Descripción:
From 1702 to 1714, the War of the Spanish Succession affected most of Europe and significant parts of the New World, with battles ranging from the Hungarian plains to the harbors of Rio de Janeiro. The death of the last Hapsburg King of Spain unleashed a struggle for his empire, and the provisions of the final treaties set the boundaries of Europe until the French Revolution. This book includes entries on the individuals who determined the course of the war, who played diplomatic, economic, or military roles, as well as on pivotal battles influencing the outcome, and it examines the provisions of the final treaties in detail.

This dictionary is designed to make accessible to the scholar as well as the student the recent scholarship on the treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession, known as the Pacification of Utrecht. Because it is impossible to include every baffle, individual, and treaty, we solicited the advice of experts from around the world and selected individuals, places, and events who or which played a crucial role in the war and influenced the denouement. The battle of Elixhem (1705), although an allied success, was strategically indecisive and therefore was not included. In contrast, the battle of Blenheim (1704), a crucial allied victory that saved Vienna from a Franco-Bavarian invasion and forced Bavaria out of the war, was included.

Of the many conventions, agreements, treaties, accords, and accessions signed during the war, we have chosen the most important. The accession of the Circle of the Lower Rhine-Westphalia to the Grand Alliance (1702) is not as critical as the elector of Bavaria’s alliance with France (1702) or the duke of Savoy’s defection from France and adherence to the allied cause (1703). Although both Heister and Bussy-Rabutin helped to suppress the Hungarian insurrection, Heister played the more significant and repressive role.


CONTENTS:

Acknowledgements......ix

A Note to the User......xi

Introduction......xiii

THE DICTIONARY......1

Chronology: War of the Spanish Succession......501

Selected Bibliography......511

Index......537

About the Contributores......569

Illustrations appear on pages xxvii, xxviii, and 509