War of the Spanish Succession

Partition treaties

Unlike France or Austria, the Spanish throne could be inherited through the female line. This allowed Charles' sisters Maria Theresa and Margaret Theresa to pass their rights onto the children of their respective marriages with Louis XIV and Emperor Leopold. Louis sought to secure his "rights" by ignoring the Spanish and negotiating directly with William III of England, main co-ordinator of the Grand Alliance.

Leopold and Margaret had a daughter Maria Antonia, who married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria in 1685, and in 1692, they had a son, Joseph Ferdinand. In October 1698, France, Britain and the Dutch Republic designated Joseph as heir to Charles II, in return for which France and Austria would be compensated with Spanish territories. Charles published another will specifying Joseph would inherit an undivided Spanish monarchy, but the latter's death from smallpox in February 1699 undid these arrangements.

In 1685, Maria Antonia passed her claim to the Spanish throne onto Leopold's sons, Joseph and Archduke Charles. Her right to do so was doubtful, but Louis and William agreed the 1700 Treaty of London, making Leopold's son Archduke Charles the new heir. Its terms included territorial concessions to France, Savoy and Austria, but neither Leopold nor Charles agreed, rendering the treaty largely pointless. By early October 1700, Charles was dying. His final will left the throne to Louis XIV's grandson Philip of Anjou, and if he refused, the offer would pass to his younger brother the Duke of Berry, followed by Archduke Charles.

Charles died on 1 November 1700, and Spanish ambassadors formally offered the throne to Philip eight days later. Louis briefly considered refusing, since although it meant the succession of Archduke Charles, insisting William help him enforce the Treaty of London meant his territorial aims might be achieved peacefully. However, French diplomats argued Austria would fight regardless, while neither the British nor Dutch would go to war for a settlement intended to avoid war. Louis therefore accepted on behalf of his grandson, who was proclaimed Philip V of Spain on 16 November 1700.

Prelude to war

With most of his objectives achieved by diplomacy, Louis XIV now made a series of moves that combined to make war inevitable. The Tory majority in the Parliament of England objected to the French acquisition of Sicily, an important base for the highly profitable Levant Company trade. A foreign diplomat observed their reluctance to become involved in a European land war was only true "so long as English commerce does not suffer". Louis either failed to appreciate or decided to ignore this exception, and his actions gradually eroded Tory opposition.

In early 1701, Louis XIV registered Philip's claim to the French throne with the Parlement of Paris, raising the possibility of union with Spain, contrary to Charles' will, though Philip was only third in the French succession. In February, the Spanish-controlled Duchy of Milan and allied Duchy of Mantua in Northern Italy announced their support for Philip and accepted French troops. Leopold could not ignore these moves, especially when combined with French diplomatic efforts to build alliances with Imperial circles in Swabia and Franconia.

Over the course of 1701, Maximilian II Emanuel, the pro-French Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, allowed their troops to replace Dutch garrisons in the 'Barrier' fortresses granted at Ryswick. This threatened Dutch control of the Scheldt, a primary gain from the 1648 Peace of Münster, while access to Antwerp and Ostend would allow France to blockade the English Channel at will. Combined with other actions that threatened English trade, this produced a clear majority for war in Parliament, which in May 1701 urged William to negotiate an anti-French alliance.

On 7 September, Leopold, the Dutch Republic and Britain signed the Treaty of The Hague renewing the 1689 Grand Alliance. Its provisions included securing the Dutch Barrier in the Spanish Netherlands, the Protestant succession in England and Scotland and an independent Spain, but did not refer to placing Archduke Charles on the Spanish throne. When the exiled James II of England died on 16 September 1701, Louis XIV reneged on his recognition of William III at Ryswick in 1697, and supported the claim of James Francis Edward Stuart to the British throne. When William died in March 1702, his successor Queen Anne confirmed her support for the Treaty of the Hague. Despite French hopes domestic political conflicts would prevent this, the Dutch Republic declared war on 8 May. This was followed by Britain and Leopold on 15th, and the Imperial Diet on 30 September.

General strategic drivers

Contemporaries viewed Dutch and English support for the Habsburg candidate as primarily driven by economics, seeking access to Spanish markets in the Americas. The then dominant economic theory of mercantilism viewed global trade as relatively static. This meant increasing market share required taking it from someone else, with states often facilitating this by attacking their opponents' shipping and trading posts.

