1700 when Charles II of Spain died with no sons or clear heir, setting the conditions for the War of the Spanish Succession. When Philip V of Spain took possession of the Kingdom of Valencia (one of the component kingdoms of the larger Spanish Kingdom) as a Felip IV of Valencia, there were already many supporters of the archduke Charles of Austria in this territory, as well as in the Principality of Catalonia and Majorca. Their reasons were various, ranging from loyalty to the dynasty of the House of Austria, hate towards the French by a part of the merchants and the industrials, and distrust for the suspected centralist attitude of Philip V of Spain, as seen by the Bourbon rule in France. Merchants and exporters of wine, brandy, silk, and other farming products, which was politically and economically very important, contacted a key person for their cause : General Joan Baptista Basset. General Basset was a Valencian, probably born in Alboraia in an artisan family, who spoke the people’s language and knew very well their claims and needs. He had served during the wars in Italy and Hungary under Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, a German Noble who had been before Viceroy in Catalonia. The War of the Spanish Succession had a double nature. On the one side, it was a Spanish internal issue, on the other side, it was a major European war for international hegemony. England and the Netherlands (the so-called "Maritime powers", traditional destinations of the Valencian merchants' exports) sided against the Bourbon pretender, Philip V of Spain. As a part of a blockade, Valencian exports to these countries stopped, which meant a total downfall for merchants and the peasants that sold them their Valencian products. The exports to France, a land that produced and exported the same products, did not compensate them in any way for the losses. Successful Rebellion Since the year 1704, Francesc Davila, who probably was a leader of the Segona Germania who had escaped persecution, toured all the southern counties of Valencia explaining to the peasants that the Austrian pretender was ready to abolish all the rights of the Nobles to higher taxes than the ones imposed by Jaume I. When Joan Baptista Basset disembarked in Altea in August 1705, a new revolt commenced and spread out everywhere. Basset rode to Valencia, via Dénia, Gandia and Alzira without meeting any real resistance.