History UsefulNotes / WarOfTheSpanishSuccession

The wish of Charles II had always been that his empire go to a single heir with no partition of the realm, and in fact Spain largely achieved this, though it did not necessarily seem so in the immediate aftermath, with the Spanish Netherlands and Italy lost to the Austrians. Nevertheless Spain would reconquer Naples and Sicily 20 years later by the hand of their prince Charles, future UsefulNotes/CharlesIIIOfSpain, almost completely restoring the realm of Charles II by way of a dynastic union with a new Neapolitan kingdom. Despite a tumultuous history for the next three centuries, especially when their entire empire was destroyed from the inside by the spectacularly traitorous royal specimen UsefulNotes/FerdinandVII, the Bourbons remain the royal family of the Spanish monarchy to this day.

* The War is mentioned going on in the background of Series/RenegadeNell, and Nell's husband, Captain Jackson, died in the Battle of Blenheim.

* The French song "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbrough_s%27en_va-t-en_guerre Marlbrough s'en va-t-en-guerre]]" (Marlbrough goes to war) was written during the final stages of the war, based on a false rumor about the duke dying. The melody has been referenced many times, including {{Music/Mozart}}'s ''Theater/TheWeddingOfFigaro''.

The other option was he could accept Charles II's will, and have his grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou become king of an undivided Spanish realm. Philip, Duke of Anjou, as the second son of Louis XIV's heir, was not in direct line of succession to the French throne, so therefore a direct union of crowns was not an immediate threat. Nonetheless, for England and others, it remained a disturbing possibility.

Louis XIV came to believe that, whether he accepted Charles II's will or chose to abide by his treaty with England, Austria was likely to go to war with him in either case, and England was unlikely to support France in such a war, even to implement a treaty which was partly their own idea. Therefore he might as well go for gold and try to get as much as he could. So that's what he did. He accepted Charles II's will, tearing up his agreement with England, and his grandson became Philip V of Spain in 1700.

The outcome for France was more ambiguous. While a direct union of crowns between France and Spain was not to be achieved, nevertheless a Bourbon king now sat upon the throne of Spain, supplanting the Habsburgs. France itself made some minor colonial concessions to the British in the New World, but otherwise largely retained its territorial integrity. Louis XIV also revoked his recognition of the claim of the exiled Catholic James Stuart to the throne of England and returned his recognition to the Protestant monarch Queen Anne. The real question is whether France achieved anything after over a decade of war that it had not already achieved (or could have achieved) in 1701 by negotiation. Again, it depends on how you view the actions of Louis XIV. If you believe it was his arrogance that caused the war in the first place in 1701, then the outcome for France could largely be considered a failure, with Louis XIV taking an unjustifiable gamble which pushed France to the edge of ruin in 1709, with France only coming back from the brink of disaster due to the overconfidence of the allies and the return of French fortunes in 1710. If, however, you believe war was inevitable no matter what Louis XIV did, then the war could largely be considered a success, with Louis XIV managing to hold on to gains that he would have had to fight for anyway.

Louis, Duke of Anjou, the great-grandson of Louis XIV, managed to survive his measles (almost certainly being saved when his governess called a halt to his blood-letting, a "medical" procedure that undoubtedly contributed to the death of his older brother). He would become King Louis XV at five years old when his great-grandfather Louis XIV, called the Sun King, finally passed on in 1715, having survived every other monarch who originally started the conflict, as well as his own son and grandson.

The wish of Charles II had always been that his empire go to a single heir with no partition of the realm, and in fact Spain largely achieved this, though it did not necessarily seem so in the immediate aftermath, with the Spanish Netherlands and Italy lost to the Austrians. Nevertheless Spain would reconquer Naples and Sicily 20 years later by the hand of their prince Charles, future UsefulNotes/CharlesIIIOfSpain, largely restoring the realm of Charles II. Despite a tumultuous history for the next three centuries, especially when their entire empire was destroyed from the inside by the spectacularly traitorous royal specimen UsefulNotes/FerdinandVII, the Bourbons remain the royal family of the Spanish monarchy to this day.