This expanded the war to North America, India, and other parts of Asia, with tariffs used as a policy weapon. The 1651–1663 Navigation Acts were a major factor in the Anglo-Dutch Wars, while between 1690 and 1704, English import duties on foreign goods increased by 400%. On 6 September 1700, France banned the import of English manufactured goods such as cloth and imposed prohibitive duties on a wide range of others.

Economics also dictated the size of the armies employed. Between 1702 and 1707, those used in the Netherlands varied from 60,000 to 80,000 men, rising to over 120,000 after 1708, which placed immense strain on pre-industrial economies. Their dependence on water-borne transport for supplies meant campaigning often focused on rivers like the Rhine or Danube, while their relative absence limited operations in areas like Northern Spain. Better logistics, unified command, and simpler internal lines of communication gave French and Spanish troops an advantage over their opponents.

Strategic objectives by participant

Spain

In 1700, Spain remained a great power in terms of territory control, while imports of bullion from the Americas reached their highest level between 1670 and 1700. However, this concealed the reality that the vast majority of these imports went straight to pay off debt or foreign merchants. When the new Bourbon administration took over in 1701, they found the empire bankrupt and effectively defenceless, with fewer than 15,000 troops in Spain itself and a navy consisting of 20 ships.

Almost constant warfare during the 17th century made the Spanish economy subject to long periods of low productivity and depression, and largely reliant upon others for its prosperity. In many ways, the continued existence of the empire was not due to Spanish strength but to maintain a balance between the powers competing for a share of its markets. Despite fighting a series of wars against Spain from 1667 to 1697, France was also its most significant economic partner, supplying labour and controlling a large proportion of its foreign trade. This consideration was an important factor in the Charles' decision to name Philip his heir. Its dependence on others was illustrated in 1703; despite the presence of an invading Allied army, the French ambassador urged Louis to allow Dutch and English merchants to purchase wool from Spanish farmers, "otherwise the flocks cannot be maintained".

Enacting political or economic reform was extremely complex, since Habsburg Spain was a personal union between the Crowns of Castile and Aragon, each with very different political cultures, while links with the former Spanish strongholds in the Netherlands and Italy were frayed. Most of Philip's support came from the Castilian elite, who saw comprehensive reforms as necessary to preserve an independent Spanish Empire. As these reforms included the elimination of the privileges, or Fueros, held by the Aragonese states, support for the Hapsburgs was strongest in areas that were part of the Crown of Aragon, including Catalonia and Valencia.

France

Broadly speaking, French objectives were to prevent others acquiring an undivided Spanish monarchy, to secure their borders with the Holy Roman Empire while weakening Austria, and to establish exclusive access to trade with Spanish America. At the outbreak of war, France was perhaps the most powerful state in Europe. Its army, along with the associated logistical and financial support base, was more powerful than any of its rivals individually. Its geographical position provided enormous tactical flexibility, while the concentration of power under Louis XIV meant a relatively unified strategy, unlike their opponents. Although the Nine Years' War had shown France could not impose its objectives unilaterally, the new alliance with Spain and Bavaria made a successful outcome more likely.

However, France had still not recovered from the financial effects of the previous wars, leading some statesmen to advise against a purely offensive strategy. They argued that the combined might of the Grand Alliance forces made it highly improbable for France to launch a successful attack. The Dutch and Imperial fortresses were located far from convenient Franco-Spanish bases, and the Netherlands and Rhineland lacked easily navigable rivers for the Bourbon armies. Furthermore, besieging a major Dutch fortress demanded the commitment of two full armies. The French would thus pursue a strategy described as a "mixed war" in Europe. In this strategy, the Franco-Spanish forces would primarily assume a defensive posture to safeguard the vital fortresses they needed to retain. Offensive actions, on the other hand, were characterized by assertive posturing and strategic positioning, with an emphasis on sustaining their forces by living off enemy territory whenever feasible, while blocking enemy thrusts, and trying to engage them in battle where possible.

Austria and the Holy Roman Empire

The Imperial Diet formally declared Reichskrieg against France in November 1702. Despite being the dominant power within the Empire, Austrian and Imperial interests did not always coincide. The Habsburgs wanted to put Archduke Charles on the throne of an undivided Spanish monarchy, while their Allies were fighting to prevent either the Bourbons or the Habsburgs from doing so. This divergence and Austria's financial collapse in 1703 meant the campaign in Spain was reliant on Anglo-Dutch naval support and after 1706, British funding. Until the death of Joseph I in 1711, the Habsburg were unwilling to allocate resources to winning the war in Spain. Instead, their priorities were securing their southern borders by fighting France in northern Italy, and suppressing Rákóczi's War of Independence in Hungary.

