War for Spanish inheritance(1701-1714) - the largest European conflict that began in 1701 after the death of the last king of Spain from the Habsburg dynasty, Charles II.

Causes of the war

1700, October - the childless Spanish king Charles II declared his great-nephew and grandson of Louis XIV, Philip of Anjou, heir to the throne. However, at the same time, the monarch set a condition that the Spanish possessions should never be attached to the French crown. Louis accepted this will, but retained for his grandson (who in April 1701 after his coronation in Madrid took the name of Philip V) the rights to the French throne and introduced French garrisons to some of the Belgian cities (Belgium at that time remained part of Spain).

Such a strengthening of France did not suit many states, in particular the eternal rivals of the French rulers - the Habsburg emperors. The Austrian party nominated its pretender to the Spanish throne - Archduke Charles of Habsburg, son of Emperor Leopold I. England and Holland, which was in union with it, acted as allies of Austria. The Prussian king, the elector of Hanover, many imperial cities and the petty princes of Upper Germany also joined the anti-French alliance. On the side of Louis XIV were the Electors of Bavaria, Cologne, the Dukes of Savoy and Mantua.

Beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession

The war (which went down in history as the War of the Spanish Succession) began in the summer of 1701 with the invasion of imperial troops under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy into the Duchy of Milan (which belonged to Philip as King of Spain).

Eugene of Savoy is a highly remarkable figure. He belonged to the ancient family of the Dukes of Savoy, it was rumored that he was the son of Louis XIV, known for his love of love. However, the "Sun King" did not want to admit this fact, because of which Eugene fell out of favor and left France to seek his fortune in Austria. The prince was honored at the lifting of the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, and then made a dizzying military career in the empire. By the age of 29, the most talented commander had already received the title of field marshal.

At first, hostilities in Italy unfolded successfully for France, but the betrayal in 1702 by the Duke of Savoy gave the Austrians an edge. An English army landed in Belgium, led by the Duke of Marlborough. At the same time, the war began in Spain, and the Portuguese king went over to the side of the coalition. This made it possible for the British and Archduke Charles to launch successful operations against Philip directly on the territory of his state.

Louis XIV

Military operations unfolded in Germany. The French occupied Lorraine, entered Nancy, and in 1703 advanced to the banks of the Danube and began to threaten Vienna. The Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene hurried to the rescue of Emperor Leopold. 1704, August - the battle of Hochstadt took place, in which the French were completely defeated. After which all of Southern Germany was lost to them, which marked the beginning of a long series of failures.

Bad news came to Versailles from all sides. 1706, May - The French were defeated at the Battle of Ramilli, near Brussels, as a result of which they left Belgium. In Italy, they were defeated near Turin by Prince Eugene and retreated, abandoning all artillery. The Austrians took possession of the duchies of Milan and Mantua, entered the Neapolitan territory. The British captured Sardinia, Minorca and the Balearic Islands. 1707, June - Forty thousandth Austrian army crossed the Alps, invaded Provence and laid siege to Toulon for five months. Meanwhile, in Spain, things were going very badly: Philip was expelled from Madrid and miraculously managed to stay on the throne.

The war completely exhausted France. If the huge budget deficit affected the royal court, then what can we say about ordinary Frenchmen. Hunger and poverty aggravated unprecedentedly harsh winter 1709.

As early as May 1709, Louis XIV was already ready to make serious concessions to his opponents. He not only renounced the Bourbon claims to the Spanish crown, Strasbourg, Landau and Alsace, but was also ready to return the French possessions in the Spanish Netherlands and even declared his readiness to support in cash coalition struggle against his grandson the Spanish King Philip V. But these negotiations were thwarted.

1709, September 11 - in the bloodiest battle of the 18th century at Malplac on the Scheldt, the French were defeated by the combined forces of the Duke of Marlborough and the Prince of Savoy. The French position seemed hopeless. 1710, summer - the Allies intensified their operations in Spain. In Catalonia, they enjoyed full support, but the rest of Spain en masse supported Philip V.

