Kingdom of Sardinia (1700–1720)

At the end of the war, a series of treaties—Utrecht (1713), Rastatt (1714) and Baden (1714)—transferred the Spanish-held kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples to the Habsburg emperor, now Charles VI.

[1] A strong supporter of Philip V, Vicente Bacallar, who believed the Bourbon Louis XIV of France the ideal monarch, was governor of Gallura and Cagliari in the east of the island at the time.

[2] The first external action taken by supporters of "Charles III" involved a Royal Navy fleet of forty ships under John Leake landing Austrian troops at Terranova Pausania in 1708.

The Austrians were to give support to Charles' partisans on the island, while the British fleet went on to Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia, where it anchored in the afternoon of August 11 or 12.

According to one, the viceroy refused the surrender with the understanding that the British would, pro forma, lob a few shells on his city so that his men could claim to have fought.

When the viceroy tried to postpone a response until the morning by claiming that it was too late to assemble his government, the British " judged it best to keep on the fright and cause no delay", bombarding the city with 120 shells.

At daylight Wills landed the men, including 900 sailors, to the east of the city, and Leake brought seven ships into harbour in order to cannonade the fortifications.

[1] In 1710, Vicente Bacallar, Marquis of San Felipe, approached both Philip V and Louis XIV in an effort to garner support for an invasion of Sardinia.

[5] On 29 December 1713, Charles formed the Supreme Council of Spain (Consejo Supremo de España) in Vienna to govern those domains he still retained of the former Spanish empire.

[7] On 8 March 1714, Charles formed a department of internal affairs (negociación) for each of the former Spanish realms—Sardinia, Naples, Milan and the Southern Netherlands—within the Habsburg Council of State for Spain.

During the last brief period of Habsburg rule on the island, the royal patrimony of Sardinia provided 20,000 escudos annually, which went to the military fund (caxa militar).

[1][10] After awaiting favorable winds at Majorca, the Spanish fleet under the Marquis de Lede sailed to Cagliari, where it arrived on 25 July.

[1] The Sicilian expedition failed, and Spain in the ensuing negotiations gave up its claim on Sardinia and recognised Austria's right in the Treaty of the Hague.