International Encyclopedia of Military History

(Note: Sample material is taken from uncorrected proofs. Changes may be made prior to publication.)

SPANISH SUCCESSION, WAR OF (1701-14), was fought in Europe by the Grand Alliance (England, Austria, Holland, Portugal, and several German states) against France, Spain, Savoy, and Bavaria. Some fighting took place simultaneously in North America in what the English colonists called Queen Anne's War, but the bulk of the fighting occurred in Europe. The War of the Grand Alliance (1689-97) had blunted the efforts of France's Louis XIV to upset the balance of power in his favor, but not his ambition. Before his death without a direct heir on 1 November1700, King Charles II of Spain had named the Duke of Anjou as his successor. Anjou, now known as Philip V, was supposed to renounce his claim to the French throne, but upon the advice of his grandfather, Louis XIV he did not. Louis was emboldened by the fact that the English House of Commons had voted to disband the English army in 1699, and without English support, the Dutch were in no position to challenge Louis' agenda.

The danger of a joint French-Spanish monarchy was quickly apparent to all. Up to this point, the Dutch had been protected from a French invasion by a string of fortresses across Belgium maintained jointly by Dutch and Spanish troops. With France and Spain allied since the ascension of Philip V, French troops arrived at these fortresses in February 1701 to help the Spaniards in their guard duty. Unwilling to start a war without explicit orders, Dutch officers in charge accepted internment of their troops. But Louis had gone too far. His puppet government in Spain and his militancy with the frontier fortresses stirred up resentment all over Europe. The pacifists who had dominated the English Parliament were overwhelmed by public opinion in favor of taking action to protect English interests and on 7 September 1701 the Grand Alliance was revived.

As the war unfolded, England's best military leader, and the overall commander of its forces, was Lord John Churchill, the future Duke of Marlborough, who would win victories at Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet during this conflict. Marlborough's counterpart in charge of Austrian forces was Eugène, Prince of Savoy. The French placed their confidence at least partially in the size of their 150,000-man army, but that army suffered from a lack of standardization in tactics and in the size of its units. This flexibility in regard to standard tactics was good insofar as it gave creative commanders flexibility, but when it came to training and engaging the enemy, the drawbacks were considerable. It was hard for commanders to plan coordinated attacks because they could not always be sure of the efficiency and fighting philosophies of their associates, nor could they be sure how many men their associates could muster.

France's most effective military leader during this war was Marshal Claude Villars, who only rose to the ultimate leadership of the French military well after the war had begun. Villars, like Lord Churchill, preferred warfare out in the open and quick strikes, as opposed to drawn out sieges. Villars was not a brilliant tactician; his main asset was one he shared with Ulysses Grant from the American Civil War- Villars was never reluctant to commit to battle. In fact, Villars would throw himself personally at the enemy when the situation warranted. Such displays of bravery did much to endear him to his men. Villars aggressive philosophy paid off in French victories at Friedling, Denain, and Landau, among other places.

Unfortunately for the French, their other military leaders, men like Marshal Catinat, were much more passive when it came to the planning and execution of the war. Perhaps the most significant contribution of Villars was that he was the only one who refused to let King Louis XIV of France dictate all of his actions. The King stayed in Versailles most of the time; nevertheless Louis was convinced that he was the man to dictate the war plans for his military on all the fronts on which they were fighting. Louis did not possess a military background, nor did he have rapid communication with the various fronts, yet he took on this responsibility at the beginning of the war. Villars refused to squander his men or his opportunities under this inefficient system, so Villars ignored the King's instructions on occasion, and Villars was successful enough that Louis relinquished direct control over the army.

Operations in what would develop into a multi-front war opened in Italy where Eugène outmaneuvered Catinat, Villeroi, and Vendôme in the field in 1701 to a degree that Savoy abandoned its alliance with France and in 1703 joined the Grand Alliance. To the north Catinat contented himself with holding his position near Metz and spent his time writing requisitions for additional men and supplies. Any early advantage the French could have gained as their enemies prepared for war was lost.