But a year later, the coalition began to disintegrate. Changed the foreign policy of England. 1710 - Opponents of the continuation of the war, the Tories, won the parliamentary elections. The positions of the military party were weakened due to the disgrace of the Duchess of Marlborough, the maid of honor of Queen Anne. The death of Emperor Joseph (the eldest son of Leopold I) and the election of Archduke Charles in his place created real threat the revival of the power of Charles V, i.e., the unification of the empire with Spain. This did not suit the British either. July 1711 - The British government entered into secret negotiations with France.

Evgeny Savoysky

"Utrecht Peace"

1712, January - a peace congress was opened in Dutch Utrecht with the participation of France, England, Holland, Savoy, Portugal, Prussia and a number of other countries. As a result of his work, from April 11, 1713 to February 6, 1715, a series of treaties was signed, which received the general name "Peace of Utrecht".

Philip V was recognized as king of Spain and its overseas possessions on the condition that he and his heirs renounce the rights to the crown of France; Spain ceded Sicily to the Duchy of Savoy, and Gibraltar and the island of Minorca to Great Britain, and also granted her the right to the monopoly sale of African slaves in her American colonies; France gave England a number of possessions in North America (Nova Scotia, the islands of St. Christopher and Newfoundland) and pledged to tear down the fortifications of Dunkirk; for the Elector of Brandenburg, the French recognized the title of "King of Prussia", Prussia acquired Geldern and the county of Neufchatel, Portugal - some territories in the Amazon Valley; Holland received equal rights with the British in trade with France.

Left without allies, the emperor tried to continue the war against the French on his own. He and some of the German princes wanted the restoration of the terms of the Peace of Westphalia, the return of Strasbourg and Alsace, the provision of privileges for the Catalans who had shown loyalty to Austria. The French rushed to the Rhine, took Landau, Freiburg and prepared to invade Swabia.

Rastadt Peace Treaty

But after the defeat inflicted on the Austrians by the French commander Villard in Denen on July 24, 1712, and the success of the French on the Rhine in the summer of 1713, the emperor was forced in November 1713 to agree to negotiations, which ended with the signing of the Rastadt peace treaty on May 6, 1714.

Aftermath of the War of the Spanish Succession

Emperor Charles VI recognized the transfer of the Spanish crown to the Bourbons, receiving for this a significant part of the European possessions of Spain - the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Spanish Netherlands and Sardinia.

France returned the fortresses she had captured on the right bank of the Rhine, but retained all her former territorial acquisitions in Alsace and the Netherlands; the Bavarian and Cologne electors received back their possessions. In addition, Louis XIV insisted on preserving in the treaty an article of the Ryswick Treaty of Peace, according to which Catholic worship was to continue in those Protestant cities in which it was introduced by the French.

In general, the result of the war was the division of the huge Spanish power, which finally lost its status as a great one, and the weakening of France, which dominated Europe in the second half of the 17th century. At the same time, the naval and colonial power of Great Britain in Central and Southern Europe increased significantly, and the positions of the Austrian Habsburgs strengthened; and Prussian influence increased in northern Germany.

Fourth part, epic finale.

The first years of the war did not bring the French, and Louis, nothing but humiliation and beatings, defeats and failures, despite the favorable situation, in the form of still continuing resent Hungarians and Swedish child prodigy, king Charles XII, which, however, not only did not help most christian the French king, but on the contrary, got stuck in Poland, beating the Catholics and absolutely not wanting to get involved in the war with the Austrians. Abroad will not help us, Louis said and prepared for defense.

War in Spain.
The Battle of Almansa in the spring of 1707 sealed her fate: Spain would be free for the Bourbons! The battle, in which the Anglo-Portuguese-Austrian troops were commanded by a natural Frenchman, and the French-Spanish by an Englishman, ended in a crushing victory bourbons which determined the final victory of the French party. This sad event happened thanks to the bastard John Snow James Fitzjames, Duke of Berwick, son of the deposed James II and nephew of the great Marlborough. This duke planted such a pig in history, because if this victory (defeat) did not happen, the Spaniards would sit and drink Bavarian Austrian. Grief and trouble.

