Print - Die Welt der Habsburger

The battle for the
Spanish inheritance
The beginning of the eighteenth century saw Austria
and France at war over the Spanish succession.
Although the crown finally fell to the Bourbons, the
Habsburgs did not come out of the war empty-handed
either.
Seht dort Eugen auf seinem kühnen Zuge
Die Franken jagen aus der Lombardei.
Die Alpen bahnen ihm den Weg; im Fluge
Eilt er hinüber, und Turin ist frei.
Marsin in seiner Schanzen weitem Feld
Ist rings zu schwach zu zähem Widerstand.
So bringt durch eine Schlacht der rasche Held
Italien wieder in des Kaisers Hand.
[See Eugene on his bold campaign, driving the
French out of Lombardy; the Alps open up a path for
him, as if on wings he speeds across the mountains,
and Turin is free. Marsin in his broad entrenchments
is altogether too weak to put up serious resistance –
and with a battle the swift hero restores Italy to the
Emperor’s hand.]
Lines composed by the Prussian king Frederick II on Prince
Eugene’s victory over the French in Italy
‘Let us march first – and then we will find allies.’ This was the
spirit in which the Habsburg commander Prince Eugene of
Savoy opened the War of the Spanish Succession by initiating a
campaign in Italy – without a declaration of war. In September
of the same year Austria, England, and the United Provinces
formed the Grand Alliance against Louis XIV of France. In May
1702 war was officially declared on France, which allied itself
with Bavaria.
The first years of the war brought the Habsburgs many
successes. In 1704 the allied forces of Prince Eugene and the
Duke of Marlborough defeated the French and Bavarians at the
Battle of Blenheim, with both sides losing thousands of
soldiers. After Blenheim, Bavaria transferred its allegiance to
the imperial cause. Prince Eugene scored his most spectacular
success in 1706 by taking Turin and driving the French out of
northern Italy. From 1708, Prince Eugene was sent to the
Netherlands, where the imperial army won further victories
under his command.
In spite of these military successes, only slow progress was
made in negotiating a peace. The war’s decisive turning point
came in 1711 with the unexpected death of Emperor Joseph I,
which, however, did not favour the Habsburg cause. The fact
that Joseph’s successor, his brother Charles, was already king
in Spain clearly presented a danger of the Habsburgs attaining
an excessive measure of supremacy in Europe. England’s
particular concern for the balance of power led it to leave the
Habsburg alliance, clouding the good fortune Austria had
enjoyed until that point.
In 1712, England and the Netherlands made peace with France
in the Treaty of Utrecht. Although Emperor Charles VI remained
at war for another two years, he too finally had to make peace,
at Rastatt, near Karlsruhe. The Spanish inheritance was divided
up, with Spain and its overseas colonies going to the Louis
XIV’s grandson Philip of Anjou – even today, the Spanish
throne is occupied by a Bourbon, presently Juan Carlos I – and
Charles VI acquiring Spain’s European possessions, namely,
the southern Netherlands, Milan, Mantua, Mirandola, Naples,
parts of Tuscany, and Sardinia. The war thus ended with
territorial gains for both principal parties and with the
Habsburgs extending and consolidating their position as a
great power.
Author
Stephan Gruber
Literature
Vacha, Brigitte (Hrsg.): Die Habsburger. Eine europäische
Familiengeschichte, Graz/Wien/Köln 1992 (Reprint 1996), S. 246–
249, 269–273
Vocelka, Karl: Glanz und Untergang der höfischen Welt.
Repräsentation, Reform und Reaktion im habsburgischen
Vielvölkerstaat 1699–1815, Wien 2001, S. 111–113, 144–154