The majority of the empire sided with the Emperor, with the exception of those states controlled by their Wittelsbach rivals. Bavaria, Liège, and Cologne allied with France, as did the Spanish-ruled Imperial states of Milan, the Spanish Netherlands and Mantua. Despite these defections, the Habsburgs were largely successful at mobilising Imperial resources, mustering an average strength of over 250,000.

However, even the larger entities within the Empire pursued their own policies. His claim to the Polish crown meant Augustus of Saxony focused on the Great Northern War, while Frederick I made his support dependent on Leopold recognising Prussia as a kingdom and making it an equal member of the Grand Alliance. Since the Elector of Hanover, was also heir to the British throne, his support was more reliable, but the suspicion remained that the interests of Hanover came first.

Britain

British foreign policy was based on three general principles, which remained largely consistent from the 16th through the 20th centuries. The first, overriding all others, was to preserve a balance of power in Europe, an objective threatened by French expansion under Louis XIV. The second was to prevent the Low Countries from being controlled by a hostile power or one stronger than Britain; this included both the Spanish Netherlands and the Dutch Republic, whose deep harbours and prevailing winds made her a natural embarkation point for an attack on England, as demonstrated in 1688. The third was to maintain a navy strong enough to protect British trade, control her waters and launch attacks on her enemies' commercial routes and coastal areas.

Alignment on reducing the power of France and securing the Protestant succession for the British throne masked differences on how to achieve them. In general, the Tories favoured a mercantilist strategy of using the Royal Navy to attack French and Spanish trade while protecting and expanding their own; land commitments were viewed as expensive and primarily of benefit to others. The Whigs argued France could not be defeated by seapower alone, making a Continental strategy essential, while Britain's financial strength made it the only member of the Alliance able to operate on all fronts against France.

Dutch Republic

Under William of Orange, the Dutch Republic played a central role in organising European resistance to French expansionism. As the leading commercial power, the Dutch wanted to preserve the existing balance of power, and viewed the Spanish Netherlands as a key strategic buffer against French aggression. Since recent experience showed the Spanish could not defend them, the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick allowed the Dutch to place garrisons in eight key cities, providing strategic depth to protect their commercial and demographic heartlands against attack from the south. However, with the help of Maximilian of Bavaria, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, by 1701 these garrisons had been nullified and replaced by French troops. At the request of the Elector of Cologne and Prince-bishop of Liège, Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, French troops also moved into his territories in the Rhineland and were thus directly threatening the Dutch border from both the south and the east. Dutch priorities were to secure their borders, re-establish and strengthen the Barrier fortresses, retain control of the economically vital Scheldt estuary, and gain access to trade in the Spanish Empire.

At the outset of the war, the Dutch States Army was the best prepared of the Grand Alliance, being similar in size to that of the Austrians, but of significantly higher quality. Although Marlborough was appointed commander of Allied forces in the Low Countries, the Dutch initially provided the bulk of troops and supplies. This made strategy in this theatre subject to the approval of their field deputies and generals. When Dutch forces operated outside the Low Countries it was generally seen as a concession.

Savoy

Throughout the 17th century, Savoy sought to replace Spain as the dominant power in Northern Italy. Savoy consisted of two main geographic segments; Piedmont, which contained the capital Turin, and the Duchy of Aosta on the Italian side of the Alps, with the Duchy of Savoy and County of Nice in Transalpine France. The latter were almost impossible to defend and combined with the anti-Habsburg policy pursued by Louis XIV and his predecessors, this meant Savoy generally sided with France. However, Piedmont provided foreign powers access to the restive southern French provinces of the Dauphiné and Vaunage, former Huguenot strongholds with a long history of rebellion. This provided Victor Amadeus II with a degree of leverage, allowing him to manoeuvre between opposing parties to expand his territories.

