The Pacte de Famille (French pronunciation: [pakt də famij], Family Compact; Spanish: Pacto de Familia) is three separate, but similar alliances between the Bourbon kings of France and Spain. As part of the settlement of the War of the Spanish Succession that brought the House of Bourbon of France to the throne of Spain, Spain and France made a series of agreements that did not unite the two thrones, but did lead to cooperation and military alliance on a defined basis. The Bourbon alliance would be broken by the French Revolutionary Wars.
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👉 Pacte de Famille in the context of Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War, which for Britain in fact lasted nine years, between 1754 and 1763. British involvement in the conflict began in 1754 in what became known as the French and Indian War. However the warfare in the European theatre involving countries other than Britain and France commenced in 1756 (hence the name "Seven Years' War"). Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power, having gained all of New France in North America, ending France's role as a colonial power there. Following Spain's entry in the war in alliance with France in the third Family Compact, Britain captured the major Spanish ports of Havana, Cuba and Manila, in the Philippines in 1762, and agreed to return them in exchange for Spanish Florida. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 formally ended the conflict and Britain established itself as the world's pre-eminent naval power.
The war started poorly for Britain, at the hands of France in North America during 1754–1755, and in the fall of Menorca in 1756. The same year Britain's major ally Austria switched sides and aligned itself with France, and Britain was hastily forced to conclude a new alliance with Frederick the Great's Prussia. For the next seven years these two nations were ranged against a growing number of enemy powers led by France. After a period of political instability, the rise of a government headed by the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt the Elder provided Britain with firmer leadership, enabling it to consolidate and achieve its war aims.
In this Dossier
Pacte de Famille in the context of War of the Polish Succession
The War of the Polish Succession (Polish: Wojna o sukcesję polską; 1733–35) was a major European conflict sparked by a civil war in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth over the succession to Augustus II the Strong, which the other European powers widened in pursuit of their own national interests. France and Spain, the two Bourbon powers, tested the power of the Austrian Habsburgs in Western Europe, as did the Kingdom of Prussia, whilst Saxony and Russia mobilized to support the eventual victor. The fighting in Poland–Lithuania resulted in the accession of Augustus III, who in addition to Russia and Saxony, was politically supported by the Habsburgs.
The war's major military campaigns and battles occurred outside the borders of Poland–Lithuania. The Bourbons, supported by Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, moved against isolated Habsburg territories. In the Rhineland, France successfully took the Duchy of Lorraine, and in Italy, Spain regained control over the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily lost in the War of the Spanish Succession, while territorial gains in northern Italy were limited despite bloody campaigning. Great Britain's unwillingness to support Habsburg Austria demonstrated the infirmity of the Anglo-Austrian Alliance.
Pacte de Famille in the context of Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763)
The Anglo-Spanish War (Spanish: Guerra Anglo-Española) was fought between Britain and Spain as part of the Seven Years' War. It lasted from January 1762 until February 1763, when the Treaty of Paris brought it to an end.
For most of the Seven Years' War, Spain remained neutral, turning down offers from the French to join the war on their side. During the war's latter stages, however, with mounting French losses to the British leaving the Spanish Empire vulnerable, King Charles III signaled his intention to enter the war on the side of France. This alliance became the third Family Compact between the two Bourbon kingdoms. After Charles had signed the agreement with France, seized British shipping, and expelled British merchants, Britain declared war on Spain. In August 1762, a British expedition captured Havana then, a month later, captured Manila. Between May and November, three major Franco-Spanish invasions of Portugal, Britain's long time Iberian ally, were defeated. In South America, the Spanish succeeded in capturing a strategically important port, but otherwise the war in South America ended in stalemate.