Bastard who avenged the right hand of the Pope King

In 1708 and 1709 the French and Spaniards advanced, while the Allies and other the Spaniards defended. And then, suddenly, they switched to decisive offensive 1710, in which, despite all of the above, they literally destroyed the Spanish army in several battles, so that the granddaughters of the sun king were left without an army, completely. In the same year, Madrid was again taken, and now it certainly seemed that the Spaniards were drinking Austrian, but, alas, history cannot be changed: the Spaniards staged something like the burning of Moscow in 1812. In Madrid, it was empty and uncomfortable, and the army of the Austrian Spanish king simply had nothing to eat. At this time, the French Spanish king gathered new forces, with which he returned Madrid, abandoned by the starving allies. Pursuing them, the Gauls surrounded a large English detachment and captured them. Now for sure Madrid is ours.
In the next two years, the French and Spaniards finished off those Spaniards who did not at all consider themselves to be the same as the Catalans. But these were already convulsions.

Waltz.
Meanwhile, the French advanced their Eugene of Savoy, Duke of Villard, who performed all sorts of feats, maneuvering against the imperials on the Rhine, without strategic, alas, consequences, but it was necessary to somehow hold out until the end of the war?
In Italy, after the pogrom of the French in 1706, fighting took place only in the Alps, between the French and the Savoys. True, in 1707 Eugene of Savoy and his Austrians, together with the English fleet, tried to besiege Toulon, but did not succeed and the war in this area finally turned into a number serving. Although the Italians, of course, later composed feats - do not believe it, all lies.

Villar, who became a People's Artist Marshal

The main events unfolded in Belgium and northern France. And here the Gauls again got terribly - in 1708, at Oudenarde, where the armies of Marlborough and Savoy defeated the army of the Duke of Vendôme and another grandson, Louis, also a duke, Burgundy. After this defeat, the sun king even asked for peace, but the allies rested their horn on the Spanish issue and nothing came of it. The king had to throw out his knee: the absolute champion of absolutism, a man whose slop bucket was revered for happiness by dukes and counts, a man-state, almost no longer even a man, and so, this Sun ... turned to the people. Brothers and sisters, I turn to you, my friends- so or almost, he said, or rather he wrote. In this message, Louis, abundantly watering everything with crocodile tears, told how he had always strived for peace and how insidious allies were striving to destroy France. In those patriarchal times in France, this was a novelty and the king was even a little sorry. One way or another, the war continued.

In September 1709, the main battle of the entire war and the biggest massacre of the 18th century took place - the battle of Malplac, where ninety thousand French Villars fired from the trenches one hundred and twenty thousand allies of Eugene and John, of Savoy and Marlborough, respectively. Having lost fifteen thousand against thirty, the French retreated, and the triumphant Villars sent a telegram to Paris, in which he took upon himself the social obligation to endure such defeats in the future. Such a Pyrrhic victory was uncharacteristic of the Anglo-German armies, which had always inflicted much greater losses on the French before.

English lobsters in battle

In England, they began to whisper that it was time to end the war, especially since all the tasks had been completed and the Tories had replaced the Whigs, and Marlborough's wife Sarah (concealed, but of course yes!), Who had twirled Queen Anne for years as she liked, did not find a better time to quarrel with her fluff and ashes than now. As soon as two quarrelsome women quarreled, one good duke immediately felt bad, who honestly fought and stole a little, but in general did everything for the glory of England and the crown. From that moment on, Marlborough's influence began to decline steadily, and the government's desire to end the war began to grow.

Sarah Churchill-Marlborough, hurt friend and loving wife

In 1710-11. all were limited to maneuvers and sieges of French fortresses, which were invariably forced to surrender. The British became less and less involved in the war, officially informing the French that they were only present, insofar as. There were two reasons for this: firstly, the British were already first achieved almost everything they wanted and could, and secondly, the Holy Roman Emperor died in 1711, and the same Austrian pretender to the throne of Spain, who put on the imperial crown under the guise of Charles VI, became his successor. While you're puzzling over how to bring it all together, I'll explain - the British did not want to revive the former Habsburg Empire, from Gibraltar to Buda. To endure Bourbon or Habsburg in Madrid they were still ready, but to endure one and the same Bourbon and Habsburg in Madrid and Paris/Vienna - never. It was not for this that the grandfathers fought at Agincourt, as they say. AT next year began secret Anglo-French negotiations.

