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In an impromptu history lesson, young Ben Franklin tells Enoch Root about sick Carlos II of Spain. It is in the "bloody" buildup to of all this, that the picaresque adventures of Eliza and Half cocked Jack — the "King" of the Vagabonds — occur in a sort of extended Continental vacation starting September 12, 1683. Gottfried found himself doing Royal Geneaology Charts.YoungBen.MW.jpg
Ben Franklin at 8

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Pirates First, Then Kings

One item in the treaty was that Dunkirk's offensive capabilities were to be eliminated. Hopefully, this will explain the why behind the decision. It all ties into pirates, King Carlos, and peace treaties.

Dunkirk, France

Various Wikipedia sources

Dunkirk (French Dunkerque) is a harbor city in the far north of France, in the département of Nord, 10 km from the Belgian border. It has about 71,000 inhabitants (1990 data). It has a ferry connection with Ramsgate and Dover in England.

Dunkirk is the third largest harbor in France, after Le Havre and Marseille. It is also an industrial city, heavily dependent on the steel, food processing, oil refining, ship building and chemical industries.

History

The area was much disputed between Spain, England, the Netherlands and France, until it became definitively French when Charles II of England sold it to France for 40 000 pounds on 17 October 1662. During the reign of Louis XIV, a large number of pirates had their base at Dunkirk; Jean Bart was the most famous, known for attacking Dutch ships.

Jean Bart

Jean Bart (October 21, 1651 -1702) was a French naval commander. He was born in Dunkirk, the son of a fisherman. He served when young in the Dutch navy, but when war broke out between Louis XIV and the United Provinces in 1672 he entered the French service. He gained great distinction in the Mediterranean, where he held an irregular sort of commission, not being then able from his low birth to receive a command in the navy.

His success was so great, however, that he was made a lieutenant in 1679. He rose rapidly to the rank of captain and then to that of admiral. The peace of Ryswick (1697) put a close to his active service. Many anecdotes are narrated of the courage and bluntness of the uncultivated sailor, who became the popular hero of the French naval service. The town of Dunkirk has honoured his memory by a statue and by naming a public square after him.

The 1697 Treaty of Ryswick settled the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg (called King William's War in North America) which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, and the Netherlands. France under Louis XIV retained Strasbourg but returned other territories gained since 1679. By the treaty, Savoy was recognized as independent, and William III was recognized as King of England. The Netherlands received some commercial concession. Jean will appear in The Confusion

King Carlos the Sufferer

King Charles II of Spain (1661 -1700) was an invalid from a very young age, and it was clear that he would never produce an heir. Carlos the Sufferer was king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily, reigning 1665 -1700. He was the son of his predecessor Philip IV of Spain and of Mariana of Austria. He was the last of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty, physically disabled and mentally retarded. The issue of who would rule the Spanish kingdoms after his death became quite contentious. His mother was his regent during much of his reign. Though exiled by the king's illegitimate brother John of Austria, she returned to the regency after his death.

During his reign Spain continued its decline that had begun under his increasingly incompetent Habsburg ancestors. However, a peace treaty with Portugal in 1668 ceded Ceuta to Spain. Through his mother Maria Theresa of Spain, an older sister of Charles II, the Dauphin, only legitimate son of Louis XIV, was the most direct heir, but he was a problematic choice: as the heir to the French throne, if he gained both crowns, it would amount to an annexation of Spain and her vast colonial empire by France, at a time when France was already powerful enough to threaten the European balance of power. Charles married Marie Louise (1662-1689), daughter of Philippe I of Orleans. He produced no heir and named Philip Bourbon of Anjou as his successor, provoking the War of the Spanish Succession.

War of the Spanish Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession (1702 -13) was a European war ; the North American portion of this war was Queen Anne's War. The war was fought over the European balance of power ; the Spanish King Charles II had willed his kingdom to Philip V, a grandson of the French King Louis XIV. A coalition thus fought the war in order to prevent a merging of Spain and France. The war was concluded by the Treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714 ).

