What was the War of the Spanish Succession?
The War of the Spanish Succession
La guerra de Sucesión
1701–1714. Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg, died childless in 1700 and left his crowns to a French prince, Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV.
Where: Spain, Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, France
What happened
Charles II, the last Spanish Habsburg, died childless in 1700 and left his crowns to a French prince, Philip of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV. Austria, Britain and the Dutch backed a rival, Archduke Charles, and war spread across Europe and inside Spain, where the lands of the Crown of Aragon mostly took the Archduke's side. Philip V kept the throne, but under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 Spain lost its lands in Italy and the Netherlands, and Gibraltar and Menorca to Britain. Barcelona fell on 11 September 1714, the date now kept as Catalonia's national day, the Diada. Philip's Nueva Planta decrees then abolished the separate institutions of Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia and Majorca.
Say it
Felipe V fue el primer rey Borbón de España.
Philip V was the first Bourbon king of Spain.
Why it matters
It brought the Bourbons to Spain, made Castilian law and administration the rule across the peninsula, and gave Britain Gibraltar and the slave asiento; 11 September is still Catalonia's day of memory.
Connected
- The slave asiento goes to Britain (26 March 1713–1750)
- The slave asiento goes to Britain (26 March 1713–1750)
- The Real Academia Española is founded (3 August 1713)
- The Bourbon reforms (c. 1765–1788)
- The Bourbon reforms (c. 1765–1788)
Sources
- War of the Spanish Succession — World History Encyclopedia
- Diada Nacional de Catalunya: the historical event — Generalitat de Catalunya