380 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

politics. It was a century marked also by the rivalry with
the English. The net result for France of Louis XIV's
aggressive policy, as we have seen, was the acquisition of
Alsace, Metz, Toul, and Verdun in 1648 ; Tranche Comte,
Strassburg, and Luxemburg in 1684 ; and the placing of his
grandson (Philip V) on the throne of Spain in 1700. This
last event led to the formation of the Grand Alliance between
Austria, Prussia, England, Holland, Portugal, and Savoy
against France and Spain, resulting in the Duke of Marl-
borough's great series of victories : Blenheim, Ramillies,
Oudenarde, and Malplaquet (reviving the glories of Agki-
court, Crecy, and Poitou of the Hundred Years' War). It
was during this Spanish Succession War (1700-13) also that
England gained Gibraltar and Minorca, two important stra-
tegic possessions marking her hegemony in the Mediterranean.

Though the French menace to the peace of Europe appear-
ed to have abated a little after this, it continued to be
active elsewhere. England and France were both engaged
in a great duel already in India in the East and America
in the West. Consequently, when the next occasion arose
in the continent of Europe, on account of another Succes-
sion War (the Austrian) and its sequel the Seven Years'
War, the issues were fought out on three continents : Europe,
Asia, and America. In the memorable words of Voltaire,
"The first cannon shot fired in our lands was to set
the match to all the batteries in America and Asia."

The Hapsburg Emperor Charles VI died in 1740 without
a male heir to succeed him. Though he had taken care
to secure before his death the consent (by the Pragmatk
Sanction) of most of the rulers of Europe for bestowing
the Austrian throne on his daughter Maria Theresa, when
he died, Frederick II of Prussia (about whom more later)
tried to undermine the position of the young Empress by