War of the Spanish Succession, the European war fought 1701–1713 / 14 over the legacy of the last Spanish Habsburg Charles II.
Background: Due to their marriages with sisters of Charles II, both King Louis XIV of France were able to assert inheritance claims for the House of Bourbon and Emperor Leopold I (until 1705) for the House of Habsburg. Efforts to regulate the Spanish succession amicably through inheritance contracts failed. In order to prevent the division of Spanish property as planned by the great powers, Charles II appointed the Bavarian Prince Elector Joseph Ferdinand as heir. When he died on February 6, 1699 at the age of seven, Karl determined in October 1700 Philipp von Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV., to the sole heir. After the death of Charles II. (1. 11. 1700) was Louis XIV. Philip as Philip V proclaimed King of Spain and confirmed at the same time contrary to the will of Charles the claims of Philip to the French throne. Thereupon England, the Dutch Republic and, for Austria, the Emperor in the (Hague) Grand Alliance of September 7, 1701 turned against the French preponderance; it was joined by the most important territories of the Holy Roman Empire (including Brandenburg-Prussia; all 30 December) and Portugal (16 May 1703). Only the Wittelsbach electors of Cologne were on the French side (Joseph Clemens) and Bavaria (Maximilian II. Emanuel) and Savoy (until 1703). The Hague Alliance declared war on France on May 5, 1702; on September 20, 1702 the imperial war against France was declared. – Theaters of war were v. a. Northern Italy, the Spanish Netherlands, Southern Germany and Spain. Since Castile was on the side of Philip V, Catalonia on the Archduke Charles, whose claim to the throne Austria had claimed in 1700, and this on September 5, 1703 with English and Dutch support from the Emperor as Charles III. had been proclaimed King of Spain, the War of the Spanish Succession also became a Spanish Civil War.
Course: Between March and September 1703, the French and Bavarian troops were initially successful in southern Germany (Kehl, Altbreisach, Höchstädt an der Donau, Landau; occupation of the Danube line to Passau). Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm Iof Baden-Baden and JC Duke of Marlborough defeated the Bavarian troops under Elector Maximilian II. Emanuel am Schellenberg near Donauwörth (July 2, 1704), Prince Eugene of Savoy-Carignan and Marlborough triumphed at Höchstädt on the Danube (August 13th), the English fleet conquered Gibraltar and enabled Archduke Charles to land in Barcelona. Marlborough conquered almost the whole of the Spanish Netherlands with the victory at Ramillies near Tienen (May 23, 1706), Prince Eugene ousted the French from northern Italy with the victory at Turin (September 7, 1706). Further French defeats (Oudenaarde July 11, 1708, Malplaquet September 11, 1709) led to a peace congress, which, despite Louis XIV’s willingness to grant concessions, failed due to excessive demands from the allies (July 1710). When Emperor Joseph I (1705–11) died and his brother Karl, the Spanish anti -king, as Charles VI. became his successor, Great Britain stopped the fight for fear of a union of the Spanish and German lands of the Habsburgs; the Great Alliance dissolved. – After lengthy negotiations, the Peace of Utrecht was concluded on April 11, 1713, which the Emperor joined in the Peace of Rastatt (March 7, 1714) and the Holy Roman Empire in the Treaty of Baden (Switzerland) on September 7, 1714. – Philip V was recognized as the Spanish king. Austria received the Spanish Netherlands, Milan, Mantua, Naples, Sardinia; Sicily fell to Savoy, Great Britain received extensive colonial possessions in North America from France, Gibraltar and Menorca from Spain and was thus the real winner of the War of the Spanish Succession; Prussia received a part of Obergeldern.
Spanish mark
Spanish mark, Hispanic mark, a later term for the Catalan counties established by Charlemagne from 785 (Girona was placed under Frankish suzerainty) in northeastern Spain (Catalonia) as a bulwark against the Arabs. Several of these were repeatedly united in one hand, but there never was a Spanish mark as an administrative-military unit.
Spanish colonies
Spanish colonies, the overseas possession of Spain. – As part of the overseas expansion of the Europeans, Spain first secured the Canary Islands in the 15th century, Melilla in Morocco in 1497and Ceuta in 1580. After the landing of C. Columbus in America (1492) it built a colonial empire there from Florida and California to the south of the continent. From the 16th century a number of viceroyalty came into being: 1536 New Spain, 1543 Peru, 1739 New Granada, 1776 Río de la Plata; 1777 became Cuba, 1778 Chile General Capitol.
The overseas property was considered the patrimonial property of the Spanish crown, the colonies were basically treated like the motherland. From 1524, the highest government body was the Consejo real y supremo de las Indias at court. The highest commercial and tax authority was the Casa de la contratación, established in Seville in 1503. The Spanish crown claimed the trade monopoly. The indigenous people were used for various forms of forced labor (encomienda). – During the American independence movements at the beginning of the 19th century, Spain lost its colonies with the exception of Cuba and Puerto Rico, which had to be ceded to the USA after the Spanish-American War of 1898. Santo Domingo (today Dominican Republic) was Spanish again from 1861–65. Jamaica fell to the English in 1655/60.
In the Asia-Oceanic area, the Philippines (colonized by the Spaniards from 1565) and Guam were ceded to the USA in 1898. In 1899 the Mariana Islands, the Carolines and the Palau Islands were sold to the German Empire.
In Africa, Spain had been looking for a replacement in Morocco since 1904 for the losses of 1898/99, where it was not really able to secure rule over Spanish Morocco (Rif area) until 1926. In 1954 it renounced today’s southern Moroccan province of Tarfaya, in 1956 its North African colony Tetuán with the exception of the ports of Ceuta and Melilla, which remained Spanish enclaves (now part of the provinces of Cádiz and Málaga, respectively), and recognized the independence and indivisibility of Morocco. Since November 1957 there was fighting between Moroccan rioters and Spanish troops. around the enclave Ifni. In 1958 the Spanish government declared the colonies Spanish Sahara and Ifni to Spanish provinces. In 1969 Spain ceded Ifni to Morocco. In 1963 the last Spanish colonial area in Central Africa, Spanish Guinea, received internal autonomy together with Spanish Sahara; In 1968 Spanish Guinea became independent as ” Equatorial Guinea “. In 1975 Spain renounced the Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara) in favor of Morocco and Mauritania.
New Spain
Neuspani | s, Spanish Nueva España [-it pa ɲ a], (established in 1536) former Spanish viceroyalty in northern South America with the capital Mexico (Mexico, history).
New Granada
New Granada , Spanish Nueva Granada, Spanish general captaincy (since 1547), then viceroyalty (since 1739) in Latin America; From 1832–58, today’s Colombia was called the Republic of New Granada . (Colombia, history)
Spanish Morocco
Spanish Morocco, 1912–56 Spanish protectorate in northern Morocco, included the area of the Rif, but not Tangier. The capital was Tetuán (Tétouan).
Spanish Sahara
Spanish Sahara [- za ː hara, even -za ha ː ra], former Spanish possession on the northwest coast of Africa, Western Sahara.
Spanish Guinea
Spanish Guinea [-gi-], actually Spanish territories on the Gulf of Guinea [-gi-], former Spanish colony, the overseas provinces of Fernando Póo and Río Muni from 1959–68, has been independent as Equatorial Guinea since 1968.