Wikipedia: Battle of Oudenarde

The Battle of Oudenarde (sometimes the Battle of Audenaarde) was an important battle in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Prelude

'Battle of Oudenarde'
Conflict War of the Spanish Succession
Date July 11, 1708
Place Near Oudenarde
Result Decisive Allied victory
---
Allied Countries France
Commanders
John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough Duke of Burgundy,Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme
Strength
105,000 troops 100,000 troops
Casualties
3,000 15,000

Great Britain, Holland, and the Holy Roman Empire were horrified at the thought of a union between Spain and France, causing them to ally against France, beginning the War of the Spanish Succession. The commander of the allied armies was John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, whose chief deputy was the commander of the Empire's army Prince Eugène of Savoy, who was his close friend.

Meanwhile, the two French army commanders were very quarrelsome. The Duke of Vendôme was a seasoned, experienced soldier; however, for unknown reasons, King Louis XIV of France put his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy, in joint command. These two military officers quarreled frequently.

Marlborough's army consisted of about 90,000 men (112 infantry battalions and 197 cavalry squadrons) just south of Brussels. Eugène's forces were assembled at Coblenz, in the HRE. However, these two areas were somewhat far apart, while the French army's 100,000 soldiers (130 battalions and 216 squadrons) were concentrated near Mons, in modern Belgium.

However, the French commanders began quarreling. Vendôme wanted to attack the city of Huy, which could draw Marlborough in pursuit. However, the eventual plan adopted (under orders from Louis XIV) was to attack Flanders. Eventually, the army moved eastward, until they reached the city of Braine l'Alleud, which was about 25 km south of Brussels, and also threatened the nearby city of Louvain. Marlborough placed his forces a few miles south of Louvain, in order to cover both threatened cities.

The French army, however, was inactive for more than a month. This apparently allowed the extremely behind schedule Eugène to bring his army from the Rhine River. However, on July 5, the French unexpectedly moved west, taking the cities of Bruges and Ghent (although about 300 British soldiers held out in Ghent for a few days). This extremely demoralized Marlborough, along with his army, and he did not recover until Eugène was at his side.

The French army had the entire length of the Scheldt River from the French border to the newly taken city of Ghent; however, one British fortress remained: Oudenarde. If they took that city, Marlborough's army would be cut off from the coast, causing them to lose communications with England

Marlborough detected this objective, and also correctly guessed the method by which the French troops would attempt to take it. They would march down the east bank of the Scheldt (closer to Marlborough's troops), while leaving a large covering force between the two opposing armies. The French army marched on July 8, toward the city of Lessines. However, Marlborough made one of the most inspired forced marches in history, taking the city on July 10. This forced the French commanders to attempt to simply march across the Scheldt, taking the city of Oudenarde.

Again, though, Marlborough ordered a forced march; this time, though, he ordered 11,000 troops to hold the main crossing point across the Scheldt, under the command of his Quartermaster General, William Cadogan. Cadogan's force was easily able to hold off the French, while Marlborough got his 100,000-strong army across the river.

The Battle Begins

Cadogan, a superb Irish cavalry commander, ordered some dragoons, under Danish general Jorgen Rantzau, to take prisoners from the French advance guard. However, many of those troops escaped, telling Lieutenant General the Marquis de Biron, who commanded the vanguard, of the presence of Allied troops on the west bank.

However, when Biron advanced, he was disagreeably surprised by the large number of Allied cavalry across the river, along with the approaching Allied infantry. He was ordered to attack by Vendôme; however, he hesitated when seeing the reinforced line of 20 battalions (including the four that had been left to guard the pontoon bridges). Having only 7 battalions and 20 squadrons, Biron hesitated. He was given reliable advice that cavalry could not negotiate the marshy terrain in the area, and therefore proceeded. At this time, Eugène, along with 20 squadrons of Prussian cavalry, marched across the river, and were placed in important positions.