During the Nine Years' War in 1690, Savoy joined the Grand Alliance before agreeing to a separate peace with France in 1696. The accession of Philip V in 1701 led to a reversal of long-standing strategic policy, with France now supporting the Spanish position in Lombardy, rather than seeking to weaken it, and Austria doing the opposite. While Victor Amadeus initially allied Savoy with France, his long-term goal was the acquisition of the Duchy of Milan, which neither Bourbons nor Habsburgs would relinquish voluntarily. As discussed elsewhere in this article, securing his borders in Italy was of greater concern to Emperor Leopold than Spain itself. This meant Britain was the only power inclined to help Victor Amadeus achieve this objective and he changed sides in 1703 after the Anglo-Dutch navies won control of the Western Mediterranean.

Portugal

Portugal had regained its independence following the end of the Portuguese Restoration War in 1668, a result elements in Madrid had never entirely accepted. Peter II of Portugal viewed participation as a potential means of increasing his diplomatic standing in Europe, but Portuguese society was divided on which side to support. The British and Dutch navies posed a serious threat to their colonies, much of the mercantile class and aristocracy had considerable economic or cultural ties with France, while supporting Archduke Charles could result in another land invasion.

Peter wished to expand Colonial Brazil to the Río de la Plata and Oyapock, while securing his land borders in Europe by acquiring Badajoz and Valencia de Alcántara from Spain, along with a number of smaller towns. As the Allies refused to support these demands, Portugal initially aligned with Philip V in exchange for naval support. However, when it became clear the new regime harboured ambitions of recapturing Portugal, and failed to produce a fleet capable of challenging the Allies, Portugal joined the Grand Alliance in May 1703.

Military campaigns; 1701–1708

Italy

The war in Italy primarily involved the Spanish-ruled Duchy of Milan and the French-allied Duchy of Mantua, considered essential to the security of Austria's southern borders. In 1701, French troops occupied both cities and Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, allied with France, his daughter Maria Luisa marrying Philip V. In May 1701, an Imperial army under Prince Eugene of Savoy moved into Northern Italy; by February 1702, victories at Carpi, Chiari and Cremona forced the French behind the Adda river.

Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, one of the best French generals, took command and was substantially reinforced; Prince Eugene managed a draw at the Battle of Luzzara but the French recovered most of the territory that it had lost to Prince Eugene the year before. In October 1703, Victor Amadeus declared war on France; by May 1706, the French held most of Savoy except Turin while victories at Cassano and Calcinato forced the Imperialists into the Trentino valley.

In July 1706 Vendôme and all the forces that could be spared were sent to reinforce France's northern frontier after the defeat at Ramillies. Reinforced by German auxiliaries led by Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau, Prince Eugene broke the siege of Turin in September; despite a minor French victory at Castiglione, the war in Italy was over. To the fury of his allies, the 1707 Convention of Milan Emperor Joseph gave French troops in Lombardy free passage to Southern France.

A combined Savoyard-Imperial attack on the French base of Toulon planned for April was postponed when Imperial troops were diverted to seize the Spanish Bourbon Kingdom of Naples. By the time they besieged Toulon in August, the French were too strong, and they were forced to withdraw. By the end of 1707, fighting in Italy ceased, apart from minor attempts by Victor Amadeus to recover Nice and Savoy.

Low Countries, Rhine, and Danube

The first objective for the Grand Alliance in this theatre was to secure the Dutch frontiers, threatened by the alliance between France, Bavaria, and Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, ruler of Liège and Cologne. In early 1702 the Grand Alliance repelled an assault on Nijmegen and captured Kaiserswerth, a strong town along the Rhine on the eastern side of the Dutch Republic. The Allies then advanced into the Meuse valley, taking Venlo, Roermond, and Stevensweert, and concluding the campaign with the capture of Liège. The 1703 campaign was marred by Allied conflicts over strategy. Despite capturing Bonn, they failed to take Antwerp, while a Dutch contingent narrowly escaped disaster at Ekeren in June.

On the Upper Rhine, Imperial forces under Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden remained on the defensive, although they took Landau in 1702. Supported by the Bavarians, during the 1703 campaign French forces retook Landau, won victories at Friedlingen, Höchstädt and Speyerbach, then captured Kehl and Breisach. With Austrian resources absorbed by Rákóczi's War of Independence in Hungary, the Franco-Bavarian plan for 1704 was to march on Vienna. To relieve the pressure, Marlborough marched up the Rhine, joined forces with Louis of Baden and Prince Eugene, and crossed the Danube on 2 July. Allied victory at Blenheim on 13 August forced Bavaria out of the war and the Treaty of Ilbersheim placed it under Austrian rule.