It turned out that only Austria, the empire and the Dutch, who were afraid of the French to the user, had to wage the war. They tried in the campaign of 1712 to do the impossible: to take Paris and destroy the absolutist reptile in the lair to end the war with a final victory. The difficulty was that Paris was securely covered by the Maginot line of the fortresses of Vauban, an outstanding, but okay, let him be a brilliant French military engineer, a whole milestone in this matter. Not a man - a lump. I am already tired of writing and you of reading, but in this case, the bastard king, the sun king, disgraced him for having pressed Vauban into free time a little book, where he unambiguously pointed out 95% of the cattle and rogue in the country, the poverty of the inhabitants of the kingdom. The efficient king was offended and dismissed the marshal. Vauban is gone, but the fortresses remain.

Prisoner of conscience of political economy, disgraced Vauban

Eugene of Savoy led his Germans and Dutch to Paris, but got bogged down in the sieges of the Vauban fortresses. The old enemy Duke Villard seized the moment and suddenly attacked the Allied communications, destroying one of the camps and beating the Dutch in Denen operation 1712. This battle ended the war.

On water and under water.
After the glorious sinking of the Franco-Spanish fleet in 1701-06. naval warfare for the allies was reduced to fighting the French raiders, bad weather, the latter bringing much more danger to the navy. So Admiral Chauvel lost four battleships during a storm, i.e. more than in any of the battles with the fleets of the French and Spaniards.
But the Gauls somehow managed to make an unsuccessful attempt to land troops in Scotland, during which their squadron was able to escape from the British with the loss of all (in large letters) one ship.

In the colonies.
Everything was very boring. In North America, English militiamen (ie militias) fired at the same French militia cops without much success on both sides. Then came the regular English units, which, although they did not take Quebec or Canada, they conquered Newfoundland and something else (Nova Scotia, for example). In addition, a lot of Indians were exterminated, who fought for everyone at once (but more for the French and Spaniards). The important thing is that the French were defeated again and, in addition to the above, they also lost Hudson Bay, an island in the Caribbean, sovereignty over the Iroquois ... Some losses, in short.
True, the French arranged pinpricks, small expeditions, especially against the Portuguese allied to the British, but that was all not that. No scope, so, raids.

Peace of 1714.
In Utrecht and Rastadt the results of this long war were summed up. Louis XIV outplayed everyone, leaving his surname on the throne of Madrid. It was, so to speak, the version for powdered and gallant people in Paris. In fact, things were a little different. Firstly, shish him, and not the unification of the Spanish and French thrones, only separate nutrition of individual monarchies, and secondly, Austria tore off all the sweet European pieces from Spain (Spanish Netherlands and others Italy, both northern and southern), thirdly, enlightened England received the right to monopoly trade in slaves in the Spanish colonies and generally speaking(Menorca and Gibraltar, for example).
And most importantly, she became the undisputed sovereign of the sea and the queen, strangling the Dutch in the fraternal embrace. Prussia, which became a kingdom, and Savoy, and other allies, received something, only Sun received nothing but moral satisfaction from Madridour. Of course, at the same time, France was ruined, exhausted, weakened and lost almost everything that his dad achieved with Richelieu and Mazarin, but for the sake of glory, it’s not a pity. The luminary went out a year later, having managed, reluctantly, to recognize Great Britain behind the Hanoverian elector, which undoubtedly humiliated the star.
AT new Europe an Austro-French dualism took shape, with England hovering above it, securely guarded by invulnerable fleets.

Bad, stupid king cosplays Caesar

• A) July 1712, the battle of Denen;
• B) 1713 Peace of Utrecht between France and Spain on the one hand, and England, Holland, Prussia, Savoy, Portugal on the other hand;
• C) 1714 Rastatt peace treaty between France and the "Holy Roman Empire".
• On April 17, 1711, the death of the childless Joseph I and the election of Archduke Charles to the German throne under the name of Charles VI created a real threat of concentration in one hand of all the possessions of the Habsburg house in Europe and America and the restoration of the empire of Charles V, which went against the national interests of Great Britain. The British government entered into secret negotiations with France. Great Britain informed its allies about the Anglo-French negotiations.

In January 1912, the mission of Eugene of Savoy to London to prevent an agreement was unsuccessful. A peace congress opened in Utrecht with the participation of France, Great Britain, Holland, Savoy, Portugal, Prussia and a number of other states. Austria continued to conduct hostilities against France.

from April 11, 1713 to February 6, 1715 the signing of a series of treaties between the allies (except Austria) and France (Peace of Utrecht): Philip V was recognized as king.

