The acceptance of the Spanish crown by…

The acceptance of the Spanish crown by Philip V in the face of counterclaims by Archduke Charles of Austria, who is supported by Britain and the Netherlands, is the proximate cause of the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-14), the first "world war" fought by European powers.

In 1705 an Anglo-Austrian force lands in Spain.

A Franco-Castilian army halts its advance on Madrid, but the invaders occupy Catalonia.

Castile enthusiastically receives the Bourbon dynasty, but the Catalans oppose it, not so much out of loyalty to the Habsburgs as in defense of their fueros against the feared imposition of French-style centralization by a Castilian regime.