While Biron's troops were maneuvering, the leading British infantry brigade had arrived, under the inexperienced but gifted Duke of Argyll. Cadogan, with authority from Marlborough, attacked Biron's 7 battalions (of Swiss mercenaries) with his soldiers (mainly cavalry). The forgotten Swiss mercenaries were immediately pushed back, and the Allied forced destroyed Biron's squadrons, until they reached a large mass of French cavalry, at which they were forced to retire, outnumbered. Ironically, the main force was Rantzau's cavalry, future King George II of England among them.

Burgundy, making another critical mistake, decided to attack (over protests by Vendôme). The French right wing began to attack the Allied positions near Eyne, while the left wing (for an unknown reason) remained stationary near Huysse. Meanwhile, a very strong position was held by the Allied left wing. 28 cavalry squadrons protected the right flank of Cadogan's infantry, which would receive the attack (which proceeded at about 1600).

Burgundy ordered the assault, which landed on Prussian cavalry squadrons. Although hard fighting ensued, the attack was dispersed. Then, Vendôme made a dubious decision. He personally led an attack of twelve regiments, fighting hand-to-hand with a half-pike. This meant that while one commander (Burgundy) was in his headquarters, with no view of the battle, the other was fighting personally, with no possibility for control.

Most historians agree that the weakened Allied right flank would have been destroyed, had the French left wing attacked. Vendôme realized this, asking Burgundy for permission to attack with the left wing. Burgundy sent a messenger with a negative reply; however, this messenger failed to deliver the message. Therefore, the situation worsened with Vendôme believing that an attack would support his hard-fighting troops. His troops were lengthening, threatening to envelop the Allied left flank. As Argyll's regiments approached, they lengthened the Allied line; however, this was not quick enough to prevent the French from threatening.

Allied Flanking Maneuver

Marlborough moved his headquarters to the left flank, giving Eugène command of the right flank (which still opposed the right wing of the French army). However, when the right was under pressure, Marlborough made a brilliant command decision. He placed 18 newly arrived Hessian and Hanoverian battalions in the left flank, while removing 20 of Prussian General Carl von Lottum's battalions, moving them to Eugène's support. This moved fresh troops to the critical left, while reinforcing the right flank (and resting Lottum's troops).

Marlborough then began formulating a new plan of double encirclement. He had the entire Dutch Army, under Field Marshal Count Hendrik Overkirk, an experienced military officer. However, that force was unable to cross the collapsed pontoon bridges near Oudenarde, forcing him to use the stone bridges, delaying him for an hour. Marlborough went ahead with his plan, having Eugène's cavalry charge. It made for Burgundy's headquarters; however, the French Household Cavalry, the Maison du Roi (House of the King) drove them back. Marlborough, with only the 18 Hessian and Hanoverian battalions, was unable to do much other than keep the French right in check.

At about 2030, Overkirk's troops, which had finally arrived, flanked the French right wing. This was in conjunction with a dual attack by Marlborough and Eugène. Overkirk's maneuver was completely successful, with much of the French army routing and/or being captured. However, there was not enough daylight to complete the maneuver.

Epilogue

The French army retired to Ghent, with its commanders furiously quarreling. It can be said that a few broken pontoon bridges saved the army from total destruction.

For unknown reasons, about half of the French army was kept in reserve, without participating at all. There was a great mass of French cavalry and infantry in some raised ground north of the Norken River, and many of Burgundy's troops remained inactive. There were many bad decisions in the French army. The cavalry had remained in reserve, mainly because of the advice that the ground was impassable. The entire left wing (the troops under Burgundy and the large mass north of the Norken) was kept in reserve; they could easily have destroyed the rather weak right wing of the Allied army. Had a concerted attack been carried out, with Vendôme attacking with his main body to envelop the Allied right, while Burgundy attacked with the left (before Overkirk and the rest of Argyll's troops arrived), the French army could have easily won.

