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Spain War of the Spanish Succession
The acceptance of the Spanish crown by Philip V in the
face
of counterclaims by Archduke Charles of Austria, who was
supported by England and the Netherlands, was the
proximate cause
of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-14), the first
"world
war" fought by European powers. In 1705 an Anglo-Austrian
force
landed in Spain. A Franco-Castilian army halted its
advance on
Madrid, but the invaders occupied Catalonia. Castile
enthusiastically received the Bourbon dynasty, but the
Catalans
opposed it, not so much out of loyalty to the Habsburgs as
in
defense of their fueros against the feared
imposition of
French-style centralization by a Castilian regime.
The War of the Spanish Succession was also a Spanish
civil
war. Britain agreed to a separate peace with France, and
the
allies withdrew from Catalonia, but the Catalans continued
their
resistance under the banner "Privilegis o Mort" (Liberty
or
Death). Catalonia was devastated, and Barcelona fell to
Philip V
after a prolonged siege (1713-14).
The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) brought the war to a close
and
recognized the Bourbon succession in Spain on the
condition that
Spain and France would never be united under the same
crown. The
Spanish Netherlands (which become known as the Austrian
Netherlands and later as Belgium) and Spain's Italian
possessions, however, reverted to the Austrian Habsburgs.
Britain
retained Gibraltar and Minorca, seized during the war, and
received trade concessions in Spanish America. Spain
emerged from
the war with its internal unity and colonial empire
intact, but
with its political position in Europe weakened.
Philip V undertook to modernize Spanish government
through
his French and Italian advisers. Centralized government
was
institutionalized, local fueros were abrogated,
regional
parliaments were abolished, and the aristocracy's
independent
influence on the councils of state was destroyed.
Data as of December 1988
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