$4.46
Details
War of the Spanish Succession, The: The History of the Conflict Between the Bourbons and Habsburgs that Engulfed Europe
Author: Charles River Editors
Narrator: Bill Hare
Unabridged: 1 hr 28 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Findaway Voices
Published: 10/11/2019
Genre: History - Europe - France
Synopsis
The War of the Spanish Succession, fought at the beginning of the 18th century, was the last major war engaged in by French King Louis XIV, the legendary Sun King, and it was also the most famous of all military conflicts during his reign. While the length and the scope of the conflict are the primary reasons why people have given so much attention to it, another reason for its historical popularity is no doubt the fact that its outcome humbled the French king, to the delight of his many critics. He was, after all, the one who had given himself the lofty nickname of “the Sun King.”
During this lengthy European conflict, King Louis XIV of the Bourbon dynasty was pitted against Emperor Leopold of the Habsburg Dynasty of Austria, as well as Leopold’s British and Dutch Allies. Lasting 13 years, the war spread from France and Austria to involve countries across the globe, and all of it centered on what would become of Spain’s massive empire after the death of King Carlos II, who had no obvious successor to his crown. As an only child who had no children himself, Carlos II had been sickly his entire life, but as enfeebled as he was, he did preside over a rich empire that spread all the way across the Iberian Peninsula and included European territories in Italy and the Low Countries, land in North Africa, North and South America, and even as far away as the Philippines. Such an immense and wealthy empire needed a ruler, and as King Carlos II aged and weakened, everyone wanted to know who that would be.
Considering the age-old rivalry between the kingdom of France and the Austrian Empire, it is no surprise that those two powers both set their sights on the Spanish throne. As each side started to advance a claim that they were the legitimate heir to the throne, the initial idea across the continent was to find a peaceable solution that would manage to avoid a full-blown conflict.
by Charles River Editors
According to most assessments of the age, France was not typically home to the systematic, “scientific” anti-Semitism that had such deep roots in Germany, and even more so further east in Russia and its dependencies. As proof of this, w...
Published: 07/15/2019
by Charles River Editors
Nearly 50 years after Napoleon met his Waterloo, generals across the West continued to study his tactics and engage their armies the same way armies fought during the Napoleonic Era. Despite advances in military technology and the advent of railroad...
Published: 11/06/2019
by History Nerds
The French Revolution of the late 1790s was one of the critical events in the history of Europe. It was the defining moment - a historic landslide that ushered the world into a new, completely different epoch. Alas, all such changes come at a great ...
Published: 02/10/2021
by Charles River Editors
In the late 18th century, as political unrest stirred in the heart of Paris, local residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the city’s urban cemeteries faced a pressing crisis: the putrefying stink of rotting corpses, many of which were lik...
Published: 09/10/2019
by Charles River Editors
As one of the seminal social revolutions in human history, the French Revolution holds a unique legacy, especially in the West. The early years of the Revolution were fueled by Enlightenment ideals, seeking the social overthrow of the caste system t...
Published: 05/13/2020
by Captivating History
If you want to discover the captivating history of the Napoleonic Wars, then pay attention...The Napoleonic Wars, which took place between 1803 and 1815, were spearheaded by probably France’s best tactician and military strategist to date, Gen...
Published: 01/08/2020
by Charles River Editors
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, when Western Europe was governed by a Germanic warrior-caste, the theory of a just and virtuous war took root. The Roman Church enhanced its authority by sanctifying oaths taken for jus...
Published: 10/11/2020
by Man with a Cat
In the early 18th century, eighty years prior to revolution, France went wild for stocks and bonds. Mechanics dropped their tools, tradesmen closed their shops. There was but one profession, one employment, one occupation, for persons of all ranks f...
Published: 06/07/2017
by Neil Wenborn
The fifth in the new Naxos AudioBooks series ‘In a Nutshell’, The French Revolution is a short and accessible introduction to one of the most important periods in European history. It brings vividly to life the implacable Robespierre, th...
Published: 10/26/2009