Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When did the War of the Spanish Succession begin?
The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) was a European conflict of the early 18th century, triggered by the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700. His closest heirs were members of the Austrian Habsburg and French Bourbon families; acquisition of an undivided Spanish Empire by either threatened the European balance of power.
The revolt of the comuneros in the year 1520, which ended with the ringleaders of that revolt publicly executed in Villalar de los Comuneros. Valladolid became the capital of the Spanish empire between the years 1601-1606. When the Spanish Empire began to decline due to the continuing wars in which this involved and the emergence of new emerging powers, there was an economic decline in the area, as in the rest of the Spanish monarchy. During the War of the Spanish Succession (1700–1715) It positioned the side of the Bourbon pretender, that would be the one who got the throne. In the Peninsular War against France (1808–1814), there were a succession of small battles and the continued action of guerrillas as "The Undaunted".
During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) the city was occupied and despoiled again. Commerce did not recover from that for a long time. Only in 1714 could people begin rebuilding.
The treaty's reference to the possibility of "new rights to the Spanish monarchy reverting to the King of France" envisaged the possibility of the Spanish King Charles dying childless, and of Louis then claiming the Spanish throne for the House of Bourbon. At the time of the treaty, the Spanish monarch was only nine years old, but his infirmity was already evident and well-known, casting doubt on his ever being able to beget children. However, by the time when it did happen - the King of Spain indeed dying childless in 1700 - the orientation of British foreign policy had completely reversed. Far from the King of England aiding the French one in "maintaining his Spanish rights", Britain went to a major war - the War of Spanish Succession - in order to block these French ambitions.
In the early 18th century, the War of the Spanish Succession resulted in the replacement of that dynastic union with a unified Spanish monarchy under the rule of the new Bourbon Dynasty. The last episode of the War of Spanish Succession was the conquest of the island of Mallorca. It took place on 2 July 1715 when the island capitulated to the arrival of a Bourbon fleet. In 1716, the Nueva Planta decrees made Majorca part of the Spanish province of Baleares, roughly the same to present-day Illes Balears province and autonomous community.
War became inevitable when the exiled James II of England died on 16 September and Louis reneged on his earlier recognition of the Protestant William III as his successor to the thrones of England and Scotland. Instead Louis supported the claim of the Catholic James Francis Edward Stuart. When William died in March 1702, his successor Queen Anne confirmed her continuation of the Protestant succession. The Dutch did the same and on 15 May the Grand Alliance declared war on France, followed by the Imperial Diet on 30 September.[27]
With the arrival of the House of Bourbon to the Spanish throne after the War of the Spanish Succession begins a new period for the Principality of Asturias, whose population looked upon the new dynasty with hope. The new royal house promoted an identification of the Principality with the Spanish heir following the aid given by the Crown of Castile during the war, and the Principality of Asturias, which until then had been held by the heir of Castile, tended to be considered properly Spanish. 
When the war had finally ended, however, South Carolinians were relieved; the war had not brought in much of the way of benefits. "No sooner had the war begun than did Charleston merchants begin to consider methods by which they could gain from it". The English colonists hoped to gain from the Spanish Alarm, but as the raids continued, the merchants realized their ill effects. Many colonists started to lose their enthusiasm, especially during the 1740s. The court, "during nine years of actual warfare, recorded only twenty-one enemy ships which were captured by Charleston privateers and condemned as prizes of war". The book "Georgia Journeys" stated that "the Spanish Alarm...was of great damage to the colony in regarding cultivation".
At the beginning of the War of Spanish Succession he was sent to the Caribbean to protect the Spanish treasure fleet but in June 1702 he got sick and died on board the "Ferme" in the harbor of Havana, Cuba.
The locality is named after a 13th-century Moorish farmhouse, granted in 1238 by the Aragonese king Jaume I (James I) to Pere de Montagut. On January 17, 1252 this latter conceded the right to found a township upon these lands to 54 Christian pioneers after the "reconquista" of the Valencian Moorish territories. The town was involved in many of the conflicts that shook Spain throughout its 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 debt. During the Spanish Civil War, it was lucky to keep on the rearguard, although this did not spare the town from being bombed by Italian fascist planes, supporting Franco’s uprising.
