The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire amongst supporters of the claimant Bourbon and Habsburg dynasties. His official heir was Philip of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV of France, whose main backers were France and most of Spain. His rival, Archduke Charles of Austria, was supported by the Grand Alliance, whose primary members included Austria, the Dutch Republic, and Great Britain. Significant related conflicts include the 1700 to 1721 Great Northern War, and Queen Anne's War in North America.
Philip V was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724 and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign is the longest in the history of the Spanish monarchy, surpassing Philip IV. Philip V instigated many important reforms in Spain, most especially the centralization of power of the monarchy and the suppression of regional privileges, via the Nueva Planta decrees, and restructuring of the administration of the Spanish Empire on the Iberian Peninsula and its overseas regions.
Charles VI was Holy Roman Emperor and ruler of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy from 1711 until his death, succeeding his elder brother, Joseph I. He unsuccessfully claimed the throne of Spain following the death of his relative, Charles II. In 1708, he married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, by whom he had his four children: Leopold Johann, Maria Theresa, Maria Anna, and Maria Amalia.
The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of Spain, and involved much of Europe for over a decade. The main action saw France as the defender of Spain against a multinational coalition. The war was very expensive and bloody, and finally stalemated. Essentially, the treaties allowed Philip V to keep the Spanish throne in return for permanently renouncing his claim to the French throne, along with other necessary guarantees that would ensure that France and Spain should not merge, thus preserving the balance of power in Europe.
The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain and later by the Austrian Habsburgs until occupied and annexed by Revolutionary France (1794–1815).
The Second Congress of Rastatt, which began its deliberations in November 1797, was intended to negotiate a general peace between the French Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, and to draw up a compensation plan to compensate those princes whose lands on the left bank of the Rhine had been seized by France in the War of the First Coalition. Facing the French delegation was a 10-member Imperial delegation made up of delegates from the electorates of Mainz, Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, as well as the secular territories of Austria, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg, and the imperial cities of Augsburg and Frankfurt. The congress was interrupted when Austria and Russia resumed war against France in March 1799 at the start of the War of the Second Coalition, thus rendering the proceedings moot. Furthermore, as the French delegates attempted to return home, they were attacked by Austrian cavalrymen or possibly French royalists masquerading as such. Two diplomats were killed and a third seriously injured. The congress was held at Rastatt near Karlsruhe.
The Treaty of Baden, signed 7 September 1714 in Baden, Switzerland, made peace between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Together with the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastatt, it was one in a series of agreements ending the 1701 to 1713 War of the Spanish Succession.
The term French–Habsburg rivalry describes the rivalry between France and the House of Habsburg. The Habsburgs headed an expansive and evolving empire that included, at various times, the Holy Roman Empire, the Spanish Empire, Austria, Bohemia and Hungary from the Diet of Augsburg in the High Middle Ages until the dissolution of the monarchy following World War I in the late modern period.
The siege of Barcelona was a thirteen month battle at the end of the War of Spanish Succession, which pitted Archduke Charles of Austria against Philip V of Spain, backed by France in a contest for the Spanish crown.
The Peace of Vienna, also known as the First Treaty of Vienna, was a series of four treaties signed between 30 April 1725 and 5 November 1725 involving the Habsburg Monarchy, the Holy Roman Empire, and Bourbon Spain. Later, in 1726, the Russian Empire joined this newly formed alliance. The signing of this treaty established the Austro-Spanish Alliance, which led to the Fourth Anglo-Spanish War (1727-1729). This alliance caused Austria to withdraw from the Quadruple Alliance. In this new partnership, the Habsburgs gave up all formal claims to the Spanish throne, while Spain renounced its claims to the southern Netherlands and several other territories.
The 1731 Treaty of Vienna was signed on 16 March 1731 between Great Britain and Emperor Charles VI on behalf of the Habsburg monarchy, with the Dutch Republic included as a party.
The 1720 Treaty of The Hague was signed on 17 February 1720 between Spain and the Quadruple Alliance, established by the 1718 Treaty of London. Its members included Britain, France, the Dutch Republic and Austria.
The Treaty of Den Haag, or Treaty of The Hague, was signed on 7 September 1701 between England, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, and the United Provinces. It reconstituted the 1689 anti-French Grand Alliance in response to the issues that resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austria, died. Their grandson, Emperor Charles V, was born in the Habsburg Netherlands and made Brussels one of his capitals.
Foreign relations exist between Austria and France. Both countries have had diplomatic relations with each other since the Middle Ages. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the European Union.
The Spanish conquest of Sardinia, also known as the Spanish expedition to Sardinia, took place between 22 August 1717 and 30 October 1717. It was the first military action between the Kingdom of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire after the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), and was the direct cause of the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720). The Spanish troops commanded by the Marquis of Lede and Don José Carrillo de Albornoz, 1st Duke of Montemar, supported by the Spanish fleet, defeated the Emperor's troops easily, and conquered the entire island of Sardinia, which had been ruled by the Emperor since the Treaty of Rastatt (1714), returning it again and for the final time to Spain.
From 1700 to 1720, the Kingdom of Sardinia, as a part of the Spanish empire, was disputed between two dynasties, the Habsburgs and the Bourbons. With the death of Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs, on 1 November 1700, the throne passed to Duke Philip of Anjou, although the Emperor Leopold I also had a claim. Leopold was especially desirous of obtaining the Spanish inheritance in the Southern Netherlands and in Italy, which included Sardinia. With the failure of France to abide by the Second Partition Treaty, the other European powers lined up on the side of the Habsburgs. The Treaty of the Hague allotted to the Emperor the Spanish possessions in Italy. Imperial troops invaded Italy to seize them, and the War of the Spanish Succession began.
The Rhine campaign of 1713 was a successful French military campaign against the Holy Roman Empire, the sole remaining member of the once-formidable Grand Alliance which had refused to make peace with France. The campaign, which did not result in any pitched battles, ended with French forces besieging and capturing the fortified cities of Landau and Freiburg im Breisgau, which exposed the Palatinate, Württemberg and Swabia to French occupation and compelled the Emperor to sue for peace.
The imperial election of 1742 was an imperial election held to select the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. It took place in Frankfurt on January 24. The result was the election of Charles Albert of Bavaria, the first non-Habsburg emperor in three hundred years.
The Treaty of Nymphenburg was a treaty between Bavaria and Spain that was concluded on May 28, 1741 at the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich. It was the first formal pact of a series of French-sponsored alliances against the Habsburg Monarch, Maria Theresa. Through the agreement, the Bavarian Elector Charles Albert gained the support of King Philip V of Spain to become the next Holy Roman Emperor against the claims of the Habsburgs. The treaty was brokered by Marshal Belleisle under the authority of Louis XV of France. As part of the negotiations, the French agreed to materially support Charles Albert's claims. The treaty signaled the expansion of the First Silesian War, which started as a local war between Prussia and the Habsburg Monarchy, into the War of the Austrian Succession, a pan-European conflict.