1702 went a better for the French, but it was far from perfect. Vendôme and Eugène fought a drawn battle at Luzzara (15 August 1702) that restored the balance in Italy and Villars won France's first victory in the low countries at the Battle of Frielingen (14 October 1702). In April 1703 Villars advanced into the Germany planning to attack Vienna, but despite his justified doubts about the reliability of King Maximillan of Bavaria, agreed to halt in the Danube valley while Maximillan advanced into the Tyrol to link up with Vendôm in Italy. The 1703 Tyrolian campaign failed as did a Franco-Bavarian invasion of Austria the following year.

England had sent Marlborough and 12,000 troops into the Spanish Netherlands in June 1702 and he moved against the Meuse fortresses capturing Venloo (15 September), Ruremonde (7 October), and Leigé (15 October). In a revolt by Protestants in the Cévennes region of Languedoc forced the diversion of 30,000 troops to southern France where 2,000 peasants were quite effective at guerrilla warfare attacking Louis XIV's men, then fading into the dense forests and mountain caves. The revolt was not put down until 1704 when Villars was placed in charge of royal forces in the area. Meanwhile, Marlborough lest 60,000 troops behind to protect Holland and advanced with a 35,000-man army up the Rhine River to join Louis of Baden, who had 30,000 men, and Eugène who had 10,000 men at Mondelsheim (10 June 1704). For two months the various armies maneuvered in southern Germany until they met at the Battle of Blenheim during which the armies of Marlborough and Eugène inflicted 38,600 casualties on the French and Bavarians shattering the prestige of the French and opening Bavaria to annexation by Austria.

The period from 1704 to 1708 was equally difficult for Spanish and French forces in Iberia and the Mediterranean. English forces captured Gibraltar (July 1704), Barcelona (October 1705), Sardinia (with troops from Savoy, August 1708), and Minorca (September 1708), and from June to October 1706 Alliance forces drove Philip V from Madrid. During the same time Marlborough defeated Villeroi at Ramillies (23 May 1708) and captured several French fortifications, including Antwerp (6 June), Dunkirk (6 July) and Dendermonde (5 September). That fall Eugène defeated the Duke of Orléans at Turin (7 September) and forced all French troops from Italy. In 1707-1708 French forces gave up defensible positions at the Fortress of Exiles and at Fenestrelle in the face of Alliance pressure, and the allies took control of French Flanders. But the news was not completely negative. Villars penetrated so deeply into imperial territory that he was considered a threat to Vienna before Louis XIV became so nervous about Villars' security- the marshal had bypassed several Austrian troops- that he ordered Villars to return with his forces to France. In the south of France, Prince Eugène and Victor Amadeus of Savoy invaded Provence and besieged Toulon with an army of 50,000, while 50 English ships-of-the-line shelled the French stronghold. The French army of 20,000 held out against the attacks until on 20 August 1707 Eugène's troops were forced abandon the siege of Toulon.

Villars' next assignment was to save Flanders. Louis was reluctant to use Villars for so important a task, given the defiant attitude and reckless strategies of the marshal, but he was Louis's most successful general, and the situation in Flanders was dire. Mutinies had occurred in Quesnoy, Arras, Mons, and St. Omer among other places in 1709, and Louis hoped that Villars's charisma could restore discipline in soldiers who were being neither fed nor paid regularly. Villars's strong leadership did help matters among the French, but the loss of Tournai (29 July 1709) brought Prince Eugene and John Churchill within striking distance of Villars' forces. The French had a slight advantage in number of battalions, 149 to 145, but the French battalions were not at full strength (they numbered less than half the total of the alliance troops), and the French were half-starved. At the Battle of Malplaquet (11 September), the allies suffered greater losses than the French, but seriously wounded Villars and forced the French to retreat. Villars's wound incapacitated him for a year, and even when he did return to action the pain was a serious distraction to him. Still, wherever Villars was stationed, he inspired his men. Without him, French forces seemed to struggle to persevere against not only a determined enemy, but also the chronic shortage of food and pay. A case in point is Cambrai, where French soldiers fled after only minor probing by allied troops on 20 April 1710.

