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See also:NAVAL OPERATIONS, AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN See also:SPAIN ,
The See also:war of the See also:Spanish See also:succession affected all the nations of western, See also:northern and central See also:Europe in a greater or less degree, but that See also:part of it which was fought out on the See also:soil of Spain See also:lay aside from the See also:campaigns in See also:Flanders, See also:Germany and See also:Italy. The purely Spanish campaigns had a See also:close connexion with the movements of the fleets, and the two may be conveniently taken together. The naval war was superficially somewhat wanting in See also:interest. See also: Du Casse near St Martha on the loth of See also:August 1702 and subsequent days, He was himself mortally wounded, but lived See also:long enough to bring his captains to court See also:martial. Two of them were shot for cowardice. The treasure See also:fleet sailed for Europe only to fall into the hands of the allies at See also:Vigo. On the 1st of See also:July 1702 a powerful. combined fleet of 30 British See also:sail-of-the-See also:line under See also:Sir See also:George See also:Rooke, and 20 Dutch under Admiral Allemonde sailed from Spithead carrying 5000 troops. The general command was given to the See also:duke of See also:Ormonde. The purpose of this expedition was to occupy See also:Cadiz and encourage a rising in See also:Andalusia on behalf of the See also:Habsburg See also:candidate. It reached Cadiz on the 22nd of August, but the inhabitants and the See also:garrison remained loyal. The leaders of the expedition quarrelled with one another and the soldiers aroused the See also:bitter indignation of the inhabitants by plundering the small towns of See also:Santa Maria and See also:Rota. On the 3oth of September the expedition sailed away. See also:Information sent by the British See also:minister at See also:Lisbon that Chateaurenault had put into Vigo reached them at See also:Lagos. The duke of Ormonde and his colleagues decided to attack the treasure fleet. On the 22nd of See also:October they forced the See also:boom laid by the enemy between the inner and See also:outer harbours of Vigo, and the treasure fleet was destroyed, but the See also:bullion had been landed. During 1703 the " grand fleet " of the allies, i.e. their See also:main force in See also:European See also:waters, entered the Mediterranean to carry help to the insurgent Protestants in the See also:Cevennes, but effected nothing of importance. See also:Portugal having now joined the Alliance, it was decided to make a serious effort in Spain. A combined fleet carrying 4000 Dutch and 8000 British troops, and conveying the See also:archduke See also: Fagel was surprised and taken prisoner with 2000 men at Sobreira Fermosa, and some of the frontier posts remained in Berwick's hands when the See also:heat from which the British and Dutch soldiers suffered severely suspended operations. At sea, however, a material success was gained. Sir George Rooke went on from Lisbon accompanied by Prince George of See also:Hesse-See also:Darmstadt, to See also:Barcelona. The prince who had been See also:governor of See also:Catalonia, believed that he could bring about a rising in the See also:province in favour of the Habsburg cause. As the fleet carried no considerable See also:body of troops, Rooke and Hesse-Darmstadt failed to persuade the Catalans to See also:act. They were embarrassed by the knowledge that the See also:count of See also:Toulouse, a natural son of Louis XIV., the admiral of See also:France, who had sailed from See also:Brest on the 6th of May with 23 sail-of-the-line had entered the Mediterranean, and had reached See also:Toulon in See also:June. In expectation of an attack by the See also:united fleets of Brest and Toulon, the allies See also:fell back to the straits. Having obtained information that See also:Gibraltar (q.v.) was not sufficiently garrisoned, they attacked and took it on the 3rd of August. On the 24th the count of Toulouse, came to the See also:relief of the fortress with 50 sail-of-the-line, and 24 galleys. He engaged the allies, 62 British and Dutch line of battleships in all, off See also:Malaga. The engagement was a cannonade accompanied with See also:great loss of See also:life, but without manoeuvring on either See also:side. The French retired to Toulon, and the allies remained in See also:possession of Gibraltar. An attempt of the Spaniards to retake it, made at the end of 1704 and beginning of 1705 was baffled by the resolute See also:defence of the prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, and the relief afforded to the garrison by the squadron of Sir See also: The fall of Barcelona gave a severe See also:shock to the Bourbon king. He came in See also:person with See also:Marshal Tease who had replaced the duke of Berwick, and endeavoured to retake the See also:town See also:early in See also:April 1706. The brutality with which Tease treated the See also:people of Aragon and Catalonia raised the See also:country against the Bourbon king. The British relieved Barcelona on the 9th of May, and See also: Berwick outmanoeuvred them, and forced them to retreat on Valencia. In February 1707 they were reinforced by troops brought by the fleet and advanced in April. On the 25th of the See also:month they were defeated by the French and Spanish troops at See also:Almansa in the province of See also:Alicante, with the loss of all their See also:infantry. From this date till 1710, the land war in Spain remained stationary. The Bourbon king was See also:master of the greater part of Spain, including Aragon. His generals retook See also:Lerida on the Catalan frontier, and on the Portuguese frontier at La Gudina near See also:Badajoz, on the 7th of May 1709, a Spanish army under the Marques de See also:Bay defeated an Anglo-Portuguese army under the earl of Galway. Yet the Austrian party held Catalonia and Valencia, and the See also:financial See also:distress of the Spanish See