The French army lost about 15,000 soldiers (about 8,000 of whom were prisoners) and 25 guns, while the Allies lost less than 3,000, and only 175 British infantry casualties were attained.

Who to rule Spain?

The alternative candidates were Emperor Leopold I, a first cousin of the late king and Electoral Prince Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria. The former presented similarly formidable problems, for Leopold's success would have reunited the powerful Spanish-Austrian Habsburg empire of the 16th century. Although Leopold and Louis were both willing to defer their claims to a younger line of their family - Leopold to his younger son Archduke Charles and Louis to the Dauphin's younger son, the Duc d'Anjou, the Bavarian prince remained a less threatening candidate. As a result, Joseph Ferdinand was the favored choice of England and the Netherlands .

The War of the Grand Alliance, with essentially the same groupings of countries fighting over different issues, had come to an end just as the Spanish succession was becoming critical. War exhaustion led England and France to agree on the First Partition Treaty, which designated Joseph Ferdinand as heir, in return for which the Dauphin and Archduke Charles received territory in Italy .

Joseph Ferdinand died abruptly the next year, which led to the Second Partition Treaty. Under the terms of that agreement, Charles was to become heir, but the Italian territories that had been parcelled out amongst the two men would now go entirely to France. While France, The Netherlands, and England were all happy with the new arrangement, Austria was not and vied for the entire Spanish inheritance. While the wrangling continued, Charles II unexpectedly spoke out and bequeathed his empire to Anjou, thus keeping the two thrones separate. Louis backed out of the treaty, his grandson was crowned King as Philip V, and the remaining interested parties acquiesced with misgivings.

Unfortunately, Louis overplayed his hand. He threatened a mercantilist policy in the Spanish/French dominions (thus cutting England and Holland off from Spanish trade) and recognized Philip as his heir, passing over the Dauphin and the Dauphin's eldest son. In 1701, following the death of James II of England, a pensioner at Louis' court, Louis recognized his son, James Francis Edward Stuart, the "Old Pretender", as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, thus alienating the English. The war began slowly, with Austrian forces under Prince Eugene of Savoy invading the Spanish territories in Italy. France soon intervened, which in turn brought in England, Holland and most of the German states. Minor powers Bavaria ,Portugal, and (perversely) Savoy sided with France and Spain.

Course of the War

There were two main theaters of the war in Europe: Spain itself and West-Central Europe, especially the Low Countries (although there was also important fighting in Italy and Germany). The latter proved the more important, as Eugene and the English commander, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough distinguished themselves as military commanders. At first, France was successful in the Alsace, and threatened the Austrian capital, but the two generals managed to link up in Bavaria and won the Battle of Blenheim. France's trans-Rhine ambitions were crushed, and the French were forced into a defensive posture. Bavaria was knocked out of the war, and Portugal and Savoy changed sides.

In Spain, Valencia and Catalonia switched side in favour of the Austrian pretender, Charles. A British fleet, sent to support Catalans, captured Gibraltar, a possession they held throughout the Siege of Gibraltar and hold to this day.

Marlborough and Eugene split forces again, with the former going to the Netherlands, and the latter to Italy. Over the next two years, each drove the French back from those territories, with Marlborough winning the notable Battle of Ramillies .

In 1707, April 25, Batle of Almansa (Valencian country) Austriacist army was defeated by the Borbonic army. Then the war in Spain settled into indecisive skirmishing from which it would not emerge.

The French fought back, and managed to stall Eugene's invasion into the south of the country, and Marlborough got caught up in an endless succession of fortresses in and around Flanders. In 1708, Eugene and Marlborough once again managed to link up, and defeated the French again at the Battle of Oudenarde. An attempt to march on Paris resulted in the Battle of Malplaquet, which was won by the two generals but at such a cost to their forces that this final invasion had to be called off.

