introduction

The War of Spanish Succession began with Hapsburg King Charles II, the childless king of Spain.  Through the 1690s, it seemed clear that his death was imminent. With no clear heir, the territories of Spain would be up for grabs.

Two powerful rulers, Louis XIV of France and Leopold of Austria both had links to the Hapsburg line, meaning that both countries had a legitimate claim to the Spanish throne.  Louis and Leopold were both born to Hapsburg mothers and had both married Hapsburg princesses. However, the French princess, Maria Theresa, had renounced her claim to the throne. The Austrian princess, Maria’s sister Margaret Theresa, had done no such thing, and, in 1692, her daughter gave birth to Joseph Ferdinand, a legitimate male heir. 

Because of this, Austria appeared to have a stronger case for the control of the Spanish Domain. It is important to note that the young prince Joseph Ferdinand was neither a Hapsburg nor a Bourbon, but a Wittelsbach. Allowing another European dynasty to have control over Spain would greatly alter the balance of power on the continent.

The balance of power was the crucial consideration during the lead up to the War of Spanish Succession (1702-1714). Most European leaders feared a Bourbon Spanish king because they did not want Louis to have control over the two most powerful nations in Europe. Louis, and other rulers as well, also worried about having the Austrian Hapsburgs in control of the Spanish throne again. In this tense atmosphere, there were many attempts made to end the succession crisis to the mutual gain of everyone.  

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Partition Treaties

Fearing the reemergence of the extremely powerful Hapsburg Dynasty, traditional enemies King William III of England and Louis XIV banded together and signed the First Partition Treaty. This treaty recognized Joseph Ferdinand’s right to all of Spain’s territories except for Spanish Italy, which they divided between France and Austria.

This treaty angered the now ailing Charles II, who reacted by writing a will that granted Joseph Ferdinand control of the entire Spanish empire. A year later, Joseph Ferdinand died at the age of six, making Charles’s will null and void.

In 1699, William and Louis signed a second partition treaty.  Although they where still determined to keep the Hapsburg dynasty from dominating Europe, this treaty allowed the Austrian archduke Charles, a Hapsburg, to have control of the entire Spanish domain, excluding Italy and Lorraine. The Spanish King Charles II again changed his will, leaving everything to the grandson of Louis XIV, the Bourbon prince Philip. A month after writing his will Charles II died.

The passing of Charles II changed the dynamic in Europe. Louis, overcome by greed and the good fortune of his country, abandoned the treaty and declared his grandson to be Philip V of Spain. The new power of the Bourbon family angered the rest of Europe and set the stage for war.

The Grand Alliance

Those who opposed Louis XIV organized a coalition that came to be called the Grand Alliance. The Alliance consisted primarily of England, the United Provinces (the Netherlands), Austria, and Prussia. While these nations fought together against Louis and Phillip V of Spain, they did so for different reasons. William of Orange brought England into the conflict to restrain Louis XIV and protect the United Provinces. Austria was fighting to remove Phillip from the Spanish throne and replace him with Charles or, failing that, to secure its fair share of the Spanish empire. Prussia fought because Frederick I saw an opportunity to increase his power by loaning his army to the Holy Roman Emperor in return for the title “King of Prussia.”

Military leadership of the Alliance fell to John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, from England and Prince Eugene of Savoy, an Austrian soldier of fortune. Marlborough was the Captain-General of English forces in the Netherlands and held the military forces of the allies together from 1701 to 1711. He made brilliant use of advanced English weaponry and tactics to decisively defeat the French armies at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Malpaquet (1709). Eventually removed from his post when the Tory government came to power in England, Marlborough provided England with the military upper hand that allowed them to negotiate the Treaty of Utrecht.

The Grand Alliance was opposed by France, Spain, and Bavaria. France supported Phillip V because he was a Bourbon and Louis XIV saw it as a golden opportunity to expand his power. Bavaria, which was a predominately Protestant region in the Holy Roman Empire, supported Phillip because they were looking to escape the rule of the Catholic Hapsburgs. Spain, who felt that Philip was the legitimate ruler of their country, supported their new king, although not without a group of dissenters causing domestic problems.

