UTRECHT TREATY: ANTECEDENTS, POINTS AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The Treaty of Utrecht was a set of documents signed to end the War of the Spanish Succession, between 1713 and 1715, in the city of Utrecht. Most of the territories came to peace except Spain. The Iberians continued hostilities a few months after the agreement was reached. This treaty caused Europe to alter its political-territorial map.

The Spanish succession was resolved in favor of the Bourbon king Felipe V and Great Britain, who later participated in various contests. The United Kingdom received a good part of the colonial spoils and took international commercial leadership.

By The original uploader was RedCoat10 on English Wikipedia., via Wikimedia Commons

In the case of Spain, it was forced to cede its European empire in peace and hand over a significant amount of possessions to the participants of the Utrecht treaty. Philip V became king of Spain, but had to keep the promise that the kingdoms of Spain and France would never unite.

Several European territories benefited, receiving some land possessions. In international politics, the Utrecht agreement set a model for the next 20 years.

Background

Death of Charles II of Spain

Charles II, the last King of Spain by the House of Habsburg, died on November 1, 1700 due to illness. As a consequence, the Spanish throne was left without an heir. Several years before his death, the matter of the succession to the throne had become an international problem.

Both King Louis XIV, of the House of Bourbon, and Emperor Leopold I of the Holy Roman-Germanic Empire, of the House of Habsburg, claimed such rights of the Spanish succession. Both had as wives the sisters of King Charles II.

The intention of Louis XIV was to seize the throne so that it would be occupied by his grandson Philip, Duke of Anjou. On the other hand, Leopold I also wanted the crown to be taken by his son Carlos.

Days before his death, Carlos II wrote his will, in which he appointed the grandson of the monarch Louis XIV as king. This ascended the throne as Felipe V de Borbón. Subsequently, the new king received all the possessions of Spain.

Leopold I and the other European countries feared that the union of Spain and France would become more powerful. With the backing of England and the Netherlands, Leopold I decided to go to war against France.

War of the Spanish Succession

The war began and on the side of Felipe V was France. On the other was Archduke Charles of Austria supported by England, Holland and Germany. These countries formed the Grand Hague Alliance.

Later years, Portugal and Savoy joined, who also wanted to avoid the union between Spain and France. Portugal had the intention that some Spanish territories would be distributed among the powers belonging to the alliance.

The first battles took place in Italy, in 1702, between the Austrian Empire and the Franco-Spanish troops to take the Duchy of Savoy. In parallel, the English forces occupied Gibraltar on the peninsula.

After the battle of Ramillies and Turin, Spain abandoned its dominion of both Flanders and Milan in 1706. Then, in 1707, England and the Netherlands made several territories their own, including Menorca and Sardinia.

During the War of Succession, Spain was divided into two battle fronts. The kingdoms of the ancient Crown of Aragon, made up of Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Mallorca, supported Archduke Carlos. These domains faced the rest of the Spanish territories, which supported the Bourbon dynasty of Felipe V.

Failed negotiations

After a time of arduous battles, both opponents wanted to reach a peace agreement that would end the War of the Spanish Succession. The idea of ​​the agreement came from Louis XIV when he saw France involved in financial problems after the last defeats in the war.

Finally, in 1709 a document was signed, the preliminaries of the Hague, between the representatives of King Louis XIV and the Grand Alliance to end the war. The document had 42 points, most of which were rejected by Louis XIV himself; many of them were not fair according to the criteria of the French king.

One of them was the eviction from the throne of his grandson, Felipe V de Borbón. On the other hand, the Emperor of Austria José I was not willing to sign it after considering that he could have obtained many more concessions from Louis XIV.

The House of Bourbon did not want to surrender the throne of Felipe V, so it was impossible for them to end the war. The Grand Alliance was willing to continue the war until the French king withdrew completely.

Main topics

France's deal with England

After the death of José I, Emperor of Austria, Carlos assumed power as Carlos VI of Austria.

