The War of the Spanish Succession (1701 to 1714) was the first of several major wars fought between the great powers of Europe in the 18th century. Triggered by the death of the sickly and childless King Charles II of Spain, the war was fought over who would succeed to the Spanish throne: the candidate from the Bourbon dynasty, Philip of Anjou, or the candidate from the Habsburg dynasty, Archduke Charles of Austria.

Philip was primarily supported by his grandfather, King Louis XIV of France, while Charles was backed by the 'Grand Alliance', a coalition that included Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and the Holy Roman Empire. Hostilities ended in 1714, when Philip was confirmed as king of Spain. The war has often been related to several other conflicts happening across the world at the same time, including Queen Anne's War (1702 to 1713) in the Americas and the Great Northern War (1700 to 1721) between Sweden and Russia.

By the turn of the 18th century, Europe had become a tinderbox. France was undisputably the dominant power on the continent; under the rule of the Sun King, Louis XIV, it had sought to extend its borders to the 'natural boundary' of the Rhine and had waged several wars of expansion in the last decades of the 1600s. Louis XIV's ambitions were primarily opposed by a coalition of nations known as the League of Augsburg – and later as the Grand Alliance – spearheaded by King William III of England and Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1700, France and the Grand Alliance enjoyed an uneasy peace that would soon be broken over the issue of Spain.

Though it had long been in decline, the Spanish Empire remained one of the most territorially extensive nations in the world, with holdings in the Netherlands, Italy, and colonies in both North and South America. Whichever dynasty ruled Spain, therefore, would wield immense global power. At the time, the Spanish throne was occupied by a member of the Habsburg dynasty, Charles II. However, Charles was weak, childless, and obviously dying. It was unclear who would succeed him, a decision that had the potential to upend the delicate balance of power in Europe and plunge the continent into another catastrophic war.

To avoid this eventuality, Louis XIV and William III met in secret in September 1698 to discuss the future of the Spanish succession. In what would become known as the First Partition Treaty, they both agreed to support a compromise candidate, Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, whose ascension would probably be the least destructive to the balance of power. However, Joseph Ferdinand died less than a year later, forcing Louis and William to return to the drawing board. In June 1699, they agreed on the Second Partition Treaty, in which they quite literally decided to partition the Spanish Empire. Archduke Charles of Austria, a scion of the Habsburgs, would receive the Kingdom of Spain itself, while the French Dauphin would get the Spanish possessions of Naples, Sicily, and Milan.

The Spanish nobility, of course, did not like the idea of seeing their empire carved up and convinced the dying Charles II to name a sole heir in his will. When Charles II died in November 1700, it was discovered that he had left the entire Spanish Empire to Philip of Anjou, a member of the Bourbon Dynasty and the grandson of Louis XIV. This put Louis in an awkward position – should he refuse to support his grandson's claim, the throne of Spain would pass to Archduke Charles, once again leaving the rival Habsburgs dangerously close to his own doorstep.

Louis felt he had no choice but to support the claim of his grandson, who was crowned King Philip V of Spain on 16 November 1700. William III and Leopold I were appalled by this development. A Bourbon on the Spanish throne could not be allowed, since it would render Louis XIV and his family much too powerful, and could one day result in a personal union between France and Spain. So, in early 1701, the clouds of war began to gather as England, the Dutch Republic, the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, and the other nations of the Grand Alliance mobilized their armies.

With much of Europe aligned against him, Louis XIV resolved to make the first move. In 1701, he sent an army into the Spanish Netherlands (modern Belgium). The French occupied several forts and key towns, and even threatened the Dutch Barrier, a string of seven Dutch fortresses stretching from Luxembourg to the sea. In Italy, the French swiftly occupied the cities of Milan and Mantua. The Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II, was compelled to ally himself with the Bourbons, marrying his daughter to Philip V.

By striking first, Louis XIV had put himself on a good war footing, but now it was the Grand Alliance's turn to hit back. In May 1701, Emperor Leopold sent his best general, Prince Eugene of Savoy, into Italy. Eugene swiftly defeated the French in a series of battles, forcing them back across the Adda River. In the meantime, an Anglo-Dutch army was gathering at The Hague with the English general John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, assuming supreme command. William III oversaw the creation of this grand army, though he would not live to see it in action. He died on 8 March 1702, two weeks after suffering an unfortunate fall from his horse. He was succeeded by his sister-in-law, who became Anne, Queen of Great Britain.

On 15 May 1702, England, the Dutch Republic, and the Holy Roman Empire simultaneously declared war on France. Marlborough marched his multinational army into the Spanish Netherlands and took the key fortifications of Venlo, Roermond, and Stevensweert before ending the campaign season by capturing Liège. Despite these impressive victories, Marlborough felt frustrated. He had been unable to maneuver the French into fighting a decisive battle that he believed would decide the war. This was partially the fault of the Dutch officials accompanying the army, who felt that the surest path to victory was to capture the French forts one by one, resisting any of Marlborough's attempts to force a battle.