Allied efforts to exploit their victory at Eliksem in 1705 floundered on poor coordination, tactical disputes, and command rivalries. A diplomatic crisis between the Dutch Republic and England was only averted by the dismissal of General Slangenburg, while the imposition of Austrian rule in Bavaria caused a brief but vicious peasant revolt. In May 1706, the French were comprehensively defeated at Ramillies by an Allied army under Marlborough, which then occupied much of the Spanish Netherlands in under two weeks. France assumed a largely defensive posture for the rest of the war.

The 1707 campaign was without any significant events, as both parties focussed on other fronts. The French, now under Marshal Vendôme, avoided battle and Marlborough did little to force one upon them. By 1708, the focus of both sides was again almost entirely on the fighting in the Low Countries. The allies once more set their sights on breaking French fortification belts, while the French themselves planned a counteroffensive. The French operation had early success when the French surprised the Allied garrisons at Ghent and Bruges, it failed after the Allies defeated them at the Battle of Oudenaarde. In its aftermath the Allies managed to capture Lille, the strongest fortress of the French fortress belts, while a French assault on Brussels was repelled and Ghent and Bruges recaptured. Despite losses like Lille and other strongpoints, the French prevented the Allies from making an irreparable breach in their frontiers.

Spain and Portugal

British involvement was primarily driven by the need to protect their trade routes in the Mediterranean. By putting Archduke Charles on the Spanish throne, they also hoped to gain commercial privileges within the Spanish Empire. Despite their dynastic claim, the Austrian Habsburgs viewed securing Northern Italy and suppressing the Hungarian revolt as higher priorities. With the Dutch focusing on Flanders post-1704, this theatre was largely dependent on British naval and military support.

Spain at the time was a personal union between the Crowns of Castile and Aragon. The latter was further divided into the separate entities of Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sicily, Naples, and Sardinia. In 1701, Majorca, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia declared for Philip, while a mixture of anti-Castilian and anti-French sentiment meant the others supported Archduke Charles, the most important being Catalonia. Allied victory at Vigo Bay in October 1702 persuaded Peter II of Portugal to switch sides, giving them an operational base in this area.

Archduke Charles landed at Lisbon in March 1704 to begin a land campaign, while the Anglo-Dutch capture of Gibraltar was a significant blow to Bourbon prestige. An attempt to retake it was defeated in August, with a land siege being abandoned in April 1705. The 1705 Pact of Genoa between Catalan representatives and Britain opened a second front in the north-east; the loss of Barcelona and Valencia left Toulon as the only major port available to the Bourbons in the Western Mediterranean. Philip tried to retake Barcelona in May 1706 but was repulsed, while his absence allowed an Allied force from Portugal to enter Madrid and Zaragoza.

However, lack of popular support and logistical issues meant the Allies could not hold territory away from the coastline, and by November, Philip controlled Castile, Murcia, and parts of Valencia. Allied efforts to regain the initiative ended with defeat at Almansa in April 1707, followed by an unsuccessful siege of Toulon in August. Despite these failures, control of Gibraltar and the capture of Menorca in 1708 allowed the Royal Navy to dominate the Western Mediterranean. Since many British politicians considered this their primary objective, they became reluctant to approve further expensive land campaigns in this theatre.

War beyond Europe and related conflicts

The close links between war and trade meant conflict extended beyond Europe, particularly in North America, where it is known as Queen Anne's War, and the West Indies, which produced sugar, then a hugely profitable commodity. Also, there were minor trade conflicts in South America, India, and Asia; the financial strains of war particularly affected the Dutch East India Company, as it was a huge drain on scarce naval resources. The war in Europe also coincided with Dutch involvement in the War of Javanese Succession.

Related conflicts include Rákóczi's War of Independence in Hungary, which was funded by France and a serious concern for the Habsburgs throughout the war. In South-Eastern France, Britain funded the Huguenot 1704–1710 Camisard rebellion; one objective of the 1707 campaign in Northern Italy and Southern France was to support this revolt, one of a series that began in the 1620s.

Towards peace; 1709–1715

By the end of 1708, the French had withdrawn from Northern Italy, while the maritime powers controlled the Spanish Netherlands, and secured the borders of the Dutch Republic; in the Mediterranean, the maritime powers had achieved naval supremacy, and Britain acquired permanent bases in Gibraltar and Menorca. However, as Marlborough himself pointed out, the French frontiers remained largely intact, their army showed no signs of being defeated, while Philip proved far more popular with the Spanish than his rival. Many of the objectives set out by the Grand Alliance in 1701 had been achieved, but success in 1708 made them overconfident.

