The Spanish Resurgence, 1713–1748 by Christopher Storrs (review)

If there is one takeaway from this historical account of Spain during the reign of Philip V, titled The Spanish Resurgence, 1713–1748, it is that early Bourbon rule following the War of the Spanish Succession was defined as much by the king's "Mediterranean adventures" (127) as by anything else. With this revisionist approach, Storrs redirects attention away from the Atlantic and broader European fronts toward Spanish interventions, primarily, in Italy and, secondarily, in north Africa. These same "adventures" are thus synonymous with the ambitions of Philip V to maintain a presence in a sphere of uneven imperial influence at a time when the Hapsburg legacy, close French ties to the court, and Italian exiles were complicating the notion of any "Spain" in the modern sense of an eighteenth-century inchoate nation-state. In fact, once we gain perspective, as Storrs would argue, on the ways resources and policies, from Naples to Oran, were in step with the needs of the army (chapter 1), the navy (chapter 2), the finances (chapter 3), and so forth, beyond the peninsular borders proper, we might better appreciate a host of other interrelated takeaways. These include a reconsideration of the challenges faced by the new regime, namely, from "foral" sectors and territories within Spain who pushed back against "Monarchy-wide objectives" (169), and a fresh look at the complex relationship between Philip and his second wife, Isabel Farnese, whose sway might not have been as clear-cut or far-reaching as previously thought.

To these ends, Storrs crafts an elegant elaboration of the facts that must be factored in for a full view of the many hurdles facing Philip V, who continues to be remembered today more for his personal extravagances and emotional struggles, and less for his agenda as a ruler charged with ever-increasing institutional reform at a moment when Spain walked a thin line as "the single greatest threat to peace in Europe" (210), and, by extension, to the regional balance of power. A focus on this agenda allows Storrs to introduce his reader to a constellation of issues, from the recruitment of foreign fighters needed to fill the ranks, to the emergence of a forestry service needed to manage the timber for shipbuilding, to the reward-based governance structure needed to maintain loyalty among the nobility of the officer class. The coverage is thorough, without being overly dense, and the material is accessible, especially as Storrs takes pains not to get bogged down in arcane refutations of other historians. Indeed, he skillfully glosses over the critical conversations with a note structure, often paragraph-by-paragraph, that all but eliminates direct citations from the secondary voices he intends to answer. The effect is a prose that is to be praised for its readability, which, in turn, holds interest. Hence, by the last chapter, the arc of the argument becomes clear as Storrs delivers the most original twist to the case he has been making in different ways at each stage in his analysis. The Mediterranean aims of the Bourbon monarchy were fueled by a "conservative impulse … harking back to the past" (213) that brought about a more forward nationalism. Indeed, the high costs of these aims eroded away support for exploits in Italy and northern Africa that seemed of no real benefit to Spain. The irony of this history, therefore, raises questions of identity in relation to the reign of Philip V and "the implications for his subjects" (98) during such a transitional period. Storrs gestures in this direction with chapter 6, "Italy and Identity," when he concludes that, "identities were as yet not so narrowly defined in national terms as some historians seem to suggest" (208). There is an intriguing fluidity that could be further explored, especially as Storrs introduces what feels more like open beginnings than endings. His last sentence to this same chapter, for example, states that with Charles III, "contemporaries might have been justified in thinking that informally at least the...