Cartography of war
Europe, 1701-1714.
The death of King Charles II provoked a succession conflict that gave rise to the war of Succession (1701-1714), where the main European powers took part: France in defence of the Pretender Felipe de Borbón, and Germany , Great Britain, Netherlands and Portugal in favour of Charles of Austria. In Spain, Castile was put in favor of Felipe, while Catalonia opted for Charles, who in 1706 was proclaimed King Carlos III by the Catalan Courts. However, the success of the French offensive, and the withdrawal of the Austrian pretender after their enthronement as emperor in 1711, leaving alone Catalonia, which, after a prolonged siege in Barcelona, was defeated on 11 September 1714, After a heroic resistance (the date that has been left since then as National Day).
Map 1: 1714. The siege of Barcelona, Barcino Magna Parens, by Francesc de Santacruz Lunell. Vienna, 1716-1718. Franz Ambros Dietell, engraver. Johann Van Guelen, editor.
From his Viennese exile, the Catalan engineer published this great engraving, to describe and locate the army’s positions besieging land and sea, and the state of the city during the siege:
Attack and defense of Barcelona, which for the space of fourteen months defended itself against the armies of Spain and France. Detailed description of the facts, fortifications, the situation and status of the different sides and the events numbered and explained.
Map 2: Plane of Barcelona besieged by sea and land by the Duke of Populi with the Army of Castile, and the Duke of Vervich with that of France. Author: Unknown Orography by shading and normal
Handwritten in black ink pen, illuminated in green, gray, pink and yellow
Index of the plane’s alphabetic and numerical keys
The positions of the artillery
