War of the Spanish Succession
With the death of Carlos II "the Bewitched" becoming imminent, European powers began searching for another solution to the problem of Spanish inheritance instead of a war. According to the Treaty of Den Haag (1698) signed between England and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, the little Prince of Asturias would inherit Spain and the entire colonial empire. Duke of Lorraine (also a grandson of the Emperor Ferdinand III von Habsburg) would receive the Duchy of Milano as a compensation for Lorraine and Bar. The Dauphin would become the King of Naples and Sicily and the Archduke Leopold Josef would receive the Spanish Netherlands (or what was left of it). Such a deal was completely unfavorable to Austria and France while the Spaniards were very angered because of the Maritime Powers selling off their lands to others behind their back. Austria wanted more, especially Italian territories, while Louis proposed to Vittorio Amedeo exchanging Naples and Sicily with Savoy, but the Duke refused even though he was tempted. Eventually, nothing became of the deal and things were looking more and more to result in another bloody war. To protect the position of his son in Madrid, Elector Maximilian II, the Emperor's former son-in-law, current brother-in-law (by marriage with Leopoldine of the Palatinate, sister of the Emperor's third wife) and an ally of the Habsburgs at the time, appealed to protect the peace in Spain. To do so, Leopold I sent Georg Ludwig von Hessen-Darmstadt back to Spain with some 4 000 German soldiers. Georg, born as a Protestant, later converted to Catholicism and became an Imperial general. He served in Italy for several years and then was sent to Spain after Savoy left the war. The war ended soon, anyway and Georg, now a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece, served as the Governor of Catalonia for two years. Now he was back in Spain. When Carlos II finally died, in December of 1700, Georg had his men just outside of Madrid, he had the loyalty of the Spanish Royal Guard and enough money to bribe any Spanish noblemen necessary to ensure the succession of the young Prince. Thus, the Castillian Cortes proclaimed him King as Fernando VI. His succession seemed smooth but a tragic event made the Wittelsbach rule of Spain very brief. Fernando died of convulsions in January of 1701, just six weeks after his great-uncle. Now, a full-scale war was about to ensue.
Castille chose Leopold Josef for a king. Apart from Georg Ludwig's influence, who was known to have bribed some important Castillian magnates and had an army in Madrid, it is also important to note many of the Castillian nobility chose the Austrian Archduke themselves, without any pressure. Leopold Josef was young and inexperienced, know to be pious and Madrid was far from the Holy Roman Empire, his father's powerbase. They knew he could do little to limit their influence. He as also the second of three sons, his older brother being Archduke Josef, already recognized as King of the Romans and King of Hungary, and his younger brother was Karl (born in 1684) who could become the King in case something happened to his older brother. On the other hand, the Dauphin and his wife Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria had only two sons, Louis, Duke of Burgundy (born in 1682) and Charles, Duke of Anjou, born three years later. [12] If one of the died France and Spain would be united and even if they weren't having a King whose grandfather was the mighty Louis XIV and directly on their border was not a good idea for Castille. So, while the emissaries from Madrid traveled to Vienna, the Cortes in Barcelona assembled and chose their own king, Charles of France. They believed their lands and people have suffered enough under the incompetent Habsburg rule, even tough Castille took the brunt of the problems, but still, they had little interest in Leopold and Charles did have a better claim, after all. He renounced his right to inherit France and was declared King in Barcelona on March 17, 1701 as Carlos III, just two days after Archduke Leopold Josef became King Leopoldo I. Almost immediately, a French army crossed the border and took several frontier towns in Flanders like Courtrai, Menin etc. In the meantime, the Emperor formed an alliance consisting of Brandenburg, the Netherlands, Bavaria (whose Elector blamed the French for killing his son so they could get the crown) and England where the King was already making preparations and the Parliament greatly supported the war, fearing France would acquire Spain and wanting to end the French hegemony over Europe. Thus in the spring of 1701 the War of Spanish Succession began.
[12] OTL Leopold I had 16 children, seven survived childhood. Two of them were sons, both Emperors, Josef I and Karl VI. Here he has three sons (Leopold Josef was actually born but died aged 2) and Louis the grand Dauphin has two sons instead of three (OTL was Louis le petit Dauphin, father of Luis XV, second son Philip of Anjou to become Philip V of Spain and a third son Charles, Duke of Berry, born in 1686, a year later than ITTL)