By far the biggest winner out of the conflict was the Kingdom of Great Britain. It had prevented the rise of an empire that could threaten its interests by both France and Austria. It had established maritime dominance over its Dutch neighbors (though it would not become outright supremacy until later). It had acquired territory in the New World and the Mediterranean, including Gibraltar, which the United Kingdom controls to this day (to the great irritation of Spain). It had extracted commercial concessions from the Spanish Empire, and French recognition of the Protestant succession of Queen Anne. Its economy emerged from the war largely intact. In effect, England got basically everything it wanted.

Unfortunately, their interests were fairly divergent. All three wanted to see Archduke Charles placed on the Spanish throne, but for different reasons. Emperor Leopold's main concern was the Austrian Habsburg possessions in Italy. It was the threat of French acquisition of territory in northern Italy (the gateway to Austrian heartlands) that made him object to the Treaty of London in the first place. The Netherlands were less important to him, whereas they were the primary concern of England and the Dutch. They wanted to see the Spanish Netherlands placed under Austrian control - something Austria actually did ''not'' want, viewing it as a burden rather than an asset. Divisions between the allies would prove critical to how the war turned out.

The wish of Charles II had always been that his empire go to a single heir with no partition of the realm, and in fact Spain largely achieved this, though it did not necessarily seem so in the immediate aftermath, with the Spanish Netherlands and Italy lost to the Austrians. Nevertheless Spain would reconquer Naples and Sicily 20 years later in 1734, largely restoring the realm of Charles II. Despite a tumultuous history for the next three centuries, the Bourbons remain the royal family of the Spanish monarchy to this day.

By far the biggest winner out of the conflict was the Kingdom of Great Britain. It had prevented the rise of an empire that could threaten its interests by both France and Austria. It had established maritime dominance over its neighbors (though it would not become outright supremacy until later). It had acquired territory in the New World and the Mediterranean, including Gibraltar, which the United Kingdom controls to this day (to the great irritation of Spain). It had extracted commercial concessions from the Spanish Empire, and French recognition of the Protestant succession of Queen Anne. Its economy emerged from the war largely intact. In effect, England got basically everything it wanted.

In the 17th century, Spain was one of the few major powers that allowed the throne to pass through the female line (and indeed to a woman if need be).[[note]]Spain's predecessor kingdom of Castile had a tradition of queens regnant going back to the 12th century, when Urraca the Bold succeeded her father Alfonso VI in 1108. Note that this was 30 years before England fought [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anarchy an inconclusive civil war]] over whether the throne could even pass ''through'' a woman, let alone ''to'' a woman.[[/note]] Charles II of Spain would die childless, so this left potential heirs in the marriages of his two sisters. His eldest half-sister, Maria Theresa, had married Louis XIV, the King of France, also known as the Sun King. Her son, also named Louis, was ''le Grand Dauphin'' - heir to the French throne and nephew of King Charles II.

This conflict started over the line of succession that ended when the last Habsburg King of Spain, [[UsefulNotes/CharlesIIOfSpain Charles II]], died without an heir in 1700. As his health had always been poor throughout his life [[note]] He was the latest in what was, [[RoyalInbreeding if we're being honest,]] a rather ''un''diluted gene pool[[/note]], the different factions saw this coming for decades, and to their credit they did at least try to take steps to prevent a military conflict stemming from an issue they knew was inevitable.

So there are two potential candidates to the Spanish throne. One is Louis ''le Grand Dauphin'', the son of the King of France. The other is Joseph Ferdinand, the grandson of the Emperor Leopold of Austria. The most obvious and direct line of succession was through Charles II's eldest sister, Maria Theresa, making Louis ''le Grand Dauphin'' heir to the Spanish Empire. However, this would make him direct heir to both the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of Spain--and therefore to the vast overseas Spanish Empire (which for administrative purposes was part of the Crown of Castile). This was deeply alarming to many in Europe, in particular the Kingdom of England and the Dutch Republic, who feared the formation of an unstoppable Catholic juggernaut.