THE IDEA OF UNITING FRANCE AND SPAIN IN THE EARLY XVIII CENTURY
The article is devoted to explore the emergence of the idea of a the dual French-Spanish monarchy, the way of its implementation and reasons for the failure. In the struggle for the Spanish throne, the main competitors have become the Austrian Habsburgs and the French Bourbons. The threat of union of France and Spain under the scepter of one monarch sparked the first war for world hegemony - War of the Spanish Succession, which changed the balance of forces in Europe. Attempts to revise the peace treaty of Utrecht were unsuccessful for the Spanish monarchy.