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War of the Spanish Succession: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

When the last Spanish Habsburg died childless, Europe fought for 13 years over his empire; Marlborough won Blenheim, Britain won Gibraltar, and a Bourbon kept Madrid.

Fought
1701 to 1714
Duration
13 years
Dates
1701 to 1714
Deaths
About 400,000 to 700,000 soldiers; over 1 million including civilians
Bourbon side
France, Bourbon Spain, Bavaria, Cologne; Hungarian rebels
Grand Alliance
Austria, Britain, Dutch Republic, Prussia, Portugal, Savoy, Habsburg Spain (Catalonia, Aragon)
Result
Philip V king of Spain; Spanish Netherlands and Italy to Austria; British gains; balance of power

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) followed the death of Charles II of Spain in 1700, who left his empire to Louis XIV's grandson Philip of Anjou. Britain, the Dutch Republic and the Habsburg emperor, fearing a Franco-Spanish union, backed the Archduke Charles. Marlborough and Prince Eugene won at Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), Oudenarde (1708) and, at terrible cost, Malplaquet (1709); Britain took Gibraltar (1704) and Minorca; but Bourbon armies held Spain (Almansa, 1707) and Charles's inheritance of the Austrian throne in 1711 changed British minds. The Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714) left Philip V king of Spain minus its European possessions, which went to Austria and Savoy, and gave Britain Gibraltar, Minorca, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the slave asiento.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is War of the Spanish Succession. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

800100012001400160018002000War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714)Open: Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire (800 to 1806)Open: Ottoman-Venetian warsOttoman-Venetian wars (1396 to 1718)Open: First Portuguese EmpireFirst Portuguese Empire (1415 to 1663)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: First French colonial empireFirst French colonial empire (1534 to 1814)Open: Northern WarsNorthern Wars (1554 to 1721)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Dutch EmpireDutch Empire (1602 to 1975)Open: Franco-Dutch WarFranco-Dutch War (1672 to 1678)Open: Nine Years' WarNine Years' War (1688 to 1697)Open: Great Northern WarGreat Northern War (1700 to 1721)Open: War of the Austrian SuccessionWar of the Austrian Succession (1740 to 1748)

Casualties in the great battles

08.7517.526.2535Blenheim 1704: 3333Blenheim 1704Ramillies 1706: 1717Ramillies 1706Almansa 1707: 1010Almansa 1707Oudenarde 1708: 1818Oudenarde 1708Malplaquet 1709: 3333Malplaquet 1709killed and wounded, thousands (approximate)

Timeline of the War of the Spanish Succession

  1. 1700
    Charles II of Spain dies
  2. 1702
    War declared
  3. 1704
    Blenheim; Gibraltar taken
  4. 1706
    Ramillies; Turin
  5. 1707
    Almansa
  6. 1708
    Oudenarde
  7. 1709
    Malplaquet
  8. 1711
    Archduke Charles becomes emperor
  9. 1713
    Treaty of Utrecht
  10. 1714
    Rastatt; Barcelona falls

The inheritance

Charles II, disabled product of Habsburg inbreeding, died on 1 November 1700 naming Philip of Anjou heir to Spain, the Netherlands, Milan, Naples and the Americas. Louis XIV accepted; his refusal to bar Philip from the French succession, his occupation of the Dutch barrier fortresses and recognition of the Old Pretender as king of England drove William III to form the Grand Alliance in September 1701. War was declared in May 1702.

Marlborough and Eugene

Marlborough's march from the Netherlands to the Danube in 1704, joined by Eugene, destroyed the Franco-Bavarian army at Blenheim and saved Vienna; Rooke took Gibraltar the same month. Ramillies (1706) cleared the Spanish Netherlands and Eugene's Turin relieved Italy; Oudenarde (1708) and the siege of Lille pushed France to the brink, and Louis sued for peace in the famine winter of 1709. The Allies' demand that he help expel his own grandson from Spain was too much; the bloodbath of Malplaquet (September 1709), where the Allies lost 20,000, restored French morale.

Spain and the peace

In Spain the Allies took Madrid twice but Castile rallied to Philip; Berwick's victory at Almansa (1707) and Vendome's at Brihuega and Villaviciosa (1710) secured his throne. When Archduke Charles became Emperor Charles VI in 1711, a Habsburg union of Spain and Austria looked as dangerous as a Bourbon one; the new Tory ministry in Britain dismissed Marlborough and made peace at Utrecht in April 1713. Villars beat Eugene at Denain and the emperor settled at Rastatt in 1714. Barcelona, abandoned by the Allies, fell to Bourbon siege on 11 September 1714 and Catalonia lost its liberties.

Britain emerged as the leading maritime power; France was exhausted; the principle of a balance of power was written into the treaties.

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

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8 surprising things about the War of the Spanish Succession

  1. Charles II of Spain was so inbred that his parents were uncle and niece and he could barely chew; his autopsy reportedly found a heart the size of a peppercorn.
  2. Marlborough's Blenheim march of 400 km in five weeks kept the French guessing about his destination.
  3. Blenheim Palace, gifted by a grateful nation, is where Winston Churchill was born.
  4. Gibraltar has been British since 1704 and Spain still wants it back.
  5. The 11 September fall of Barcelona is Catalonia's national day, the Diada.
  6. The asiento won at Utrecht gave Britain the monopoly on selling slaves to Spanish America for 30 years.
  7. Malplaquet was the bloodiest battle in Europe until Borodino a century later.
  8. Louis XIV said of his grandson's accession, 'the Pyrenees no longer exist'; the treaties made sure they still did.

Sources

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