ABSTRACT
Queen Anne's declaration of war in May 1702 made clear that Britain had two main war aims, one European, one domestic, with Louis XIV at their point of intersection. Britain's domestic war aims could also be managed by its central government largely independently and mainly reactively. The most important effort it made at home was to push forward the union of the parliaments of Edinburgh and Westminster in 1707. War weariness in Britain arose from the fundamental difficulties of attaining its European war aims, but, turning to author's third theme, was refracted through an unusually vibrant and vicious political culture. Britain's disengagement from the War of the Spanish Succession took the form that it did because Godolphin and Marlborough were forced from office in 1710 and 1711 respectively. Marlborough remained Captain General after this dramatic change of scene and oversaw some progress in the campaign of 1711.