Spain and its overseas possessions, subject to the renunciation of his and his heirs from the rights to the French throne; Spain ceded Sicily to the Duchy of Savoy, and Great Britain ceded Gibraltar and the island of Menorca, giving it also the right to the monopoly sale of African slaves in its American colonies; France gave the British a number of possessions in North America (Nova Scotia, the islands of St. Christopher and New Foundland) and pledged to tear down the fortifications of Dunkirk; Prussia acquired Geldern and the county of Neuchâtel, Portugal - some territories in the Amazon valley; Holland received equal rights with England in trade with France.

The conclusion of the Rastadt peace. Charles VI recognized the transition of the Spanish crown to the Bourbons, receiving for this a significant part of the European possessions of Spain - the Kingdom of Naples, the Duchy of Milan, the Spanish Netherlands and Sardinia; France returned the fortresses she had captured on the right bank of the Rhine, but retained all her former territorial acquisitions in Alsace and the Netherlands; the Bavarian and Cologne electors received back their possessions.

A) The Battle of Denenas took place on July 24, 1712, becoming part of the War of the Spanish Succession, and fixing the victory of the French Marshal de Villars over the Austrian and Dutch troops under the command of Eugene of Savoy.

Eugene crossed the river Scheldt with 105,000 troops, intending to give battle to Villars with his 120,000 soldiers.

He quickly marched to the city of Denen and occupied it, gaining commanding heights and a supply base. However, gain Austrian Empire was not included in the sphere of interests of England, because of which the widespread withdrawal of British troops from the allied command began. These actions led to the slowdown of the further offensive.

Villard took advantage of his advantages before attacking Eugene's army. Using artillery and snipers, he was able to bring chaos to enemy formations.

Only then did the French advance. The Allied army was outnumbered by the enemy. The Austrians on the right flank had fewer losses than the Dutch, between whom and the French there was a real massacre. However, the French offensive was repelled with the help of reserve detachments.

The French were subjected to three Austrian counterattacks, which were repulsed. The French were able to free Denin by pushing the enemy troops across the river.

B) Peace of Utrecht - the common name for a number of peace treaties concluded in Utrecht in 1713: Franco-English, Franco-Dutch, Franco-Prussian, etc.

Completed, along with the Rastatt Peace of 1714, the War of the Spanish Succession.

The Peace of Utrecht, which put an end to the War of the Spanish Succession, was concluded on April 11, 1713. Negotiations began as early as February 1712 and continued for a whole year. The treaty took place, on the one hand, between France and Spain, and on the other, England, the United Provinces, Prussia, and Savoy. On April 14, Portugal signed the treaty.

The additions to the treaty were treatises between England and Spain - July 13, 1713, between Spain and Savoy - August 13. 1713, between Spain and Holland - June 26, 1714, between Spain and Portugal - February 6. 1715 U. treaty restored peace in Europe and resolved (together with the Treaty of Rastad) the question of succession in Spain.

Austria did not take part in the negotiations. Under the terms of the treaty, England received Gibraltar and Port Mahon from Philip V, who was recognized as the legitimate king of Spain and India and renounced his rights to the French throne.

From France, she got transatlantic possessions in Nova Scotia (Acadia, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay). Louis XIV undertook to tear down the fortifications of Dunkirchen. In addition, England concluded an advantageous treaty with Spain, which granted her the exclusive right to sell 5,000 Negroes in Spanish India. Holland, in addition to some relief in trade relations, received a number of Belgian fortresses - Menin, Ipern, Tournai. Savoy with Piedmont and Sicily was declared a kingdom. In the power of the Duke of Savoy, the possessions given to him under the Treaty of Turin were left.

His dynasty was recognized as having the right to the Spanish throne in the event of the suppression of the family of Philip V. Prussia received Geldern.

C) The Peace of Rastatt of 1714 was concluded on March 7 in Rastatt (South Baden) between France and the "Holy Roman Empire" (Emperor Charles VI of Habsburg); one of the treaties that ended the War of the Spanish Succession. The main terms of the Treaty of Rastatt are similar to the terms of the Peace of Utrecht in 1713. The emperor was forced to recognize Philip V of Bourbon's right to the Spanish crown, but a significant part of the "Spanish inheritance" passed to the Austrian Habsburg monarchy: the Spanish Netherlands, Northern Italy with Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, part of Tuscany, Sardinia France was to return Breisach and other cities captured by her on the right bank of the Rhine, and destroy her Rhine fortifications. The terms of the Rastatt peace were approved by the congress of German princes in Baden.

