Joint Crisis Committee Spanish succession: Bourbon bloc

Single Delegate

The death of the childless King Charles II of Spain in 1700 has set Europe on the precipice of its most consequential dynastic crisis in a generation. With his dying breath, Charles named Philip of Anjou (grandson of Louis XIV of France) as his sole heir, uniting the crowns of France and Spain under the Bourbon house and threatening to overturn the balance of power that the great courts of Europe have spent decades carefully constructing. This council convenes in the gilded halls of Versailles as the champions of the Bourbon claim (France, Spain, and their allies) to consolidate Philip V's hold on the Spanish throne, neutralize the gathering Habsburg coalition, and manage the diplomatic and military storm that is already breaking across the continent. The stakes could not be higher: success would cement Bourbon dominance over Western Europe and its vast colonial empire; failure would unravel the succession entirely and plunge the alliance into a war it may not be able to win. Delegates must navigate the tensions between French strategic ambition and Spanish sovereign pride, secure the loyalty of wavering European courts, and chart a course through a conflict that will define the shape of the eighteenth century.