War of Spanish Succession

Most rulers in Europe agreed that the Elector of Bavaria would succeed Charles II of Spain when the latter died. Unfortunately the Elector predeceased Charles, which left two contenders for the throne: Philip, the grandson of Louis XIV, and Charles, brother of Leopold I, the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles II died in Nov 1700 leaving his throne to the Bourbon Philip and the result war was nominally to put the Hapsburg Charles on the throne instead. Philip was supported by France and Spain less the Catalan territories, where as Charles had the support of the Grand Alliance including most other nations in Europe. The war was fought over a large part of southern and western Europe including the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Even though Charles withdrew his own claim to Spain in 1711, the war dragged on until 1715.