The War of Spanish Succession, 1701-1713/14 Quiz

Answer: Duc d'Anjou

On November 1st 1700, Charles (Carlos) II of Spain died without an heir. His main priority was keeping Spain and its Empire intact. Though the Duc d'Anjou was a Bourbon, Carlos felt that only the strength of the French would be able to sustain and defend the state in its entirity. The Duc became Philip V.

For the rest of Europe this meant that France, which had been aggressively expanding for several decades, would now also control Spain and its vast empire, by far the biggest at the time.

Answer: Marlborough

Marlborough was a key military figure throughout the wars, successfully defeating the French on a number of occasions. Under his command the combined English and Dutch troops invaded France, taking Lille.

Many take the view that this battle put the seal on the emergence of England (soon to become the United Kingdom) as a major military power in modern times. When Marlborough was rewarded by Queen Anne and parliament with the gift of an estate in Oxfordshire, the vast mansion built there was called Blenheim Palace.

(The place on the Danube where the battle was fought is called Blindheim in German, not Blenheim).

Answer: The Battle of Ramillies

Villeroi was a poor replacement for the effective French generals of the time. The Battle of Ramillies broke the stalemate that had built up during the middle period of the war, giving a foretaste of what was to come.

Answer: James II

The Duke of Berwick fought for France, recapturing Madrid alongside Philip V of Spain. James II had fled England after the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and took refuge within France. Louis XIV wanted to reinstate James II and replace the Protestant Francophobe, William III.

Answer: 1714

By 1714 the war had been raging for 12-13 years. The Bourbon army surrendered to the Holy Roman Empire on September 11th 1714, by which time most of the countries invloved had exhausted a large proportion of their resources.

Answer: The Treaty of Utrecht

The Treaty of Utrecht (1713) brought peace between France and Spain on the one hand and Britain, the Netherlands and Savoy on the other. However, the Holy Roman Empire and France did not conclude peace till the the following year in the Treaty of Rastatt (1714). (Austria's most important gain was the Spanish Netherlands, which corresponded roughly to modern Belgium).

Answer: Hanover

Louis was forced to abandon the claim of the Roman Catholic pretender James Francis Edward Stuart, whose claim he had pushed. The Hanoverian dynasty are the ancestors of the modern royal family in Britain.

Answer: The Asiento

The Asiento was the right to sell slaves to the Spanish Empire in the Americas. At the time it was seen as the greatest economic prize in the world and it contributed to the shift of the balance of power in Britain's favour. The British were the rising power in Western Europe and would soon begin their expansion, laying the foundations that would eventually become the British Empire.

Answer: Yes

Philip was accepted as the Spanish monarch. Spain had suffered due to the war, losing many territories and trading rights. In Europe, Gibraltar and Minorca were lost the English, which gained most from the treaties.

Answer: Great grandson

France entered a long period of regency. The new king was only a five-year-old child at the time. Louis XIV had left behind an outstanding legacy. Though his reign had been dominated by conflict, he had built the grand palace of Versailles and generated much of what has become modern France. Decline did not set in till the rise of Prussia.