The Treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession: An Historical and Critical Dictionary

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 harbours of Rio de Janeiro. The death of the last Habsburg King of Spain unleashed a struggle for his empire. This book includes entries analysing the individuals who determined the course of the war, who played a diplomatic, economic, or military role, as well as entries analysing the pivotal battles influencing the outcome. The provisions of the final treaties, known as the Pacification of Utrecht, are examined in detail, as is the significance of those provisions. The diplomats at Utrecht followed the principles of balance of power, compensation and legitimacy to mould the peace. The peace set the boundaries of Western Europe until the convulsion of the French Revolution. The book opens with an introduction pointing to the significance of the treaties provisions. The alphabetical arrangement of the entries, the numerous cross-references, the bibliographies at the end of the entries, a genealogical table, a chronology and the index are designed to make this work easy to use.