If you know of the War of Spanish Succession, it went very bad for Spain. But what I'd Louis XIV agreed to not unite Spain and France yet allow his son to go on the throne?
If you know of the War of Spanish Succession, it went very bad for Spain. But what I'd Louis XIV agreed to not unite Spain and France yet allow his son to go on the throne?
Maybe Louis XIV could agree to make certain territorial consessions. Like the Spanish Netherlands to the Netherlands, you know, stuff like that.
Have the little Wittelsbach Prince survive. He was designated Prince of Asturias with it intended him to get the empire and Spain, while the Archduke Charles would get Milan and the Dauphin Naples, Presedi, and Finale.
Even if Spain is not united with France in personal union the mere idea of member of the French royal house on the Spanish throne was anathema to the allies especially the maritime powers (Britain and the Netherlands) who feared Spain colluding with the French against their interests overseas. They only finally accepted Philip V after years of costly warfare that saw them fail in their attempts to dislodge him. And even then the Austrians fought on by themselves for another year because Charles VI refused to give in when the rest of the allies made peace with France and Spain. So it would be very hard to convince those powers at the outset to accept a Bourbon even with substantial concessions.
Complicating things was that the Spanish wanted their domains to pass to a single heir, hence Charles II's will left everything to Philip under the condition that he renounce the partition treaties. If the French didn't the Spanish would offer everything to the Austrians. To the Spanish preserving the integrity of the Spanish Empire in the Americas, Italy and the Netherlands and the autonomy vis a vis the other powers was paramount over whether the ruler would be a Habsburg or a Bourbon. So Charles II and the Spanish state will never support the pre-war Partition Treaties. Furthermore those partition treaties were strictly a bilateral deal between France and Britain (and the Netherlands also under William III) that had no input from Austria or any smaller powers let alone Spain.
As for the War I'd argue it wasn't the War itself that was bad for Spain. Spain was already in decline. And if one looks at the Spain of Philip V it actually recovered somewhat. Part of the reason that the allies were unable to remove him was that he was able to institute wartime reforms that dramatically improved the health of the Spanish state and gave him resources with which to defend the core of the kingdom. Obviously the Spanish Empire was partitioned and Spain lost most of its European possessions but that's not really a consequence of the war. Every attempt before and during the war to negotiate a settlement and avoid further fighting included some form of partition. There were simply too many claimants and Spain too weak to dictate the terms of its succession.
Maybe someone else should inherit the throne. My good candidates for that are Bavaria, Saxony, Venice, or Sardinia.
Not Venice, it was a republic. Bavaria was where the compromise Wittelsbach heir was from though.
As I understand it, the Wittelsbach boy wasn't a compromise, he was just the obvious legal heir. Once he died, who was the heir was disputed between the Habsburgs and Bourbons, using different claims, but if he lives, there's no dispute.
He could then marry a Bourbon lady if there's any around.