Diplomacy and renewed war

French diplomats focused on the Dutch, whom they considered more likely to favour peace, since victory at Ramillies had removed any direct military threat to the Republic, while highlighting differences with Britain on the Spanish Netherlands. Peace talks had broken down in late 1708 because the Allies could not agree joint terms. The Great Frost of 1709 caused widespread famine in France and Spain, forcing Louis to re-open negotiations, who now hinted at his willingness to cede French fortresses to the Dutch Republic.

In May 1709 the Allies presented him with the preliminaries of the Hague. Britain and Austria still insisted on an undivided Spanish monarchy for Archduke Charles. The Allies demanded that Philip was given two months to cede his throne to Charles, while France was required to remove him by force if he did not comply, besides having to cede the strongholds, Thionville, Cambrai and Valenciennes as collateral. Although Spain was of less importance to them, the Dutch negotiators, led by Heinsius, considered these strict conditions necessary to ensure that peace conditions were honoured, as they doubted Louis' sincerity. They were concerned the Allies might exhaust themselves in Spain, while allowing France to recover, and potentially back Phillip once again.

Many Allied statesmen, including Marlborough, felt the terms assumed Philip would abdicate on request, and seriously underestimated France's ability to continue the war. They also required the Spanish to accept Archduke Charles as king in his place, which they were certainly unwilling to do, as demonstrated by the failure of Allied campaigns to hold territory outside Catalonia. Although Louis seemed willing to abandon his ambitions in Spain, making war on his grandson was unacceptable, a stipulation so offensive that the French resolved to fight on when it was made public.

Following the capture of Tournai, Marlborough's 1709 offensive in northern France culminated in the Battle of Malplaquet on 11 September, a hard-fought Allied victory with heavy casualties on both sides. Although the battle did not improve the French strategic position, it showed their fighting abilities were intact and increased war-weariness in both Britain and the Dutch Republic. The impact was magnified by Franco-Spanish victories at Alicante in April, and La Gudina in May 1709, which made prospects of an Allied victory in Spain increasingly remote.

Shortly after, the Dutch discovered they had been excluded from a commercial agreement signed by Archduke Charles giving Britain exclusive trading rights in Spanish America. This deepened divisions between the Allies while increasing Spanish opposition to having the Archduke as their king. The Whig government in London was afraid to push the Dutch into the hands of the French and went back on their commercial agreement with Archduke Charles. In exchange for a Dutch guarantee to support the Hanoverian succession, Britain agreed to share trading rights in Spanish America and the Mediterranean. The Whigs promised the Dutch a significantly expanded barrier in the Spanish Netherlands, including fortress towns such as Lille, Valenciennes, Condé and Maubeuge. The Dutch now seemed to obtain all they had ever wanted from the war, in the Low Countries, the Mediterranean and America. This treaty sparked resentment from Emperor Joseph, who was offended by the heavy burden it imposed on his brother's sovereignty over the Southern Netherlands, while they were also opposed by the Tory opposition in Britain who saw them as detrimental to British commerce.

The Whigs had won the 1708 British general election by arguing military victory was the quickest road to peace, but failure in France was mirrored in Spain. Archduke Charles re-entered Madrid in 1710 after victories at Almenar and Saragossa, but the Allies could not hold the interior and were forced to retreat. 3,500 British troops surrendered at Brihuega on 8 December, while the Battle of Villaviciosa on 10 December confirmed Bourbon control of Spain. At the same time, costs continued to rise; the Dutch were close to bankruptcy while Austrian troops were almost entirely funded by Britain. In 1709, Parliament approved expenditures of £6.4 million was up from £5.0 million in 1706; by the end of 1710, these had doubled to £12.9 million, despite minimal gains.

Negotiations

When talks resumed at Geertruidenberg in March 1710, Louis now even showed a willingness to assist the Allies in removing his grandson from Spain. The Dutch proposed compensating Philip with Sicily and Sardinia, but neither the Austrians or British would agree, and negotiations broke down again. However, it was clear to the French the mood in Britain had changed. This was confirmed when the pro-peace Tories won a landslide victory in the October 1710 British election, although they confirmed their commitment to the war to prevent a credit crisis. Despite the capture of Bouchain in September, a decisive victory in northern France continued to elude the Allies, while an attack on Quebec ended in disaster.