also:government, aided by the disorganized See also:state of the See also:administration, rendered a vigorous offensive impossible. By 1710 the French king had been reduced to great distress, and was compelled to make at least a show of withdrawing his support from his See also:grandson Philip V. The allies decided to advance from Catalonia, a course which was strongly urged by General See also:Stanhope (afterwards Earl Stan-See also:hope), who commanded the British troops. He had served in subordinate See also:rank from the beginning of the war, and had gained some reputation by the See also:capture of Port Mahon in 1708. Stan-hope's See also:energy overcame the reluctance of the Imperialist general Guido Starhemberg, who commanded the See also:German troops of the archduke. The allies advanced and for a See also:time seemed to carry all before them. The Spaniards were defeated at Almenara on the 27th of July 1710, and before See also:Saragossa on the 20th of August. On the 21st of September the archduke entered Madrid. But the invasion of 1710 was a repetition of the invasion of 1706. The 23,000 men of the allies, reduced by a loss of 2000 in the actions at Almenara and Saragossa, by casualties in See also:constant skirmishes with the guerrilleros, and by disease, were absolutely incapable of occupying the two Castiles. The Portuguese gave no help. The Spaniards were reorganized by the duke of See also:Vendome, who was See also:lent to King Philip V. by his grandfather, and were joined by soldiers of the Irish See also:brigade, and by some Frenchmen who were allowed, or secretly directed, to enter the Spanish service. The position of the allies at Madrid, which was deserted by all except the poorest of its inhabitants, became untenable. On the 9th of See also:November they evacuated the town, and began their retreat to Catalonia. The archduke left the army with 2000 See also:cavalry, and hurried back to Barcelona. The See also:rest of the army marched in two detachments, the See also:division being imposed on them by difficulty of finding See also:food. General Starhemberg with the main body of 12,000 men, was a See also:day's march ahead of the British troops, 5000 men, under Stanhope. Such a disposition invited disaster in the presence of so capable a general as Vendome. On the 9th of See also:December he fell upon General Stanhope at Brihuega, and after hard fighting forced him to surrender. Starhemberg, who received tardy information of the peril of his colleague, marched back to support him, and fought a See also:drawn See also:battle at Villa Viciosa, on the 11th. The fruits of victory fell to Vendome, for the Imperialist general was compelled to continue his retreat, harassed at every step by the Spanish cavalry and irregulars. His army was reduced to 7000 men when he reached Barcelona. The disastrous result of the See also:campaign of 1710 proved to demonstration that it was impossible to force the archduke on the Castilians by any effort the allies were prepared to make. They remained quiescent at Barcelona till they evacuated the country altogether on the See also:Peace of See also:Utrecht. The Catalans, though deserted by their allies, continued to fight for their See also:local franchises which had been declared forfeited by the victorious Bourbon king. Barcelona was only subdued on the 12th of September 1714, after a siege of great length and extraordinary ferocity, by the united exertions of the French and Spanish troops under the command of the duke of Berwick. The naval operations, apart from the transport and support of the troops in Spain, were more numerous than memorable. The overwhelming superiority of the allies alone enabled them to maintain the war in the See also:Peninsula, but as they met no serious opposition except in 1704, there is nothing to See also:record See also:save their successive cruises. In 1707 a British and Dutch fleet under Sir Cloudesley See also:Shovel aided the Imperialists in the unsuccessful siege of Toulon. The action of the allied navy was in fact as decisive as the naval strength of Great See also:Britain was to be in the later struggle with See also:Napoleon. But it was less brilliant. The many expeditions sent to the West Indies rarely did more than See also:plunder coast towns or plantations in the French islands. An exception was indeed provided by the British admiral Sir Charles See also:Wager, who in May 1708 destroyed or captured a whole squadron of Spanish treasure ships near See also:Cartagena in South See also:America. The loss of the treasure was a heavy See also:blow to the government of Philip V. and had much to do with his inability to follow up the victory of Almansa. On the whole however neither the British nor the Dutch achieved any material success against the French in America. One powerful British combined force, which was sent against See also:Quebec in 1711, was compelled to return by the shipwreck of a number of the vessels composing it at the mouth of the St See also:Lawrence on the 21st of August. The French found some See also:consolation for the weakness of the royal navy in the daring and the frequent success of their privateers. They were indeed the finest operations of the See also:kind recorded in naval warfare. As the British and Dutch took See also:measures to guard against capture of their See also:merchant ships by sailing in well protected convoys, the French combined their privateers into squadrons and attacked the guard with great vigour. On the loth of October 1708, aattacked near the See also:Lizard, and was almost wholly destroyed or captured by Duguay Trouin and See also:Forbin with 12 smaller vessels. This was but one example of a number of operations of the same See also:character by which the See also:trade of Great Britain and See also: The royal ships were equipped as a See also:speculation by Duguay Trouin and the shipowners of St Maio. The See also:booty taken gave a profit of 92 % on the See also:capital invested. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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