The War of the Spanish Succession New Perspectives Studies of the German Historical Institute, London Series

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) was one of the largest and most violent events in early modern history. It engulfed large parts of Europe and was among the first military conflagrations to be fought on a global scale. The essays in this volume provide a new view of this surprisingly little studied conflict. Written by established scholars in the field they go beyond the traditional historiography with its narrow focus on set-piece battles (Blenheim, Malplaquet) and famous generals such as the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene to provide a thorough reassessment of the war. They adopt new approaches from the history of diplomacy and politics to challenge long-held assumptions about the system of international relations and the logistics of warfare in the early eighteenth century, study the public representation of the fighting, and explore the colonial dimension of the conflict. As a result the War of the Spanish Succession emerges as a crucial turning point in the history of early modern wars.

Matthias Pohlig is Professor of Early Modern History at the Westfälische Wilhelms University in Münster. His publications include the monograph Zwischen Gelehrsamkeit und konfessioneller Identitätsstiftung: Lutherische Kirchen- und Universalgeschichtsschreibung 1546-1617 (2007) and several volumes of collected essays on early modern historiography, religious history, and questions of historical theory. His book about information gathering during the War of the Spanish Succession, Marlboroughs Geheimnis: Strukturen und Funktionen der Informationsgewinnung im Spanischen Erbfolgekrieg, was published in 2016. Michael Schaich is the deputy director of the German Historical Institute London. He specializes in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century British and German history. Among his publications are Staat und Öffentlichkeit im Kurfürstentum Bayern der Spätaufklärung (2001) and as editor (with R. J. W. Evans and Peter H. Wilson) The Holy Roman Empire, 1495-1806 (2011) and (with Andreas Gestrich) The Hanoverian Succession: Dynastic Politics and Monarchical Culture (2015). His current research focuses on the symbolic representation of the British monarchy and state under the Stuarts and Hanoverians.