Progress was also being made in Italy, where Prince Eugene's Imperial army clashed with the French at the bloody Battle of Luzzara (15 August 1702). Though the outcome of the battle itself was inconclusive, it helped convince Victor Amadeus II to switch sides – in October 1703, Savoy defected to the Grand Alliance, a betrayal that Louis XIV felt deeply.

On 27 April 1703, Marlborough continued his slow offensive through the Low Countries and laid siege to Bonn. After Bonn fell, the duke once again sought to take the fight to the French but was dissuaded by the Dutch officials, who urged him to press on and take Antwerp. Marlborough dutifully complied and marched toward the city, where he would get the battle he was searching for, though not the result he wanted. At the Battle of Ekeren (30 June 1703), the Allies were checked by a Franco-Spanish army, and Marlborough was forced to abandon all hope of capturing Antwerp. Instead, he turned his attention to the fortresses of Huy and Limbourg, both of which fell under his control by the end of the year.

But as Marlborough waged his war of sieges, the war in Central Europe was beginning to turn against the Grand Alliance. Bavaria had entered the conflict on the side of France, and, on 20 September 1703, a Franco-Bavarian force defeated an Imperial army at the Battle of Höchstädt on the Danube River. Capitalizing on this victory, the Franco-Bavarian army pushed on and captured Augsburg, opening the road to the Austrian capital of Vienna. Despite the French setbacks in the Low Countries and Italy, it seemed as if Louis XIV finally had the upper hand. One more campaign season might just see Vienna fall within his grasp.

In early 1704, Marlborough received an Austrian envoy, urging him to come to the defense of Vienna. Overriding the objections of the Dutch, Marlborough gathered his army at Bedberg and made the 400-kilometer (250-mile) march to the Danube in only five days; Marlborough's famous descendent, Sir Winston Churchill, would one day liken the long line of red-coated English soldiers to "a scarlet caterpillar" which crawled across the map of Europe, "dragging the whole war with it" (quoted in Nicholson, 39).

On 10 June, Marlborough linked up with Prince Eugene of Savoy, and three days later, they were joined by the Imperial field commander, Margrave Louis William of Baden, boosting the total Allied force to around 110,000 men. The three generals held a conference and agreed on a plan: Prince Eugene would remain on the Rhine with 28,000 men to watch for French reinforcements, while Marlborough and Baden crossed the Danube with the rest of their soldiers to seek out the Franco-Bavarian army and force it into a battle. On 2 July, Marlborough and Baden stormed the fortress of Schellenberg, overlooking the banks of the Danube. Held by 12,000 French and Bavarian soldiers, the fortress fell only after a bloody fight that left 5,000 dead or wounded on each side.

With Schellenberg secured, the Allies could safely cross the Danube. But there was a problem – a fresh French force had snuck around Prince Eugene through the Black Forest, and had joined up with the main Franco-Bavarian army near the village of Blenheim. The Allies waited for Eugene to rejoin them before assaulting the Franco-Bavarian lines at the Battle of Blenheim (13 August). After a bloody, day-long battle, the Allies emerged victorious. At the cost of around 4,500 killed and 8,000 wounded, they had killed 6,000 French and Bavarians, wounded 7,000, and captured an additional 14,000, including the French commander.

Blenheim proved a major turning point in the war. Not only was Vienna saved from imminent destruction, but Bavaria was forced out of the war and placed under Austrian military occupation. The battle also ended the illusion that Louis XIV's French armies were invincible. Marlborough wanted to capitalize on the victory by marching into the Moselle Valley and threatening Paris; however, disagreements among the army's hierarchy prevented this.

As Marlborough and Eugene were turning the tide of the war at Blenheim, the larger conflict was extending into Iberia itself. In March 1704, the Habsburg claimant Archduke Charles landed in Lisbon and began gathering troops for a campaign. A few months later, a combined Anglo-Dutch force seized control of Gibraltar from the Spanish. The French dispatched a fleet from Toulon to take it back, leading to the largest naval action of the war, the Battle of Málaga, on 24 August. Both the Anglo-Dutch fleet and the Franco-Spanish fleet sustained severe damage, and both fleets limped off to their home ports for repairs. Giving up any hope of retaking Gibraltar by sea, the Bourbon alliance opted for a traditional land siege in September. But this, too, proved fruitless. By May 1705, the Bourbons abandoned the siege after losing as many as 10,000 men.

Back in the Low Countries, Marlborough turned his attention to breaking through the Lines of Brabant, a 70-mile arc of defensive fortifications stretching from Antwerp to Namur. In the summer of 1705, he sent a detachment of troops south to lure most of the French soldiers away, while he broke through the lines with the bulk of his army near the town of Elixheim; the skeleton garrison of French defenders was dispersed by a cavalry charge led by Marlborough himself. The Allies were unable to follow up on the victory for the rest of the campaign season, though they won a decisive victory over the French the next year at the Battle of Ramillies (23 May 1706).