Henry also lacked heirs and his death triggered a succession crisis, where the main claimants to the throne were Philip II of Spain and Anthony, Prior of Crato. After the Spanish victory in the War of Portuguese Succession Philip of Spain was crowned king in 1581, beginning a personal union between the two nations known as the Iberian Union generating a decline of the Portuguese Empire during the period of Union. The Iberian Union lasted for almost sixty years until 1640, when the Portuguese Restoration War was initiated against Spain and Portugal reestablished the Portuguese dynasty under the Bragança.
It culminated in a period during 1937 when all the powers were prepared to give up on non-intervention. By the end of July, the Committee was in deadlock, and the aims of a successful outcome to the Spanish Civil War was looking unlikely. Unrestricted Italian submarine warfare began on 12 August. The British Admiralty believed that a significant control effort was the best solution to attacks on British shipping. It was decided by the Committee that naval patrols did not justify their expense and would be replaced with observers at ports.
North's ministry had an early success during the Falklands Crisis in 1770 in which Great Britain faced down a Spanish attempt to seize the Falkland islands, nearly provoking a war. Both France and Spain had been left unhappy by Great Britain's perceived dominance following the British victory in the Seven Years War. Spanish forces seized the British settlement on the Falklands and expelled the small British garrison. When Britain opposed the seizure, Spain sought backing from her ally, France. However, Louis XV did not believe his country was ready for war and in the face of a strong mobilisation of the British fleet the French compelled the Spanish to back down. Louis also dismissed Choiseul, the hawkish French Chief Minister, who had advocated war and a large invasion of Great Britain by the French.
The Spanish Road was only used once or twice per year by the military, and the rest of the time by merchants. Because of this, military magazines were seen as unimportant by some countries. The military did, however, use a system of providing staples called "etapés". This system was going to be put into place after the successful proposal of Don Cristóbal de Benavente to the Council of War in Madrid. Unfortunately, the Spanish King was not impressed, so Madrid did not support them. However, some "governors" did think the "etapés" were a good idea, so they set them up along the Spanish Road, using commissioners sent by the governor of the Spanish Netherlands or by the governor of the Milan to work out pricing details, so that the providers were always paid for their services. The first type of "etapés" was permanent and found only in Savoy. It consisted of a place where soldiers and other travellers had access to food and shelter when they passed through. The second type was in Franche-Comté, Lorraine and the Low Countries, and was created only when arranged for in advance by a private contractor, who would work out the payments, shipments and quantities of food based on the type and schedule of each individual military excursion. This system made the use of the Spanish Road more practical.
After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, possession of the kingdom again changed hands. Under the terms of the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714, Naples was given to Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. He also gained control of Sicily in 1720, but Austrian rule did not last long. Both Naples and Sicily were conquered by a Spanish army during the War of the Polish Succession in 1734, and Charles, Duke of Parma, a younger son of King Philip V of Spain was installed as King of Naples and Sicily from 1735. When Charles inherited the Spanish throne from his older half-brother in 1759, he left Naples and Sicily to his younger son, Ferdinand IV. Despite the two Kingdoms being in a personal union under the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, they remained constitutionally separate.
However, the term "Spanish" ("español") is a more recent term that first referred to Spain as a country, and then to the predominant language spoken in that country. Spain as a truly unified nation appeared centuries later than the language and the Kingdom of Castile; in fact, it was only in the late 15th century that the personal union between the Crowns of Castile and Aragon unified Spain. The actual legal unification date is disputed, but commonly agreed to have occurred not earlier than the eighteenth century at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. Only then did the Castilian language begin to be commonly called Spanish.
After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, possession of the kingdom again changed hands. Under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Naples was given to Charles VI, the Holy Roman Emperor. He also gained control of Sicily in 1720, but Austrian rule did not last long. Both Naples and Sicily were conquered by a Spanish army during the War of the Polish Succession in 1734, and Charles, Duke of Parma, a younger son of King Philip V of Spain was installed as King of Naples and Sicily from 1735. When Charles inherited the Spanish throne from his older half-brother in 1759, he left Naples and Sicily to his younger son, Ferdinand IV. Despite the two kingdoms being in a personal union under the House of Bourbon from 1735 onwards, they remained constitutionally separated.
When the Seven Years' War broke out in Europe in 1756, Spain did not initially join either of the two coalitions of belligerents. The Spanish policy of neutrality was immediately tested on December 26, 1756 when a British privateer, the "Antigallican", captured the French ship "Penthievre". When the British captain took both ships into the Bay of Cadiz, the Spanish authorities inpounded both ships. Spain insisted that the captured ship should be returned to France, along with the "Antigallican" which was awarded as compensation. This outraged the British, but no military action was taken. This incident marked the beginning of a decline in Anglo-Spanish relations.
