battle of Almanza

Almanza, battle of (battle of Almansa) (1707), best remembered for the fact that the British-Allied army was commanded by a Frenchman, the Huguenot Henri de Massue de Ruivigny, Earl of Galway, and the Franco-Spanish army by an Englishman, James FitzJames, Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II and Arabella Churchill—and thus the Duke of Marlborough's nephew. But it was a decisive battle in its own right. There was extensive campaigning in Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession, and it proved as detrimental to the Allied war effort as it was to Napoleon's a century later. In 1705 the Earl of Peterborough captured Barcelona, the following year Galway took Madrid. He was outmanoeuvred by the capable Berwick, gave up Madrid, and fell back to the coast to retain the support of the fleet. On 25 April 1707 Galway, with a British, Dutch, and Portuguese force, advanced on Berwick at Almanza, between Albacete and Alicante. Although things went well at first, the Portuguese on Galway's right broke, and Berwick seized the opportunity to outflank and encircle the survivors. Despite the valour of Galway's British contingent—the 6th and 9th Foot bore themselves especially well—almost all Galway's 15, 000 men were killed or captured. The battle led to the Allied claimant to Spain, the Archduke Charles, losing all except Catalonia, and left the French claimant, Philip V, secure on his throne.

— Richard Holmes

Almanza, battle of, 1707. On 25 April an allied force under the command of Lord Galway, comprising about 15, 000 English, Dutch, and Portuguese troops, attacked a larger Franco-Spanish army under Marshal Berwick near Valencia. Despite initial allied success, a Portuguese defeat on the right flank exposed the English and Dutch, over 3, 000 of whom were forced to surrender.