A.) Causes
Following the War of Spanish Succession 1701-1714, Philip V. of Spain could hold on to Spain proper and the Spanish colonial empire, but had to cede the Spanish Netherlands, Milan and Naples to Austria, Sicily to Savoy-Piemont and Obergeldern to Brandenburg-Prussia.
Sardinia, Sicily and Naples had, for centuries, been closely linked to Aragon and, in her succession, to Spain; significant elements in the population sympathized with their former masters, while the new Austrian respectively Savoyard masters, originally welcomed as liberators from Spanish rule, enjoyed limited public support.
Spanish Prime Minister, Cardinal Alberoni, pursued an ambitious foreign policy which aimed at regaining lost territory in Italy and even at claiming the French throne for King Philip V. (Louis XIV. had died in 1715).