Meanwhile in Italy, the French had overrun most of Savoy except for a handful of towns, including Turin. With total victory in sight, the French besieged Turin in June 1706. Prince Eugene rushed over to break the siege, at the head of an army that included Austrian, Prussian, and Savoyard troops. On 7 September 1706, the Allies attacked the French south of Turin, breaking through their lines and forcing them to withdraw. This victory led to the Convention of Milan in 1707, which ended the Italian front of the war.

By the start of 1709, the war had reached a stalemate. Though the Grand Alliance had won several major victories and had achieved most of its war objectives, the Bourbons still posed a major threat; Philip V remained on the Spanish throne, and Louis XIV's army was far from defeated. In May, Queen Anne of Great Britain and Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, approached Louis XIV with overtures of peace (England had merged with Great Britain in the Acts of Union of 1707, while Joseph I had become Holy Roman Emperor upon Leopold's death in 1705).

Their conditions, however, were steep – Philip V must be deposed from the Spanish throne and replaced with Archduke Charles. Should Philip refuse to step down peacefully, the Allies demanded that Louis XIV use French armies to help depose his own grandson. While Louis had previously been receptive to the idea of peace, this last condition was too much for him to stomach. All peace talks were brushed aside, and the belligerent nations prepared for more bloody campaigns.

With the breakdown of peace talks, Marlborough was once again unleashed in the Low Countries. At the head of a multinational army of 50,000 men, he laid siege to Tournai on 28 June 1709. The siege lasted all summer and proved horribly grueling, with each army desperately trying to dig mines under the other's position. On 3 September, the French surrendered, and Marlborough allowed the 2,400 ragged survivors to depart with the honors of war. Immediately following the capture of Tournai, Marlborough began marching towards his next target of Mons, his army having swollen to around 86,000 men.

He was met by a 75,000-man French army under the Duke of Villars at the Battle of Malplaquet (11 September). What followed is often regarded as one of the bloodiest battles of the 18th century; the Allied soldiers made several charges against the French flanks, costing them nearly 22,000 casualties, including Prince Eugene, who was wounded. Though the French suffered fewer casualties – around 11,000 – Villars decided to save the remnants of his army and retreat, thereby yielding the victory to the Allies. Triumphant, Marlborough was able to continue the siege of Mons, which fell on 21 October.

After the bloodbath at Malplaquet, Marlborough and Prince Eugene wanted to invade France and capture Paris, but they were once again overruled by their more risk-averse allies. The French were therefore able to lick their wounds and restore their military strength, practically negating the advantages the Allies had paid in blood at Malplaquet. To make the situation worse for the Allies, the Bourbon alliance won a string of victories in Spain, increasing Philip V's hold on the country. In Britain and the Dutch Republic, war weariness had begun to set in, even as firebrands in Parliament demanded that no peace be made until the Bourbons had been expelled from Spain.

But just when it seemed the war was destined to drag on indefinitely, something happened to make matters even more complicated. On 17 April 1711, Joseph I died of smallpox, and was succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor by Archduke Charles (who reigned as Charles VI). This unnerved the British and Dutch – now, if they succeeded in placing Charles on the Spanish throne, they would be inadvertently linking the Spanish and Austrian possessions. This would upset the balance of power as much as the Bourbon alliance they had been fighting for ten years to prevent.

In effect, the election of Charles VI to the Imperial throne negated any reason for Britain or the Dutch Republic to keep fighting. In October 1711, British and French envoys met to discuss preliminary arrangements for peace; when Marlborough fervently resisted any peace, he was disgraced and dismissed from office. In January 1712, the Congress of Utrecht met to discuss a framework for peace. As they talked, the war continued; the French improved their negotiating position by defeating an Allied army under Prince Eugene at the Battle of Denain (24 July 1712).

On 11 April 1713, the British, French, and Dutch signed the Treaty of Utrecht. Austria kept on fighting for another year but eventually agreed to a peace of its own in the treaties of Rastatt and Baden. The latter was signed on 7 September 1714, finally bringing the War of the Spanish Succession to a close after 13 blood-soaked years.

The three treaties that ended the war shifted the balance of power in Europe. The main winner was Great Britain, which surpassed France as the dominant power on the continent. Its colonial empire was strengthened, it retained control over several key Mediterranean ports including Gibraltar and Minorca, and it acquired the contract to sell African slaves to South America. Austria also made out well; it received the territories of Naples, Milan, and Sardinia in Italy, and was also ceded Belgium (which became known as the Austrian Netherlands for the rest of the century).

Philip V was confirmed as the king of Spain, on the condition that he renounce all claims to France. Louis XIV had achieved his goal of seeing his progeny on the Spanish throne. But it had come at a high cost – the war had drained France's treasury and left the kingdom nearly bankrupt. On 1 September 1715, less than a year after the end of hostilities, Louis XIV died, never again to threaten war on the nations of Europe.