The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1919-06-18
LITTLE. STORIES
OF THE NATIONS
Times Astonishing Changes in
the Groupings of the
Q Earth's Peoples.
(By Albert Barrett Sayres.)
What the War of the Spanish Success
sIon Meant "a EurODA.

The many wars waged BY France
during the reign of Louis XIV, as great
and as far reaching as they were IN
their effects upon Europe, were not
ended by those wars we have consld-
cred. In 1901 there began another
which is known as the war of the
Spanish succession.
When Charles II of Spain died he left
no children. Therefore there was some
doubt as to who should succeed to his
vast dominions.' This condition had, OF
course, been foreseen and had been the
subject of several treaties between
England and the United Provinces,
France and the empire. For men now
felt that it was inimioal to the peace
of Europe that SO vast a power as that
held by Spain should longer continue
united.
The final treaty before the death of
Charles stipulated that his dominions
should be divided among the several
nations that claimed them, and that the
crown of Spain itself was to pass to
the son of Emperor Leopold But when
Charles II died it was 5tund that he
had left all his dominions to Philip Of
Anjou, the grandson of the king of
France. So he took the crown under
the title of Philip v of Spain.
France, that had seemed curbed by
the last great war now appeared to be
rising into a preponderance of power
it never before had known. And now
we shall see more clearly than in any
earlier wars how the lesser nations
consciously gathered together for the
purpose of limiting the power Of one
great. rival. Their very existence de-
pended upon their success in curbing
that power.
2 England, the emperor the United
Provinces, Prussia and afterward Savoy
Gtalyl all took part in this war. This
was the war in which the Duke of
Marlborough carried on his famous
campaign in the Netherlands, and In
. which England first got possession OF
Gibraltar. which she still holds.
In almost every section the war was
waged at the same time with varying
success. 1t ended in the season Of
1874 with the treaties of Utrecht and
Rastadt. By these treaties the great
! Spanish dominions were divided-just
how they were apportioned we shall
consider in the stories of the countries
involved--but Philip kept Spain and the
| Spanish possessions in America and
| elsewhere. In so far as Louis XIV es-
tablished and confirmed his grandson in
| the possession of the throne of Spain
| he succeeded in this war. But he didn't
| gain for his own kingdom anything like
the territory he had gained for France
| by previous wars.
These continued wars Impoverished
| and weakened France, but far glkater
| loss came about through the persecu-
| lions of Louis XIV melted out to the
} Protestants. Through them large num-
| bers of the most skilled workers in
| France were driven out. They were
| a great aid to England and to this
| country, for some of them emgrated
here. bringing their skill and industry
| to the upbulding of America.
But so far as prestige and military
| glory may go, never before nor since
| has France had so large a. share as
during the reign of Louis XIV.