Battles

The actual war was marked by three decisive battles. Surprisingly for a war of Spanish Succession, none of these battles took place on Spanish soil. The first such decisive engagement took place at Blenheim in 1704. Louis was attempting to seize the Hapsburg capital of Vienna and bring about a quick peace. The Duke of Marlborough marched his British army 250 miles and combined with Prince Eugene’s army to meet the French outside of the small village of Blenheim in August. In a pitched battle, Marlborough displayed a mastery of reserve management, terrain, and the decisive stroke. The French were defeated and Vienna would remain secure for the remainder of the war. The victory shattered the myth of French invincibility and allowed the Allies to complete the capture of Bavaria. For the rest of the war, the French would never again successfully take the offensive.

The second pivotal battle was that of Ramillies in the Spanish Netherlands in 1706. The French generals had enjoyed some early successes in the year’s campaign season, capturing large chunks territory. Marlborough met a French army outside of the small town of Ramillies on May 23 and thoroughly routed them. Taking advantage of his victory, the allies managed to capture most of the Spanish Netherlands before the end of the campaign season. Coupled with Prince Eugene’s victory at Turin in Northern Italy, 1706 marked the worst year of the war for Louis.

Following two spectacular victories, the last pivotal battle of the war seems like a loss for both the Allies and Louis. Fought on September 11, 1709 near the Franco-Flemish border, the Battle of Malplaquet was the deadliest battle of the eighteenth century. Over 36,000 mean on both sides died during the battle. However, by the standards of the time, since the French withdrew, the Allies were victorious (even though they suffered twice the casualties of the French). The real result was not military, but political. The great loss of life for so little gain convinced the Tory party in England to agitate for peace.

The Treaty of Utrecht

The most lasting result of the War of Spanish Succession was the Treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713. It was brought about by a Tory government in Britain, which represented the interests of the merchants who were losing money because of the war. After the disastrous battle of Malplaquet they had the political ammunition they needed to call for peace.

The Treaty of Utrecht altered the balance of power in Europe. First, it recognized Phillip V as the legitimate Spanish monarch, on the condition that the Spanish and French thrones never be joined. This satisfied those worried about a combined, Bourbon-ruled Spanish-French empire and Louis, who got a Bourbon on the throne in the end. It divided Spanish territory: Phillip V retained Spain and its American possessions, Charles VI, now Holy Roman Emperor, gained most of Spain’s Italian holdings and the Spanish Netherlands, Savoy gained Sicily, and Britain kept Gibraltar and Minorca in the Mediterranean.

Britain was a true winner in the aftermath of the war. Besides the Mediterranean possessions, it gained Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Hudson Bay from France in North America. France also recognized Protestant succession in England, forever ending the issue of the exiled, Catholic Stuarts. From Spain, they won the right to send one ship a year to Spain’s colonies and provide all Spanish colonies with slaves for thirty years, called the Asiento. Britain was now a major player in European affairs and would continue to expand her power during the coming century.

The Treaty of Rastadt, which ended French fighting with the Holy Roman Empire in 1714, officially brought the war to an end.

The Balance of Power in Europe

The theory of balance of power was the prime factor in determining the political moves of European nations during the war. Before the war, Louis XIV and William of Orange had tried to find a solution to the succession problem of Charles II that would keep the balance of power between the great powers in Europe stable. European leaders feared Louis XIV’s designs on the continent and wanted to prevent him from gaining enough power to upset the balance. Different nations had different reasons for fighting Louis, but they shared the common fear of French, more properly Bourbon, dominance.

The War of Spanish Succession came about because Charles II’s death upset the balance of power between Europe’s two great families, the Bourbons and the Hapsburgs. With the chance that either family could control Spain, the nations of Europe picked sides based on both national interest and a desire to maintain the balance of power. England sided with the Catholic Hapsburgs because William of Orange feared French designs on the United Provinces. Protestant Bavaria sided with Catholic France because they saw a chance to break away from the Hapsburgs. While these actions were in the interests of the states, they contributed to the greater balance of power in Europe. Prussia supported the Austrians in return for the Holy Roman Emperor making Prussia a kingdom.

The location of the fighting saws a lot about the true aims of this war: most of the important fighting took place outside of Spain between France and the Grand Alliance. The Spanish succession crisis was simply the spark that ignited the larger conflict for European dominance. The focus of the war was on Louis, not Phillip, because Louis was the true threat to the balance of power in Europe. The allies saw a chance to change that through this war and so they did. By the end of the war the balance of power in Europe had shifted. France no longer dominated the continent. Britain was becoming increasingly powerful, as was Austria. This marked shift away from French dominance demonstrates that this war was really more about the balance of power than the Spanish throne. The eighteenth century would belong to Britain, as the seventeenth had to France, and the sixteenth to Spain.