By by and large The Treaty of Rastatt was, in fact, part of the Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), signed between France and Austria. During the years 1713-1714, this treaty was prepared by Marshal of France Claude Louis Hector de Villars and the Austrian Prince Eugene of Savoy.

In particular, this treaty ended the feud between King Louis XIV and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, which continued after the conflict was resolved in other respects.

(17011714), the war of France with a pan-European coalition for the possession of Spain and its possessions The Netherlands, the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, Sardinia, Sicily and vast colonies in South and Central America.

The cause of the war was the dynastic dispute between the French Bourbons and the Austrian Habsburgs over the right to inherit the Spanish throne after the death in November 1700 of Charles II (16651700), the last representative of the Spanish Habsburgs. Charles II appointed his great-nephew Philip of Anjou, grandson of the French king Louis XIV (16431715) as his successor. The Austrian party nominated Archduke Charles of Habsburg, the second son of the German Emperor Leopold I (16571705), who was the great-nephew of Charles II's father, Philip IV (16211665), as their candidate. In April 1701, Philip of Anjou entered Madrid and was crowned King Philip V of Spain (17011746); The French occupied all the fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands. The prospect of Spain falling into the hands of the French Bourbons aroused serious concerns among France's main maritime rival, England, which had been in a personal union with another major maritime power, Holland, since 1689. In September 1701, Leopold I entered into an anti-French military alliance with the English king and the Dutch stoutholder William III; he was joined by the Prussian King Frederick I, Elector Georg-Ludwig of Hanover, many imperial cities and petty princes of Upper Germany. On the side of Louis XIV were Elector Maximilian-Immanuel of Bavaria, Elector Joseph-Clement of Cologne, Dukes Vittore Amedeo II of Savoy and Carlo IV of Mantua.

Frey L. A question of empire: Leopold I and the War of Spanish Succession, 1701– 1705 . boulder; New York, 1983
Dickinson W.C., Hitchcock E.R. The War of the Spanish Succession, 1702– 1713: a selected bibliography. Westport (Conn.); London, 1996
Corvisier André. La bataille de Malplaquet, 1709: l "effondrement de la France evite. Paris, 1997
Naujokat U. England and Preussen im spanischen Erbfolgekrieg. Bonn, 1999
Plasmann M. Krieg und Defension am Oberrhein: die vorderen Reichskreise und Markgraf Ludwig Wilhelm von Baden (1693-1706). Berlin, 2000
Falkner J. Great and glorious days: Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet. Staplehurst, 2002

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The Great European War of 1701-1714, nicknamed the War of the Spanish Succession, can rightfully be considered one of the world wars. Almost all major states of Western, Central and Southern Europe took part in it. fighting were conducted in Europe, North America and on all oceans.

Causes of the war

The war broke out because of the desire of the great powers to seize the colonial legacy of the decrepit Spanish Empire. The last king of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, Carlos II (1665-1700), was, due to the closely related marriage of his parents, very sickly and childless. The question of the "Spanish inheritance" arose during his lifetime. There are three contenders for this role.

The main one was the powerful French king Louis XIV of Bourbon - the famous "sun king", married to the sister of Carlos II by the father of Maria Theresa. The cunning Louis did not intend to take the Spanish throne himself, but to put his grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou on it. Although under the terms of his marriage contract with Maria Theresa, their offspring did not have rights to the Spanish throne, the French king found a loophole. The treaty provided for the payment of a large dowry by Spain, but for 40 years Spain was never able to pay it.

The second contender was the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs, namely Emperor Leopold I. He was married to sister Carlos II, who, for all that, was his own niece. Like Louis XIV, he did not aim for the throne himself, but wanted to place his youngest son, Archduke Charles, there.

