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10 unusual facts about War of the Spanish Succession


Agenois Regiment

The Régiment d'Agenois saw extensive service during the War of the Spanish Succession, being present at the Battle of Fridelingen (1702), the Battle of Blenheim (1704) and the Siege of Kehl (1707).

Antoine Sartine

Born in Lyon, France, within a family of shopkeepers, he became acquainted with some financiers and made a fortune supplying the troops of the French-born king Philip V of Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714).

Battle of Alcantara

Battle of Alcantara (1706) - Battle between British and French forces during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Campo de Gibraltar

Following the capture of Gibraltar by Anglo-Dutch troops in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession and its subsequent cession, in 1713, to Great Britain, the former inhabitants of Gibraltar settled down permanently and the first villages were created: Algeciras, San Roque, and Los Barrios, still for many years officially termed the municipality of Gibraltar.

Düsseldorf-Kaiserswerth

The French reoccupied Kaiserswerth in 1701 during the War of the Spanish Succession and the Allies laid siege to it again in 1702.

Giorgio Antoniotto

A Spanish sympathizer against the Austrians in the War of the Spanish Succession, he was forced to flee Italy and entered the Spanish service where he was engaged many times but not wounded.

Samuel Bernard

Louis XIV, having exhausted his finances, notably turned to Bernard in 1708 to finance the War of the Spanish Succession.

Solomon de Medina

During the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–14) he accompanied the Duke of Marlborough on his campaigns, advanced him funds, and furnished provisions for the troops.

Spanish War

War of the Spanish Succession, a war fought among several European powers against the Kingdoms of France, Spain, and the Electorate of Bavaria.

Vigo, Kent

Its name comes from the public house situated on the main road, which commemorates the Battle of Vigo Bay, a sea battle during the War of the Spanish Succession.


Braunau am Inn

As a major Bavarian settlement, the town played an outstanding role in the Bavarian uprising against the Austrian occupation during the War of the Spanish Succession, when it hosted the Braunau Parliament, a provisional Bavarian Parliament in 1705 headed by Georg Sebastian Plinganser (born 1680 in Pfarrkirchen; died 7 May 1738 in Augsburg).

Churchill tank

Alternatively, and fitting in with other British tank names, it may have been named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, an ancestor of Winston Churchill and the leader of the British Army in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma

Married to Dorothea Sophia of the Palatinate, his brother Odoardo's widow, to avoid the return of her dowry, Francesco curtailed court expenditure, enormous under his father and predecessor, Ranuccio II, while preventing the occupation of his Duchy of Parma, nominally a Papal fief, during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Giulio Alberoni

During the War of the Spanish Succession Alberoni laid the foundation of his political success by the services he rendered to Louis-Joseph, duc de Vendôme, commander of the French forces in Italy, to whom the duke of Parma had sent him.

Habsburg Netherlands

After the extinction of the Spanish Habsburgs and the War of the Spanish Succession, the southern provinces were also known as the Austrian Netherlands from 1715 onwards.

Henri-François des Herbiers, Marquis de l'Estenduère

He distinguished himself for the first time during the War of the Spanish Succession near Vélez-Málaga and then at the Battle of Marbella, before engaging battle as a Privateer.

James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde

After the accession of Queen Anne in March 1702, he became commander of the land forces co-operating with Sir George Rooke in Spain, where he fought in the Battle of Cádiz in August 1702 and the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession.

John Richards Lapenotière

Born in 1770 in Ilfracombe, Devon to a Huguenot exile family that came to Britain in 1688 with William of Orange, he came from a military family: His great grandfather, Frederick La Penotiere, served in the Royal Irish Regiment in the campaigns of the Duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession and received a bounty for his service at the Battle of Blenheim, in 1704.

L'Alcúdia

The town took active participation in all the conflicts that shook Spain along the history: it was sacked during the "Revolta de les Germanies" in the beginning of the 16th century; in the 18th century, during the War of the Spanish Succession, the Bourbon troops plundered it again, and finally, during the Peninsular War it lodged a camp of French troops that looted everything from the villagers, leaving them in the red.

Leonhard Ennen

He followed this with his Der spanische Erbfolgekrieg und der Churfürst Joseph Clemens von Köln, a study of the War of the Spanish Succession and the role the Elector Joseph Clemens played in this contest, published in 1851.

Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme

Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme (Louis Joseph; 1 July 1654 – 11 June 1712) was a French military commander during the War of the Grand Alliance and War of the Spanish Succession, Marshal of France.

Low Countries

In 1713, under the Treaty of Utrecht following the War of the Spanish Succession, what was left of the Spanish Netherlands was ceded to Austria and thus became known as the Austrian Netherlands.

Ramon de Vilana Perlas

Ramon Frederic de Vilana-Perlas (Oliana, Urgell, Spain 1663 - Vienna, Austria, June 5, 1741) was a notable Spanish nobleman of Catalan descent who became a man of the utmost confidence of the Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor during the War of the Spanish Succession and the following years, working in favor of the Spanish exiles in the court of Vienna.

Weil am Rhein

The duc de Villars crossed the Rhine here in October 1702 to fight the Battle of Friedlingen during the War of the Spanish Succession.