In the War of Spanish Succession

In the War of Spanish Succession

Leopold I, who was also the Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and King of Italy, attempted to surrender His second son, Archduke Charles, succeeded to the throne of Spain. The throne was vacant, and the French Bourbons and Austrian Habsburgs fought for the Spanish throne, triggering a war involving most of Europe.

The war was essentially to prevent France from annexing Spain and once again dominating Europe. This caused half of Europe to form a new grand alliance against France. Early in the war, the French achieved some successes. By the end of 1704, the situation had changed. France's allies have defected to the Grand Alliance one after another, and the French army is almost fighting alone; the domestic political situation is unstable, Huguenot uprisings continue, and continuous wars have depleted the treasury.

France is in a predicament of internal and external difficulties and is unable to support itself. The Allied forces won consecutive battles. On land, Allied Commander-in-Chief Marlborough led his army to achieve a turning point in the victory of Blenheim, breaking the French army's reputation for victory.

At sea, the Allies also achieved great success. In May 1708, a powerful British fleet sailed into the Mediterranean and defeated the French navy. Six months later, Britain fully controlled the Strait of Gibraltar and its navy cruised freely in the Mediterranean. By 1708, the Allies had gained absolute superiority in naval warfare.

Although the French military improved slightly in the latter part of the war, it could only enable France to conclude a less humiliating peace treaty. At this time, what Louis XIV had to consider was how to get out of the war before he was completely defeated.

As the war progressed to 1710, although the anti-French Allied forces had a military advantage, they no longer took the initiative to attack France. This is because Britain, the main force in the anti-French alliance, saw Russia's victory in the Great Northern War of the same period. In order to prevent Russia from dominating Northern Europe, it must quickly cease the war with France to check and balance Russia.

On the other hand, after the death of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I in 1711, Archduke Charles ascended the throne as Charles VI, which made Charles VI's claim to the Spanish throne less reasonable.

Charles VI was a follower of his father Leopold I's "European Empire Plan". Other allies also feared that once the Austrian Habsburgs took possession of Spain, they would restore the hegemony of Charles V's empire in Europe.

For Britain, this result is also a threat to its balance of power policy on the European continent. Britain needs to retain France to reduce this possible threat. Therefore, Britain began to conduct peace talks with France alone to stop the war against France. Due to the change in Britain's attitude, all countries in the anti-French alliance stopped their active attacks and gradually ceased war with France.

On April 11, 1713, France signed the Peace of Utrecht with the anti-French allies except Austria, namely Britain, the Netherlands, Brandenburg, Savoy and Portugal. "; and in 1714 France signed the "Peace of Rastatt" with Austria. Spain, on the other hand, signed the "Anglo-Spanish Treaty" and the "Spain-Savoy Treaty" with Britain in July 1713.

In June 1714, the "Spanish-Netherlands Treaty" was signed with the Netherlands; in February 1715, the "Spanish-Portuguese Treaty" was signed with Portugal. The War of Spanish Succession officially ended.

Although the Spanish throne was finally succeeded by Philip V of the Bourbon dynasty (Philip, Duke of Anjou), the "Peace of Utrecht" stipulated that France and Spain could not be merged. France was in this war. Li also lost troops and generals, and his maritime power was greatly weakened. France fell from the peak of hegemony, and its hegemonic ambitions were temporarily curbed.

After the war, France basically retained its status as a powerful country on the European continent. It uses peacetime to step up recovery from the wounds of war and recharge its batteries for the next battle. In the War of Spanish Succession, what will happen if France wins with absolute superiority?

1. In the War of Spanish Succession, if France wins with absolute superiority, France and Spain will merge become a country. As for France and Spain, in terms of national strength, France is stronger and Spain is weaker. After the merger, France will definitely dominate the new country.

Because Spain at that time, in addition to its mainland, also had southern Italy, the Spanish Netherlands (today's Belgium and other places), and all over the Americas (all Latin America except Brazil), Asia, and Africa. vast colony.

In the early 18th century, France occupied Pondicherry and other places in Asia and India; it occupied Madagascar in Africa; and in the Americas, in addition to continuing to strengthen its colonial rule in Canada, it also occupied places such as Pondicherry in the Mississippi River in North America. The vast Louisiana colony was established in the basin.

If the two colonial powers France and Spain merged, the new country led by France would be the largest colonial power in the world at that time. vast colonies in Asia and Africa.

2. In the War of Spanish Succession, if France wins with absolute superiority, the influence of the Bourbon royal family (the ruling family in France) in Europe will be at its peak, and the Habsburg family will was greatly weakened. Because there were two Habsburg families in Europe at that time, one was the German Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the Emperor of Austria, and the other was the King of Spain.

If France wins this war with an absolute advantage, Louis XIV's grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou, ascends to the Spanish throne, and the merger of France and Spain proceeds smoothly without interference. In this way, France could break the previous situation of being surrounded by the Habsburg family.

3. In the War of Spanish Succession, if France wins with absolute superiority, on the one hand it will successfully merge with Spain and its strength will be greatly enhanced, on the other hand it will deal a heavy blow to its opponent.

In this way, France will be able to dominate Europe and establish a European empire, establishing a hegemony that even Charlemagne could not match, and even becoming the hegemon of the world at that time.