War of the Quadruple Alliance

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The War of the Quadruple Alliance was a minor European war fought between 1718 and 1720, mostly in Italy, between Spain on the one side, and the Quadruple Alliance of Austria, France, Great Britain, and the United Provinces.

The conflict occurred as a result of the ambitions of King Philip V of Spain, his wife, Isabella Farnese, and his chief minister Giulio Alberoni in Italy, where the Spanish had traditional claims and Isabella several dynastic claims to advance; and for the crown of France, where Philip's infant nephew Louis XV was King, and his cousin the Duc d'Orléans was Regent. Opposition to Philip's ambitions led France, Britain, and The Seven United Netherlands, to join together in the Triple Alliance on January 4, 1717, and in November of that year Philip made war on Emperor Charles VI by invading the island of Sardinia, given to Austria by the Treaty of Utrecht ending the War of the Spanish Succession. Shortly thereafter, the Spanish advanced, invading Sicily, which had been awarded to the Duke of Savoy.

This led, on August 2, 1718, to the formation of the Quadruple Alliance, with the Emperor now joining the Triple Alliance. The French, Austrians, and British now demanded Spanish withdrawal from Sicily and Sardinia, and a British fleet landed a small Austrian army near Messina, which was besieged by the Austrian forces. On August 11, at the Battle of Cape Passaro, Byng's British fleet captured much of a decrepit Spanish fleet, and on 17 December 1718, the French, British, and Austrians declared war on Spain. The Dutch joined them later in August 1719.

The war did not go very well for the Spanish. A French army under the Duke of Berwick invaded the Basque provinces of Spain almost without resistance in April 1719, before being forced back by disease, British fleets captured Vigo and Pontevedra in October, and that same month, Messina finally surrendered to the Austrians. Seeing the poor showing of Spanish arms, Philip dismissed Alberoni in December of 1719, and made peace with the allies at the Treaty of The Hague on February 17, 1720.