| Battle of Almanza | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Spanish Succession | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Great Britain |
 [1]France Spain |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Earl of Galway |
Duke of Berwick |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 22,000 | 25,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 5,000 dead or wounded 12,000 captured |
3,500 dead or wounded | ||||||
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The Battle of Almanza, fought on April 25, 1707, was one of the most decisive engagements of the War of the Spanish Succession. At Almanza, the Franco–Spanish army under Berwick soundly defeated the allied forces of Portugal, Britain, and the United Provinces led by the Earl of Galway, reclaiming most of eastern Spain for the Bourbons.
It has been described as "probably the only battle in history in which the British forces were commanded by a Frenchman, the French by a Briton"[2].
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The battle
The Bourbon army of about 25,000 was composed of French and Spanish troops in equal proportion, as well as an Irish regiment. Opposing them was a mainly Anglo-Portuguese force with strong Dutch, German, and French Huguenot elements.
The battle began with an artillery exchange. When Galway committed his reserves to an attack on the Bourbon centre, Berwick unleashed a strong force of Franco-Spanish cavalry against the weakened Anglo-Portuguese lines, sweeping away the Portuguese horse. A general rout followed. Galway lost 5,000 men killed and 12,000 taken prisoner; of his army of 22,000 only 5,000 escaped to Tortosa.
Aftermath
The victory was a major step in the consolidation of Spain under the Bourbons. With the main allied army destroyed, the pretender duc d'Anjou regained the initiative and gained Valencia.
The city of Xàtiva was burned, and its name changed to San Felipe in order to punish it. (In memory of these facts, nowadays the portrait of the monarch still hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí [4])
Before long, the only remaining allies of the Habsburg pretender, Archduke Charles, were his supporters in Catalonia and Balearic Islands.
Legacy
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In the present-day Valencian Community, the saying: Quan el mal ve d'Almansa, a tots alcança ("Evil tidings spare no one when they come from Almanza," or, more literally, "When the wrong comes from Almanza, it reaches everybody" (Compare English: "It's an ill wind that blows no good") recalls this defeat, since one of the side effects of this defeat was the suppression of the autonomy of the Kingdom of Valencia within the Spanish Habsburg monarchy.
References
- ^ George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana, The American Cyclopaedia, New York, 1874, p. 250, "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis...". *[1]The original Banner of France was strewn with fleurs-de-lis. *[2]:on the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)."[3] from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour."
- ^ Norwich, John Jules (2007). The Middle Sea. A History of the Mediterranean. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0701176083. Berwick was the illegitimate son of the exiled King James II of England, who had taken up service in the French army after his and his father's exile. Galway was a French Huguenot who had joined the English service under William of Orange
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Battle of Almansa |
- Almansa 2007 III Centenario
- Almansa Strategical Overview
- La Batalla de Almansa
- Batalla de Almansa
- A description of the battle plus a song from the A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs
- Panoramic view of the II Recreation of the Battle of Almansa (2009)
- Orders at Battle of Almansa
Coordinates: 38°52′28″N 1°5′37.30″W / 38.87444°N 1.093694°W
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