II, and it is shown in detail on some of the maps being published.
The images corresponding to this conflict –18 in all– refer exclusively to Catalonia and the leading events occurring there during the episode. In the summer of 1691, the French army attacked the cities of Barcelona and Alicante, not only damaging military targets but also harming the civilian population. Two years later, the Rosas fortress, the leading naval base in Catalonia, was attacked by both land and sea, surrendering on June 9, 1693 (238, 252, 143, 253). The following year, the Spanish troops were beaten at the Battle of the Ter (254, 255, 256), enabling France to surrender the fortress of Palamós (257) and the city of Gerona (258, 144, 155). The primary objective of the following campaigns was to defend Barcelona from the constant threat of a French occupation. All efforts were in vain, for in mid-August, 1697 the Duke of Vendôme, the commander of the French troops in Catalonia, conquered the city (259, 260, 261 y 262). All the Catalan towns and cities conquered by the French army were to be returned when the Treaty of Ryswick was signed, putting an end to the Nine Years War. Peace signalled the start of a new era in European politics, characterised by successive treaties distributing the Spanish crown, in preparation for the succession-based conflict that was to arise in Europe after the Spanish monarch’s death.