On 24–25 January 1695, a fire destroyed the Court theater. Reconstruction and expansion of a new ducal theater did not begin until 1717, when Milan, now ceded to the Austria after the War of Spanish Succession, received its first Austrian governor, the Count of Loewenstein. The new theater was designed by Francesco Galli Bibbiena, and his pupils Giandomenico Barbieri and Domenico Valmagini. The theater was larger, with four tiers of boxes and a gallery in the shape of a horseshoe; on the side was a small "Ridottino" for gambling and the sale of drinks and sweets beside masks and costumes for the feasts. It was completed on 26 December 1717 and it was inaugurated with the opera "Costantino" by Gasparini. 
In the War of the First Coalition, Spain declared war on the newly formed French Republic, joined the Coalition in attempting to restore the Bourbon Monarchy. The main Spanish general was Antonio Ricardos, who failed to secure a decisive victory, despite initial successes. French forces elsewhere quickly overran the Austrian Netherlands after the Battle of Fleurus, and the Dutch Republic collapsed under huge pressure. The Spanish were having similarly bad times. The Spanish navy did little, with the exception of combining with the British and participating in the Siege of Toulon.
Cardinal Richelieu had been a strong supporter of the Dutch and Protestants since the beginning of the war, sending funds and equipment in an attempt to stem Habsburg strength in Europe. Richelieu decided that the recently signed Peace of Prague was contrary to French interests and declared war on the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain within months of the peace being signed. The more experienced Spanish forces scored initial successes; Olivares ordered a lightning campaign into northern France from the Spanish Netherlands, hoping to shatter the resolve of King Louis XIII's ministers and topple Richelieu before the war exhausted Spanish finances and France's military resources could be fully deployed. In the ""année de Corbie"", 1636, Spanish forces advanced as far south as Amiens and Corbie, threatening Paris and quite nearly ending the war on their terms.
In the secret Oñate treaty, the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs settled their mutual claims. The Spanish Habsburgs died out in 1700 (prompting the War of the Spanish Succession), as did the last male of the Austrian Habsburg line in 1740 (prompting the War of the Austrian Succession), and finally the last female of the Habsburg male line in 1780.
The War of Jenkins' Ear (named for a 1731 incident in which a Spanish commander chopped off the ear of British merchant captain Robert Jenkins and told him to take it to his king, George II) broke out in 1739 between Spain and Great Britain, but was confined to the Caribbean Sea and conflict between Spanish Florida and the neighboring British Province of Georgia. The War of the Austrian Succession, nominally a struggle over the legitimacy of the accession of Maria Theresa to the Austrian throne, began in 1740, but at first did not involve either Britain or Spain militarily. Britain was drawn diplomatically into that conflict in 1742 as an ally of Austria and an opponent of France and Prussia, but open hostilities between them did not take place until 1743 at Dettingen, and war was only formally declared between Britain and France in March 1744. Massachusetts did not declare war until June 2.
With the death of the infirm and childless Charles II of Spain on 1 November 1700, the succession of the Spanish throne and subsequent control over her empire once again embroiled Europe in war—the War of the Spanish Succession. On his deathbed Charles II had bequeathed the entire Spanish inheritance to Louis XIV's grandson, Philip, Duke of Anjou. This threatened to unite the Spanish and French kingdoms under the House of Bourbon—something unacceptable to England, the Dutch Republic, and Leopold I, who had himself a claim to the Spanish throne. From the beginning, the Emperor had refused to accept the will of Charles II, and he did not wait for England and the Dutch Republic to begin hostilities. Before a new Grand Alliance could be concluded Leopold I prepared to send an expedition to seize the Spanish lands in Italy.
Naval operations in the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13) were with the Dutch against the Spanish and French. They were at first focused on the acquisition of a Mediterranean base, culminating in an alliance with Portugal and the capture of Gibraltar (1704) and Port Mahon in Menorca (1708). In addition Newfoundland and Nova Scotia were obtained. Even so, freedom of action in the Mediterranean did not decide the war, although it gave the new Kingdom of Great Britain (created by the Union of England and Scotland in 1707) an advantage when negotiating the Peace of Utrecht, and made Britain a recognized great power. The British fleet ended Spanish occupation of Sicily in 1718 and in 1727 blockaded Panama.