Peace

Britain began to get cold feet, too, as an over-decisive victory for Austria would be almost as bad for their interests as one for the French and Spanish. Marlborough fell out of grace with the English (or rather, now, British) crown and with the new Tory government and was recalled. Peace negotiations with France led to the Treaties of Utrecht in 1713, in which England, Holland, and France ceased fighting with one another, and Great Britain left the Catalans alone to fight for themselves.

In 1714, September 11, Barcelona surrendered to the Borbonic army after a long siege. The Franco-Austrian hostilities lumbered on until September 1714, before the signing of the Treaty of Baden.

With the Peace of Utrecht, the wars to prevent French hegemony that had dominated the 17th century were over for the time being. Philip became the Spanish king, but was removed from the French succession. Louis XIV also agreed to stop supporting the Stuart claim to the throne of England. The Spanish Netherlands, Naples, and Milan were ceded to Austria; Sicily (replaced by Sardinia in 1720) was ceded to Savoy; Britain was given the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America; Gibraltar and Minorca were transferred from Spain to the UK; and a variety of French colonial possessions were given to Britain.

In 1715 the Bourbon king Philip V of Spain abolished the constitutions of Kingdom of Valencia and Principality of Catalonia with the Decreto de Nueva Planta .

During three campaigns in that country he proved himself a worthy antagonist to Prince Eugene, whom at last he defeated at Cassano by his magnificent courage and command over his troops, converting the defeat that his indolent brother, the Grand Prior, had incurred into a glorious success.. Next year, after holding his own as before, he was sent to Flanders to repair the disaster of Ramillies with the result that his successors Marsin and Philip of Orleans were totally defeated, while in the new sphere Venddme was merely the mentor of the pious and unenterprising duke of Burgundy, and was unable to prevent the defeat of Oudenarde. He therefore retired in disgust to his estates, but it was not long before he was summoned to take command of the army of Philip in Spain, and there he won his last victories, crowning his work with the battle of ViUaviciosa. Before the end of the war he died suddenly at Vinaros on the nth of June 1712. Vendôme was one of the most remarkable soldiers in the history of the French army, and second only to Villars amongst the generals of France of the i8th century. He had, besides the skill and the fertile imagination of the true army leader, the brilliant courage of a soldier. But the real secret of his uniform success was bis extraordinary; influence over his men.

The Treaties

The Treaties of Utrecht (April 11, 1713) were signed in Utrecht, a city of the United Provinces. Along with the Treaties of Rastatt and Baden, this concluded the War of the Spanish Succession (as well as Queen Anne's War).

The Treaties of Utrecht confirmed Philip V as the king of Spain, provided that Spain and France remain separate. The Spanish Netherlands, Milan, and Naples were granted to Austria. England was granted possession of the Hudson Bay Territory, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. France and the Holy Roman Empire would not settle their differences until 1714, and Spain and Portugal did not cease hostilities until 1715.

The main provisions of the treaties confirmed that Louis XIV's grandson Philip V would remain on the throne of Spain, and retain Spain's new world colonies. Many of Spain's other territories were partitioned out among the allied powers. The Emperor received the Spanish Netherlands, the Duchy of Milan, Naples, and Sardinia. The Duke of Savoy received Sicily and some strips of land in Lombardy. The British received Gibraltar and Minorca, which they had captured during the war.

There were also some colonial provisions pertaining to North America: France recognized British control of the Hudson Bay Territory and Newfoundland and ceded Acadia to the British. France retained Cape Breton Island, the St. Lawrence Islands, and fishing rights off of Newfoundland.

Bibliography

  • F. Taylor, The Wars of Marlborough, 1702–1709 (1921)
  • J. B. Wolf, The Emergence of the Great Powers, 1685–1715 (1951).

Sources

  • ISBN 0025734105 AnthonyLivesey, Great Commanders and Their Battles. Courage Books - Philadelphia, PA (c) 1987, 1993.