Post by halferking on Sept 25, 2021 9:33:39 GMT
At this point in time William III held the Throne of England, Scotland and Ireland and as titular Prince of Orange he was also Stadtholder of the United Provinces of The Netherlands and when the War of Spanish Succession broke out William and the English Parliament were aligned in their belief that the Habsburgs shouldn't be able to lay claim to the vacant Throne of Spain. The war was about political power rather than religious belief so William and the English Parliament were not adverse to the idea of an deal with a Catholic power, in this case France. Parliament had two options let a powerful Habsburg dynasty reign supreme over all of Europe or an alliance with Catholic France. They opted for an alliance with France based on the fact that this was about protecting British interests i.e., a dominant Catholic Monarch controlling most of the continent was bad for British trade and bad for British security.
In the Tudor times and before religion was power - control what people believed you held the power. By the time William III took the throne yes religion was still a consideration but it had started to be and was continuing to be supplanted by trade and wealth creation - control the trade, control the money, control the political arena.
I'm not talking about religion, although it still has an impact. Talking about practical power politics. France will be the big threat to Britain, both because its now clearly the strongest continental power, as shown by the coalitions it took to keep Louis XIV in check and because its interests in trade and colonies clash with Britain more than any other power. Spain and the Netherlands to a lesser degree but the latter are largely out as a competitor and Spain is now tied to France by the Bourbon alliance. As such the point you mentioned above, which was also important earlier, is exactly why Britain and France will be competitors.
The only exception would be if there was some pact between London and Paris where Britain gave France a free hand on the continent and France in return accepted Britain having a similar hand outside Europe. Anyone of intelligence in Britain would see that as a great danger as a France that made the sort of gains Louis XIV desired they would be so powerful that Britain would be largely defenceless against them. At the same time a free hand for Britain outside Europe would cost a lot in lost trade in many areas - even if France kept its current territories - and is likely to cause problems when British and Spanish interests clash, as they would inevitably do.
IIRC - don't have time to check it now - the 'alliance' you mention happened when the anti-French alliances candidate for the Spanish throne, who was an Hapsburg but not in line to inherit their Austrian territories, died. Which meant the only valid candidates were Louis XIV's grandson or the current Hapsburg emperor. Neither were acceptable to Britain and the Netherlands - probably also other members of the alliance. As such they got a deal where the French candidate inherited Spain and its overseas empire with an agreement he would be excluded from the French line of succession, to prevent the two kingdoms coming under a common monarch and that all Spain's European lands outside Iberia went to the Hapsburg's. Such as their lands in Italy and probably most importantly of all what later became Belgium. [Spain may have kept Sardinia IIRC].
The problem lies with the fact that the Crown of Spain could be past to the descendants of the female line. Charles II of Spain had two sisters - a half sister, Maria Theresa of Spain (Maria) and a full sister, Margaret Theresa of Spain (Margaret).
Maria had married Louis XIV and they had six children three daughters and three sons. Two of their sons Philip Charles died aged 2 and Louis François died aged 4 months, but fortunately for Maria and Louis XIV their eldest child Louis, the Grand Dauphin survived childhood and went on to marry Maria Anna of Bavaria. They had three sons Louis, Philip and Charles. Louis died aged 29, which meant Philip, the 2nd grandson of Louis XIV and Maria, was next in line to the Throne of France as the only surviving direct male descendant of Louis XIV and as the grandson of Maria he had a valid claim to the Crown of Spain.
Margaret, on the other hand, had married Leopold I, The Holy Roman Emperor and they had five daughters and three sons - Joseph, Leopold Joseph (died in infancy) and Archduke Charles. Joseph was in line to inherit the Throne of the Holy Roman Empire, as Joseph I, thus he could not realistically lay claim to the Crown of Spain therefore the only viable Habsburg claim was that of Joseph's younger brother, Archduke Charles.
Louis XIV had been victorious in the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678) and at the zenith of his power sought to secure France through defensive means rather than open conflict, given the Dutch had put up a rather spirited fight. Louis instructed that the border along the HRE be reinforced with fortresses, but that meant taking territory through aggression. In response a coalition of the HRE, England, Savoy, Spain, the Dutch Republic and Portugal was created to head of Louis XIV territorial ambitions. The Nine Years' War was expensive and financially exhausted Great Britain and the Dutch Republic and precipitated an economic crisis in France, which lead to the Treaty of Ryswick.
In response to the impending succession crisis Louis XIV, given his previous experience, decided that diplomacy was the way to go in order to head of the succession crisis and he, with William III of Great Britain, designed the First Partition Treaty which declared Joseph Ferdinand the son of Maximilian II Emmanuel and his first wife Maria Antonia of Austria, the daughter of Leopold I HRE, as sole inheritor of the Spanish dominions. This mean Louis, the Grand Dauphin would lose his claim to the Crown of Spain but would gain territory in Italy including Naples and Sicily. Archduke Charles, the other claimant, would receive Milan. Charles II naturally rejected the division of his Spanish holdings and name Joseph Ferdinand as the heir to an undivided Spanish Empire. Joseph Ferdinand died. Another attempt, which ultimately failed, was the Second Partition Treaty which named Archduke Charles as heir to the Throne. Charles II altered his will to reflect the new change is direction. Luis Portecarrero, the Primate of Spain, managed to persuade Charles to change his will again to favour, Philip Duke of Anjou.
Diplomacy had failed to avert the War of Spanish Succession.
