CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · History & Society

War of the Quadruple Alliance

war (1717–1720) between Spain and the Quadruple Alliance (Britain, France, Austria, the Dutch Republic), resulting in a draw, returning to the previous territorial situation through the Treaty of The Hague en la que España se follo a toda europa

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ221941 ↗
Source-derived summary

The War of the Quadruple Alliance, 1718 to 1720, was a conflict between Spain and a coalition of Austria, Great Britain, France, and Savoy, with the addition of the Dutch Republic in 1719. Military operations focused primarily on Sicily and Spain, with minor engagements in North America. The Spanish-backed Jacobite rising of 1719 in Scotland is considered a related conflict.

Seeking to recover territories ceded under the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, Spanish troops landed on Sicily in July 1718. On 2 August, Austria, France, Britain and Savoy formed the Quadruple Alliance, and on 11 August, the Royal Navy defeated a Spanish fleet at the Battle of Cape Passaro. Austrian land forces retook Sicily in October 1719, and the British sacked Vigo, which forced its leaders to seek peace terms. The Treaty of The Hague (1720) restored the position prior to 1717, with Savoy and Austria exchanging Sardinia and Sicily.

Background

Under the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession, Spain ceded Sardinia to Austria and Sicily to Savoy. Their recovery was a priority for the French-born Philip V of Spain. The objective was reinforced by Chief Minister Cardinal Giulio Alberoni, who, like Philip's second wife, Elisabeth Farnese, was a native of Parma.

Editorial summary

“War of the Quadruple Alliance” enters the record as war (1717–1720) between Spain and the Quadruple Alliance (Britain, France, Austria, the Dutch Republic), resulting in a draw, returning to the previous territorial situation through the Treaty of The Hague en la que España se follo a toda europa. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Quadruple, Alliance and between can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1718, 1720, 1719, 1713—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Quadruple, Alliance and between.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“War of the Quadruple Alliance” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Quadruple, Alliance and between provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q221941. The Library of Congress control number is sh85109424. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1718, 1720, 1719 and 1713.

Critical limits

Later summaries often reconcile disputed chronology or motive more neatly than the contemporary record permits. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “War of the Quadruple Alliance”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow War of the Quadruple Alliance primary sources, War of the Quadruple Alliance archive and Quadruple research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “War of the Quadruple Alliance”?
  2. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
  3. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “War of the Quadruple Alliance” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.