AD 1650-1800 Early modern

In AD 1665, the unstable Charles II succeeded to the Spanish throne to face continuous conflict with Louis XIV of France in the Netherlands, Italy and Catalonia. Charles died childless in 1700, naming the Bourbon Philip of Anjou his heir, but a challenge from the Austrian Habsburgs plunged Spain into the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13).

Philip succeeded as Philip V (reigned 1700-46) in spite of civil war at home and the loss of Spanish territories in the Netherlands and Italy to the Habsburg Empire. Philip centralised the monarchy and built up the army and navy, recapturing Naples and Sicily. Spanish neutrality was maintained under Ferdinand VI (reigned 1746-59), but Charles III (reigned 1759-88) entered the Seven Years War on the side of France in 1762. At the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789), Spain was showing signs of military, social and economic recovery, but within a few years the country had been forced to ally herself to France and was committed to a ruinous war against superior British sea power.

Portugal languished under indifferent kings and the catastrophe of the Lisbon earthquake in 1755, but was regenerated during the ministry of the energetic Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782) from 1750. She was a loyal ally of Britain against Napoleon.