Spain in 7 year war

a bunch of questions.

What was Spain's aims? Obviously to diminish Britain. But what territorial/material gains?

In the territorial/material gain thing, did Spain gain more by losing than by winning? OTL, France ponied up the Louisiana Territory to ally Spain. If the allies had won, would France have still given it up? Was that the price of entry to get Spain to join in? Nevermind that Spain didn't do much with it.

In the What If department, how do things changes if Spain mounts a slightly more credible campaign in Portugal? OTL, they didn't do too badly, but came up just shy in a couple of campaigns before the civilian guerilla war/scorched earth policy forced them to retreat. I don't pretend to be all that knowledgeable on the war, but the little I've read leads me believe Spain bungled just enough to be stalled in advancing and then get embarrassed by logistics . So, assume they don't bungle and drive through, capture Oporto, then swing to Lisbon, advancing quick enough to polish off Portugal before P gets a chance to resist. Nevermind how. the portuguese court was poised to escape to Brazil (several decades before OTL). What happens then? Britain, although winning elsewhere, is nearing bankruptcy. Do they write off Portugal and allow Spain to keep it? As well as Louisiana? They weren't going to let France keep it. Would they let Spain be the sole 'winner' (moreso than they OTL were) amongst the losers.
 
Spain didn't want to get involved at all.

Carlos III just took over in 1759 and was not a fan of the "Bourbon Alliance".

Part of it was that Great Britain was intercepting all neutral shipping (along with the Netherlands, Denmark, etc) that these countries were profiting by. That irritated Spain to no end as they viewed themselves as a world power (Britain would do the same in the American Revolution and Napoleonic Wars).

Plus, by 1762, Great Britain was looking increasingly dominant. There were legitimate fears that Great Britain would rule the seas without France to challenge them and Britain would eat up the Spanish Empire at their leisure.

Plus, Carlos' advisors wanted to get Minorca and Gibraltar back and, with Britain so busy, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Instead, Spain's weakness was proven as Florida, Cuba and the Philippines fell without much effort.

Carlos' irritation at being bullied by his French relatives nearly broke the alliance. It did, however, prompt Spain to initiate much needed reforms over the next few decades (much like Portugal did). The Spanish Military and Economy were in much better shape when they joined the fight against Britain in 1780(ish) during the American revolution.

Carlos III was probably one of the best monarchs of his age with some good prime ministers (Floridablanca). Unfortunately, Spain's next rulers were weak and the country declined.
 
To be more clear, Spain lost Florida and gained Louisiana. Both were worthless.

Prestige, though, dropped like a stone.

If France/Austria/Russia/Sweden/Spain had won...then I suppose George II of Great Britain would trade back every gain in order to get Hanover back. Parliament might have run him out of London but he would trade anything for his patrimony.

As for the Spanish-Portuguese War, I don't think Spain had the capacity to do much even if Portugal hadn't received British help. The military was in poor shape.

Louisiana wasn't terribly important to anyone at this time. Two hundred and fifty years and no colonization proves something. Great Britain was more than happy to end the war without taking it (it seems that would have been a better target for Great Britain than Cuba. But maybe they needed to take out Havana's Naval base to move on to Louisiana. I'm not sure). Letting Spain or France "keep" Louisiana was about the 19th most important part of the treaty.

I don't think Spain could "keep" Portugal either militarily or by treaty. The other powers of Europe, even their allies, would object. Plus, if Portugal was lcompletely overrun (not likely), Great Britain would protect Brazil at least (or take it themselves if the Portuguese Royal Family was captured in Lisbon). They could also cut off all Spanish trade without too much trouble. France's fleet was gone as was most of Spain's (like a third was captured in Havana, including almost everything in the Americas). Britain's fleet ruled.

Maybe Britain might offer something back for Portugal (Gibraltar?) if need be.

France only traded Louisiana for Florida because they knew they'd never get any help from Spain again if they pressured Spain into the war and then sat back as Spain lost territory. There were probably secret agreements in place before Spain declared (Minorca and an agreement of French aid to conquer Gibraltar?). Spain would have taken that trade for Florida in a moment.
 
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