The war went better for the French in Spain, but only after events had taken a dark turn. The French had been compelled to recall all of their forces in Spain in 1709. Afterwards allied leaders James Stanhope and Duke Victor Amadeus of Savoy drove Philip V out of Aragon, then they occupied Madrid. These setbacks for Spain aroused the fury of the people against the Grand Alliance and Spanish guerilla fighters began to harass Stanhope and Victor Amadeus. Louis, Duke Vendôme united scattered French forces and advanced against Stanhope's defeating the allied force at Bribuega (10 December 1710). Despite this success in Spain, the French were not going to win, as long as the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugène continued to grind the French down in the north.

One of the more unusual incidents in the war occurred in April 1711. Marshal Villars led his men on a mission to try to quietly position themselves in place to retake Douai from the allies. At the same time the Duke of Marlborough was also trying to launch a mission in a stealthy manner. The Duke's objective was to take Arras, and the two armies ended up crossed paths on the Sensèe. They tried fighting, but neither side was prepared for it logistically, so they set aside their arms and fraternized with one another. The allied leaders hosted their French counterparts and saw that entertainment was provided, and the infantrymen exchanged small gifts with their enemies. They spent the next fifteen days in a standoff after which the English tried to intimidate the French into retreating. It did not work. The English were reluctant to engage the enemy since their plan for a sneak attack had been thwarted. Marshal Villars would have attacked, but Louis XIV wanted to minimize casualties at this point, so the King refused to permit Villars to launch an offensive.

France was saved from ultimate disaster by the death of the Austrian emperor, Joseph, in 1711. Joseph was succeeded by his brother, Archduke Charles. Unfortunately for the leaders of the Grand Alliance, they had picked Charles for the Spanish throne, pending the removal of Philip V. If Charles held both thrones, the resulting Austrian-Spanish Empire would have been even worse for English and Dutch interests than any union between Spain and France. The leaders of England and Holland had little faith that Charles would be sensitive to their concerns given that throughout the war the Austrians had pursued policies that were best only for themselves, even if that conflicted with what was best for the alliance as a whole. Consequently, the English and Dutch quickly became more willing to compromise with Louis XIV, than they had been hitherto. The new Tory government in London called Marlborough home in December 1711, opened talks with the French, and in May 1712 withdrew remaining English forces from the continent.

The new Austrian emperor, Charles VI, tried to carry on the war without his allies, but the results were not good for the Austrians. Throughout 1712 and 1713, Villars led the French to a series of victories against Prince Eugène, despite the Prince's larger numbers. The French took Douai, Quesnoy, and Bouchain in 1712 and Speyer, Landau, and Freiburg in 1713.

The Treaty of Utrecht ended the fighting for most of the members of the Grand Alliance in 1713. In March 1714 France and the Austrian Empire officially ended their hostilities with the Treaty of Rastatt-Baden. The Treaty of Utrecht recognized Philip V as king of Spain with the proviso that he never rule over France, Great Britain (formed from the union of England and Scotland in 1707) gained Gibraltar and Minorca, Austria took over Spain's holdings in Italy and the Netherlands.

Timothy D. Holder

See also Grand Alliance; Malplaquet; John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough; Blenheim; Ramillies; Oudenarde; Queen Anne's War; Ramillies; Eugène, Prince of Savoy; Toulon; Claude Louis Villars.

Bibliography

David Chandler, The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. New York, 1976.

W. Calvin Dickinson and Eloise R. Hitchcock, The War of The Spanish Succession, 1702-1713: A Selected Bibliography. Westport, Conn. 1996.

Henry Kamen, The War of the Succession in Spain, 1700-1715. London, 1969.

Sturgill, Claude C. Marshal Villars and the War of the Spanish Succession. Lexington, Ky., 1965.