SUCCESSION WARS, the general name given to contests which took place in Europe during the 18th century on the extinction of certain dynasties or ruling houses. Four such wars are usu ally enumerated — that of the Spanish succession (1701-1713), of the Polish succession (1733-1738), of the Austrian succession (1740-1748), and of the Ba varian succession (1777-1779). The first and third alone are of sufficient gen eral historical interest to be noticed here.
(1) War of the Spanish Succession.— Charles II., king of Spain, having died without direct descendants in November, 1700, claims were raised to the vacant throne by the husbands of his two sis ters, Louis XIV., of France, who had married the elder, and the Emperor Leo pold I., who had married the younger. Both these monarchs were also them selves grandsons of Philip III., of Spain; but neither desired the Spanish crown for his own head. Louis put forward his grandson Philip of Anjou; while Leopold advocated the claims of his sec ond son, the Archduke Charles. The electoral prince Joseph of Bavaria, grandson of the Emperor Leopold. was the heir originally designated in King Charles's will, but he died in the be ginning of 1699. Both Louis XIV. and his wife had nine years before solemnly renounced the crown of Spain for them selves and their heirs; nevertheless, af ter Joseph of Bavaria died the agent of Louis XIV. induced Charles of Spain to nominate Philip of Anjou as his suc cessor. Three months after the Spanish monarch's death the French prince en tered Madrid, and was crowned as Philip V.; and his accession was at first recognized by all of the European powers except the emperor. Louis, however, soon provoked the United Netherlands and England, and they joined Austria for the purpose of armed opposition to France.
Hostilities were begun by Prince Eu gene in Italy in 1701; and in the fol lowing year the conflict raged not only in Italy but also in the Netherlands and in Swabia. At first the allies were vic torious all along the line: Marlborough took the fortresses on the Meuse and overran the electorate of Cologne; and the Landgrave of Baden had the good fortune to drive back the most redoubt able of the French commanders, Villars, who had crossed the Rhine from Alsace. But the aspect of things was altered in 1703 by Villars, who in conjunction with the Elector of Bavaria, penetrated as far as Tyrol and captured Passau, while the imperialists in Italy were more than held in check by Vend&lie. But in the
campaign of 1704 Marlborough and Eu gene, acting in concert, inflicted a crush ing defeat on their opponents at Blen heim and drove them back to France. Two years later the forces of Louis were compelled to withdraw from the Neth erlands owing to Marlborough's great victory of Ramillies and his capture of the principal Flemish towns. At the same time Eugene and his relative the Duke of Savoy routed the French near Turin and swept them out of North Italy. Meanwhile the war had extended to the Iberian peninsula. The King of Portugal declared for the allies, and Archduke Charles made himself master of Catalonia, and even for a time held possession of Madrid. The English cap tured Gibraltar in 1704; but they and the Portuguese sustained a severe de feat from the Duke of Berwick (com manding the French forces) at Alman za in 1707. In this latter year Louis, feeling the severity of the strain, opened negotiations for a settlement. But the allies, having the upper hand, thought to humble him yet more, and the war went on.
An attempt of Vendome and the Duke of Burgundy to reconquer the Spanish Netherlands in 1708 was frustrated by Marlborough and Eugene, who routed them at Oudenarde; and in the next year they defeated at Malplaquet the hitherto invincible Villars. Yet just when the fortunes of Louis seemed to be at their worst, circumstances inter vened in his favor. In England the Whigs were supplanted by the Tories, who voted for peace; and in Austria the Emperor Leopold died and was succeeded by the Archduke Charles. Accordingly the war languished, and, Philip V. hav ing pledged himself that the crowns of Spain and France should not be united, all the allies, except the emperor, signed the treaty of Utrecht on April 11, 1713. The emperor, too, was brought to terms after Villars had overrun the Palatinate and Baden, and he signed peace at Ras tatt (March 7, 1714), whereby he ac knowledged Philip as king of Spain, and became himself the ruler of the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sar dinia.