When Emperor Joseph died in April 1711, his brother Archduke Charles was elected emperor. For the Dutch and British, his accession undermined a key reason for continuing the war, since a union of Spain with Austria was as unwelcome as one with France. The British secretly negotiated peace terms directly with France, leading to the signing of the Preliminary Articles of London on 8 October 1711.

These included French acceptance of the Act of Settlement 1701 and a guarantee the French and Spanish crowns would remain separate. In addition, France undertook to ensure Spain ceded Gibraltar and Menorca, while giving Britain a thirty-year monopoly on the Asiento de Negros, the right to import slaves into Spanish American colonies. Despite their resentment at being excluded from these talks, the Dutch were financially exhausted by the war, and could not continue without British support. Charles VI initially rejected the idea of a peace conference, only agreeing once the Dutch decided to support it, but continued to oppose the treaty.

Peace of Utrecht

Within weeks of the conference opening, events threatened the basis of the peace agreed between Britain and France. First, the French presented proposals awarding the Spanish Netherlands to Max Emmanuel of Bavaria and a minimal Barrier, leaving the Dutch with little to show for their huge investment of money and men. Second, a series of deaths left Louis XIV's two-year-old great-grandson, the future Louis XV as heir, making Philip next in line and his immediate renunciation imperative.

The Dutch and Austrians fought on, hoping to improve their negotiating position but the new British government ordered Marlborough's replacement, James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, not to participate in offensive operations against the French. These orders caused fury then and later, with Whigs urging Hanoverian military intervention. Those considered responsible, including Ormonde and the Tory statesman Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke, were driven into exile when George I succeeded Queen Anne in 1714, and became prominent Jacobites.

A combined Austro-Dutch army under Prince Eugene captured Le Quesnoy in June, before besieging Landrecies, a key stronghold in France's final defensive line. However, they were defeated at Denain on 24 July, then went on to recapture Le Quesnoy, Marchines, Douai, and Bouchain. This demonstrated the continued ability of the French army, while the Dutch had finally reached the end of their willingness and ability to continue the war.

On 6 June, Philip confirmed his renunciation of the French throne, and the British offered the Dutch a revised Barrier Treaty, replacing that of 1709 which they rejected as overly generous. Although subject to Austrian approval, it was still a significant improvement on that agreed in 1697, and was sufficient for the Dutch to agree. Despite this, negotiations dragged on until 1715, as the Austrians were reluctant to pay for Dutch garrisons stationed in their territory, although British pressure meant the issue was ultimately concluded in favour of the Dutch.

Emperor Charles withdrew from negotiations when France insisted he guarantee not to acquire Mantua or Mirandola. He was supported in this by the future George I, who wanted France to withdraw backing for the Stuart heir James Francis. As a result, neither Austria nor the Emperor signed the Peace of Utrecht of 11 April 1713 between France and the other Allies; Spain made peace with the Dutch in June, then Savoy and Britain on 13 July 1713.

Treaties of Rastatt and Baden

Fighting continued on the Rhine, but Austria was financially exhausted and after the loss of Landau and Freiburg in November 1713, Charles finally made peace on 7 March 1714. In the Treaty of Rastatt, the Habsburg monarchy acceded to the terms of Utrecht, which confirmed their gains in Southern Italy, returned Breisach, Kehl, and Freiburg, ended French support for the Hungarian revolt and agreed on terms for the Dutch Barrier fortresses. Charles abandoned his claim to Strasbourg and Alsace and agreed to the restoration of the Wittelsbach electors of Bavaria and Cologne, Max Emmanuel and Joseph Clemens, lifting the Imperial ban on them. Article XIX of the treaty transferred sovereignty over the Spanish Netherlands to Austria. On 7 September, the Holy Roman Empire joined the agreement by the Treaty of Baden; although Catalonia and Majorca were not finally subdued by the Bourbons until June 1715, the war was over.

Aftermath

Article II of the Peace of Utrecht included the stipulation "because of the great danger which threatened the liberty and safety of all Europe, from the too-close conjunction of the kingdoms of Spain and France, ... the same person should never become King of both kingdoms." Some historians view this as a key point in the evolution of the modern nation-state; Randall Lesaffer argues it marks a significant milestone in the concept of collective security.

