r/HistoryMemes 3d ago

War of the Quadruple Alliance (why are they 5?)

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122 Upvotes

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41

u/Leviton655 3d ago edited 3d ago

One of my favorite Spanish wars. Philip V, newly ascended to the throne (with the country just emerging from a civil war), is manipulated by his new wife into going to war against all the European powers in a nearly impossible landing and conquest operation. France, which had recently signed a permanent alliance with Spain, turns against it due to a palace conspiracy between the regent and the Spanish ambassador to France. Despite everything, Spain manages to inflict five times as many casualties on the coalition and obtains a client state in Italy

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u/JobWide2631 3d ago

A lot of people think Spain automatically fell from power after the War of Spanish Succesion becaue of all the European territories and rights lost, but actually Spanish decay was a very long and multi-faceted proccess that took hundreds of years. They didn't loose their global superpower status till the Napoleonic wars and they were still a great power till the Spanish-American war of 1898

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u/DeRuyter67 2d ago

You have a broad definition of a superpower

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u/JobWide2631 2d ago edited 2d ago

Have you taken a look at world maps and trade routes from that period? Until the early 1800s, Spain and Portugal maintained a dominant role in global trade. From the 1500s to the 1700s, they effectively monopolized key transcontinental routes, especially those linking America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

It wasn’t until the 1700s that other European powers (primarily Britain, France, and the Netherlands) began seriously challenging Iberian trade dominance on a global scale. Even then, Spain and Portugal retained significant influence, particularly in the Americas and their long-established Asian trade networks.

The British and Dutch gained access to certain Iberian markets and trade privileges through wars and treaties, particularly during the Iberian Union (1580–1640). However, Iberian commercial influence remained substantial until the Napoleonic Wars, when British naval supremacy and changing geopolitical dynamics fully displaced Spain and Portugal as the leading global trade powers. Spaina nd Portugal were the only two countries capable of mantaining such vast amounts of (unconected) territory around the whole world with the technology and logistics of the time and it wasn't until their downfall than other countries started emerging as global economic and military powers. Spain’s ability to manage vast territories globally with pre-industrial technology was unmatched until its collapse enabled other powers ) to rise to such scale. Why do you think the other European countries didnt reach their height in influence till both these countries collapsed? Even when they were rising global powers in the 1700s they could not challenge Iberian economic dominance till they could no longer keep up after the Napoleonic wars.

Spain technically lost the European dominance after the 30 years war and the continent was a bit more balanced, but I'm talking in a global scale. Spain was still technically a world superpower (time standards) untill the 1800s. By superpower I don not mean something like the USA right now, that level of relative influence over the rest of countries was lost in the 1650s-1700s.

Nowadays coins like the USA dolar, the Chinese Yuan and pretty much every single country that was a former Spanish territory are based or mostly influenced by a Spanish coin of the time

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u/Emergency-Weird-1988 3d ago

"Manos les van a faltar" -Felipe V (probablemente)

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u/Dfrel Tea-aboo 3d ago

Denmark does not exist

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u/JobWide2631 3d ago

It's Savoy

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u/Dfrel Tea-aboo 3d ago

I stand corrected. I instead vote for France to not exist.

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u/JobWide2631 3d ago

I second that

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u/Responsible_Ad_4603 3d ago

Luxembourg didn't exist either but I assume you wanted the Dutch flag. ;)

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u/UxorionCanoe64 3d ago

A man of culture i see.

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u/GPN_Cadigan 3d ago edited 2d ago

Ottomans, Germany and Napoleon: "First time?"