The third candidate was the cousin of the Bavarian Crown Prince Joseph Ferdinand. He was the cousin of Carlos II and he bequeathed the throne to him in advance. The candidacy of Joseph in 1697 was agreed to be supported by England and France. Not from altruistic motives, of course: in this situation, the French would have left Southern Italy and Sicily, and England would receive a share in the Spanish Netherlands (Belgium). Spain itself and all its overseas colonies would be inherited by a Bavarian prince. This alignment caused violent indignation in Austria, which was out of work. Even more passions flared when, in early 1699, Joseph Ferdinand died suddenly. The dispute over the Spanish inheritance flared up again.

Warring parties

Carlos II yielded to the insistence of France and appointed the grandson of Louis XIV as his heir, but with the condition that if he inherited the French throne, then the Spanish king should have become his younger brother. In November 1700, Carlos II died and Philip V of Bourbon succeeded to the Spanish throne. This was the signal for the formation of an anti-French coalition and the start of hostilities.

Yesterday's enemies - England and Holland, on the one hand, Austria, on the other - have drawn closer to each other. They also managed to win Portugal and Savoy to their side.

At first, the allies did not object to the accession of Philip. However, they wanted the division of the Spanish possessions and the observance of the "balance of power" - the latter term has since become widely used by politicians. England and Holland agreed to divide the Spanish Netherlands among themselves, and Austria was now destined for southern Italy and Sicily.

Footprint in European history

The War of the Spanish Succession became one of the elements that formed the civilization of Europe in modern times. At least until the middle of the twentieth century, for the national consciousness in different countries In Europe, the names of the famous commanders of this war meant a lot - the French marshals of the Duke de Villars, the Duke of Berwick (an English emigrant) and the Austrian Prince Eugene of Savoy. And the name of the English Duke of Marlborough (whose descendant was Winston Churchill) even entered the song, which was and a hundred years later known throughout Europe and in Russia (“Malbrook was going on a campaign ...”).

All European history textbooks included the two most bloody battles of this war - at Blenheim (or the second Hochstedt, 1704) and at Malplak (1709). In the first of these, the troops of Eugene of Savoy and the Duke of Marlborough defeated the Franco-Bavarian army, as a result of which Bavaria concluded a separate peace.

On September 11, 1709, in the largest battle in Europe in the entire 18th century, the Anglo-Austrian-Prussian-Dutch army under the command of the same commanders attacked the French army of de Villars in northern France. Possessing a slight superiority in forces, the Allies pressed the French, but at the same time suffered twice as many losses. The Battle of Malplac has become a classic illustration of the expression "Pyrrhic victory".

In the War of the Spanish Succession, reliance on the "fifth column" in the camp of the enemy was widely used. France supported the pretender to the English throne - the son of the exiled King James II. In turn, England, by its instigation, caused an uprising of the Camisars in the south of France - the Protestants who remained there after the majority of them emigrated in 1685. Supporters of the Austrian pretender to the Spanish throne, with the support of the allies, broke away Aragon and Catalonia from Spain and held them in 1705-1714.

An important step towards world domination of England

Despite the skillful actions of the commanders, the forces of France in the fight against a powerful coalition began to weaken. At one time, the Allies even threatened Paris. But disagreements between them and a number of French successes persuaded the opponents to peace negotiations. In 1713, peace was signed in Utrecht, and in 1714, the final peace in Rastatt and the Treaty of Baden, which ended the war.

The Allies managed to prevent the unification of France and Spain. Philip V retained the Spanish throne, but renounced for himself and his heirs the rights to the French crown. Great Britain received Gibraltar and the Spanish island of Menorca, Austria - Belgium and the Italian possessions of Spain. The French king recognized the Hanoverian dynasty on the English throne and refused to support the supporters of Jacob (Jacobites).

But the most important results of the war were not territorial and dynastic - England managed to achieve for itself a monopoly on the slave trade in the Spanish colonies. This trade, over the next hundred years, enriched Great Britain unspeakably. In addition, England during the war imposed an agreement on Portugal, as a result of which the latter turned into a de facto English protectorate for more than two centuries. Also during this war, in 1707, England, Scotland and Ireland finally merged into the United Kingdom.

Thus, the main outcome of the War of the Spanish Succession was the beginning of the global hegemony of Great Britain. With this, the war opened a new historical era.

According to historians, between 235,000 and 400,000 people in two parts of the world fell victim to the First World War of the 18th century.