Who won the War of the Spanish Succession?

Answer 1

The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 ended the war of Spanish Succession. No winner was determined. Philip V agreed to renounce his position in the French line of succession and was named King of Spain.

Answer 2

The age we live in regards "victory" as the ultimate and complete overthrow of the enemy. This was beyond the scope of possibility in the 17th and 18th centuries. So as a relative victory, I'd have to say the Franco-Spanish Alliance won. The War was fought so Charles of Austria could become King of Spain, the Sea Powers and Austria failed to achieve that, Philip V remained King of Spain as he was decreed by Charles II. Punishing victories over France forced Louis XIV to grant the Spanish Netherlands to Austria, and divide the Italian possessions of Spain between Austria and Savoy, but the rest of the Empire remained intact and was now united to France by shared interests and a common dynasty (Bourbon). So Austria gained the Spanish Netherlands, which were useless as they were too far away to defend, and would cause them problems in later wars, such as the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and they were overrun by the Comte de Saxe during the War of the Austrian Succession. So France gained all of the resources of the still extensive and impressive Spanish Empire as an ally in all future wars against the British and Austrians, while the Austrians gained volatile, reluctant subjects in a province it could not defend and could hardly police, as well as Italian possessions that also turned out to be at the mercy of France and Spain, due to the fact that each of those had significant naval power in the Mediterranean and Austria did not. The Spanish and French ejected the Austrians from Italy during the War of the Polish Succession, and again during the War of the Austrian Succession, and again during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and finally again during the Italian Wars of Unification. So, in short, Austria won nothing but territories that were to be permanent hostages to France and Spain, while France gained the second or third most powerful nation on the planet (depending on your view) as a permanent ally in all future conflicts. So I'd say France won.

- Actually I have a different opinion about who won. The entire war was started because the alliance of the French and British thrones would have led to the creation of a super power nation. This meant that they would monopolise the trade and territorial access in the 'New World'. As a result the other European powers would feel extremely slighted and thus looked for any excuse to start a war with Spanish-French alliance.

After more than a decade of war, the Spanish and French alliance broke up and Holland and England were granted a thirty year 'Asiento' which granted them the rights to supply up to 4,800 enslaved Africans to Spanish colonies as well as up to 500 tons in contraband.

Seeing as other nations like Britain got exactly what they wanted, while Spain and France retained what they had or less, maybe it was Britain, Holland etc. who won.