The War of Succession in Spain, 1700-15

The War of Succession in Spain, 1700-15 by Henry Arthur Francis Kamen. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780253190253.

The War of Succession in Spain 1700-1715 reinforces Henry Kamen’s reputation as a first-rate historian. It is written almost entirely from primary sources drawn largely from French and Spanish archives. Rather than simply provide a detailed narrative of the war, Mr. Kamen demonstrates its impact on Spanish society. He confines the military history of the war to an early chapter and devotes the bulk of the book to illustrating the war’s influence on the formulation of royal policies, the organization of government and the military, the finances of the Crown, industrial and mercantile activity, the nobility, and the relationship between the Castilian Crown and the peripheral states of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia. Mr. Kamen makes a particularly significant contribution to this last topic as he outlines the ways in which the war precipitated the emergence of Spain as a unified territorial state. He also provides new information on the early years of Spain’s first Bourbon ruler, Philip V, skillfully depicting how the war initiated royal policies in administration, finance, and defense as well as social and constitutional changes that were to influence the later history of Spain. . .