Spain

Philip was confirmed as king of Spain, which retained its independence and the majority of its empire, in return for ceding the Spanish Netherlands, most of its Italian possessions, as well as Gibraltar and Menorca. Naples and Sicily were regained in 1735 and Menorca in 1782. The 1707 Nueva Planta decrees centralised power in Madrid, and abolished regional political structures including the Crown of Aragon, although Catalonia and Majorca remained outside the system until 1767. Their economy recovered remarkably quickly, and the House of Bourbon (save for brief interruptions) has held the Spanish throne ever since.

France

Louis XIV died on 1 September 1715, and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson Louis XV; on his deathbed, he is alleged to have admitted, "I have loved war too well." True or not, the final settlement was far more favourable than the Allied terms of 1709.

France retained Landau and was awarded the Principality of Orange and Ubaye Valley. More importantly, by placing a Bourbon on the Spanish throne, Louis XIV ended roughly two centuries of Habsburg encirclement around the borders of his kingdom. From 1666 onward French policies assumed economic superiority over their rivals, but this was no longer the case by 1714 when Britain appeared to have overtaken France on this front. The continued widening of this gap as British trade expanded post-Utrecht was viewed by Louis's successors as a permanent threat to the European balance of power. Seeking to reduce this was a major factor in France entering the 1740–1748 War of the Austrian Succession.

Austria and the Holy Roman Empire

Despite failure in Spain, Austria secured its position in Italy and Hungary and acquired the bulk of the former Spanish Netherlands. Even after reimbursing the Dutch for their Barrier garrisons, increased revenues from the Austrian Netherlands funded a significant expansion of the Austrian army. With the acquisition of Milan, Mantua, Naples and Sardinia, Austria gained a dominant position in Italy that largely continued until 1859. Victory in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718 accentuated the shift of Habsburg focus into Southern Europe and away from Germany, where they were increasingly challenged by Bavaria, Hanover, Prussia, and Saxony. In 1742, Charles of Bavaria became the first non-Habsburg Emperor in over 300 years.

Great Britain

Britain emerged as the leading European naval and commercial power with the acquisition of the strategic Mediterranean ports of Gibraltar and Menorca, as well as trading rights in Spanish America. France accepted the Protestant succession, ensuring a smooth inheritance by George I in August 1714, while agreeing to end support for the Stuarts in the 1716 Anglo-French Treaty. Although the war left all participants with unprecedented levels of government debt, Britain was able to finance it efficiently, providing a relative advantage over its competitors.

Dutch Republic

The Dutch had recovered and expanded their positions in the Southern Netherlands, and their troops were central to the alliance which halted French territorial expansion in Europe until a new cycle began in 1792. But the war left them bankrupt, and inflicted permanent damage on the Dutch merchant navy; while they remained the dominant economic power in the Far East, Britain took over as the pre-eminent global commercial and maritime power. The exhaustion of the Dutch admiralties had also allowed the pirates from Algiers to capture numerous Dutch merchant vessels, which the Dutch were only able to stop after a long conflict. The Barrier Treaty fortresses became the central driver of Dutch foreign policy in the decades after 1713 and were put to the test during the War of the Austrian Succession.

Portugal

While Portugal did not obtain all the desired territorial concessions in South America and the Iberian Peninsula, France relinquished its claims on the northern banks of the Amazon River, which were thus integrated into Brazil, and Spain returned the Colonia del Sacramento, which had been lost during the conflict. More importantly however, Portugal emerged on a better diplomatic footing among the powers of Europe and more closely associated with Britain, thus clearly demonstrating to Spain that its independence was beyond question. The border regions were devastated, however, and after the war, Portugal resumed a policy of neutrality that afforded the Portuguese fifty years of peace to focus on its territories overseas and reap the benefits of trade.

Other

Wider implications include the rise of Prussia and Savoy while many of the participants were involved in the 1700–1721 Great Northern War, with Russia becoming a major European power for the first time as a result. Finally, while colonial conflicts were relatively minor and largely confined to the North American theatre, the so-called Queen Anne's War, they were to become a key element in future wars. Meanwhile, maritime unemployment brought on by the war's end led to the third stage of the Golden Age of Piracy, as many sailors formerly employed in the navies of the warring powers turned to piracy for survival.

Claims to the Spanish throne