April, 2025

Geopolitics often takes centre stage in history, and never more so than in the Wars of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).  When Britian, Austria and the Dutch allied themselves against the French in trying to determine who succeeded the childless Charles II on the Spanish throne.

There are few better visual depictions than the maps and plans of these great battles fought across the what is now the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

We have a number of these for sale, dating around 1740.

 Engraved by James Basire, battle sites such as Donawert, Denain, Oudenard, and others, show the positions of the warring armies, and intriguing landscape details of villages, rivers with boats, fortifications, towns, and other geographical features.

 In the end, it was the French who succeed in placing Phillip of Anjou on the throne, though the Spanish had to cede territory, including the Spanish Netherlands; Britain got Gibraltar.