Louis XIV sent his agent to London to negotiate with England in order to accept English demands. First, he supported Queen Anne of England in the succession against James III Stuart and committed to the disunity of the French monarchy with Spain.

From that moment, the Queen of England summoned both the representatives of France and Spain to sign a peace treaty that would end the War of the Spanish Succession.

In exchange for the recognition of Felipe V as King of Spain, France had to cede to Great Britain the territories of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Hudson Bay and the island of Saint Kitts.

In addition, France promised the dismantling of the Dunkirk fortress that was used as a base for the attacks on English and Dutch ships.

France's deal with the Netherlands and Prussia

In the treaty with the Dutch, France annexed part of Gelderland (belonging to the Netherlands) to the United Provinces. In addition, Louis XIV gave up the barriers in the Spanish Netherlands that ensured their defense against any French attack.

France recognized the royal title of Frederick I, which was claimed from 1701 in Neuchatel. In return, she received the principality of Orange which belonged to Prussia.

Great Britain's deal with Spain

Several months later, Philip V's representatives were held in Paris under French orders so that they would not interfere with France's negotiations with the rest of Europe.

On July 13, 1713, the kingdom of Spain joined the agreement with Great Britain. Felipe V commissioned his ambassadors to keep the kingdom of Naples under his power, after the discussion of the agreement with Great Britain.

After explaining such condition, he threatened to prohibit Great Britain traffic to the American continent, as well as passage to ports.

Great Britain received from Spain Gibraltar, Menorca and commercial advantages in the Spanish empire established in the Indies.

Spain supplied the Spanish colonies in America with African slaves for the next thirty years. In addition, the British were allowed to transport 500 tons of merchandise duty free.

With these concessions by Spain to Great Britain, the commercial monopoly maintained by the Hispanic monarchy was completely broken.

Other agreements

Following the Utrecht treaties, other treaties and conventions were signed between the participating Utrecht monarchies.

Savoy, although it did not have a great participation in the war, received some possessions. In addition, France recognized Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, as the King of Sicily.

On the other hand, the sovereignty of Portugal was recognized on both banks of the Amazon River. In addition, Spain gave the Portuguese the Colonia de Sacramento, which had been claimed for several years.

The King of Spain ceded North Gelderland to Brandenburg and the Neuchatel barrier ceded by France.

Consequences

Treaty of Rastatt and Baden

Carlos VI received the Duchy of Milan, the Kingdom of Naples, the island of Sardinia and the Spanish Netherlands, however he did not renounce his aspirations to the Spanish Crown. Despite this, he did not recognize Felipe V as King of Spain and refused to make peace in Utrecht, although his allies did.

As Carlos VI did not sign the peace accords, the war continued that same year. The French army was armed again and the British fleet blocked the empress of the Holy Empire, Isabel Cristina, who was still in the principality of Catalonia.

Finally, faced with so much pressure, on March 6, 1914, the peace treaty between France and the Habsburg Empire was signed.

European balance of power

After the treaty, the great beneficiary was Great Britain. Not only did it gain European territories, but it also obtained economic and commercial advantages that allowed it to break the Spanish monopoly with the American territories.

On the other hand, the war of the Spanish succession left France weak and with economic difficulties. The "balance of power" in Europe was about the same, however, Britain became stronger and began to threaten Spanish control with the territories in the Mediterranean after obtaining Menorca and Gibraltar.

The Utrecht agreement made the UK assume the role of arbitrator in Europe, maintaining a territorial balance between all countries.

References

1. Treaties of Utrecht, Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from britannica.com
2. War of the Spanish Succession, Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, (nd). Taken from unprofesor.com
3. The Battle of Almansa, University of Valencia, (nd). Taken from uv.es
4. Spain in international politics, José María Jover Zamora, (1999). Taken from books.google.co.ve
5. The points of the Treaty of Utrecht that the United Kingdom violates in Gibraltar, Israel Viana, (2013). Taken from abc.es