Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763)
Anglo–Spanish War (1762–1763) | |||||||||
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Part of the Seven Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish Wars | |||||||||
The Capture of Havana, 1762, Storming of Morro Castle, 30 July, Dominic Serres | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Portugal Filipino rebels |
Spain France | ||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
The Anglo–Spanish War (Spanish: Guerra Anglo-Española) was a military conflict fought between Britain and Spain as part of the Seven Years' War. It lasted from January 1762 until February 1763, when the Treaty of Paris brought it to an end.
For most of the Seven Years' War, Spain remained neutral, turning down offers from the French to join the war on their side. During the war's latter stages, however, with mounting French losses to the British leaving the Spanish Empire vulnerable, King Charles III signaled his intention to enter the war on the side of France. This alliance became the third Family Compact between the two Bourbon kingdoms. After Charles had signed the agreement with France, seized British shipping, and expelled British merchants, Britain declared war on Spain. In August 1762, a British expedition captured Havana then, a month later, captured Manila. Between May and November, three major Franco-Spanish invasions of Portugal, Britain's long time Iberian ally, were defeated. In South America, the Spanish succeeded in capturing a strategically important port, but otherwise the war in South America ended in stalemate.
By the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Florida to Britain and returned conquered Portuguese and Brazilian territories to Portugal in exchange for the British handing back Havana and Manila. As compensation for their ally's losses, the French ceded Louisiana to Spain by the Treaty of Fontainebleau.
Background
After war was declared between France and Great Britain in 1756, Spain remained neutral. King
With evidence of growing Franco-Spanish co-operation, Pitt suggested it was only a matter of time before Spain entered the war. The prospect of war with Spain shattered the cabinet unity that had existed up to that point. Pitt strongly advocated a pre-emptive strike which would allow them to capture the annual plate fleet, denying Spain the money required to fund a continuous war. The rest of the cabinet refused, and Pitt resigned.[3] In spite of this war with Spain swiftly became unavoidable; by 1761, France looked as if it was going to lose the war with Britain. Suspecting that a French defeat in the Seven Years' War would upset the balance of power, Charles signed the Family Compact with France (both countries were ruled by branches of the Bourbon family) in August 1761. In December 1761, Spain placed an embargo on British trade, seized British goods in Spain and expelled British merchants. In response to this, Britain declared war on Spain on January 4, 1762.[4]
War
Portugal
From the British point of view the most pressing issue in the war with Spain was a threatened invasion of Portugal, which although a historic British ally, had, like Spain, remained neutral through most of the conflict. France persuaded a reluctant Spain into attacking Portugal and hoped that this new front would draw away British forces then directed against France. Portugal's long but rugged border with Spain was considered by the French to be vulnerable and easy to overrun (a view not shared by the Spanish), rather than the more complex effort needed to besiege the British fortress of Gibraltar. Spanish forces massed on the Portuguese border, ready to strike. Britain moved swiftly to support their Portuguese allies, shipping in supplies and officers to help co-ordinate the defence.[5]
The original Spanish plan was to take
South America
The Seven Years' War spilled over into Portuguese-Spanish conflict in their South American colonies. The South American war involved small colonial forces taking and retaking remote frontier areas and ended in a stalemate. The only significant action was the First Cevallos expedition, in which Spanish forces captured and then defended the strategically important port town on the River Plate Colony of Sacramento.
Cuba
In June 1762, British forces from the West Indies landed on the island of Cuba and laid siege to Havana. Although they arrived at the height of the fever season, and previous expeditions against tropical Spanish fortresses failed due, in no small part, to tropical disease, the British government was optimistic of victory— if the troops could catch the Spanish off-guard before they had time to respond.[8] The British commander Albemarle ordered a tunnel to be dug by his sappers so a mine could be planted under the walls of the city's fortress. British troops began to fall ill from disease, but they were boosted by the arrival of 4,000 reinforcements from North America. On 30 July Albemarle ordered the mine to be detonated, and his troops stormed the fortress.[9]
With Havana now in their hands, the British lay poised to strike at other Spanish colonies in the
Central America
In early 1762,
Philippines
Almost as soon as war had been declared with Spain, orders had been despatched for a British force at
News of the city's capture didn't reach Europe until after the Treaty of Paris; as such no provision was made regarding its status. During the siege, the original Spanish lieutenant governor Archbihop Rojo had agreed to a four million Spanish silver dollar payment known as the Manila Ransom, in exchange for sparing the city from further damage and pillage, but this agreement was repudiated, along with all his agreements with the British, by Simon Anda, the leader of the resistance against the British. The full amount was never paid but neither side considered it necessary.
Aftermath
Britain held a dominant position at the negotiations, as they had during the last seven years of the war captured
References
- ^ Simms 2008, p. 559.
- ^ Anderson & Cayton p.124–25
- ^ Browning p.280–82
- ^ Anderson p.487–90
- ^ Anderson p.497
- ^ Anderson p.497–98
- ^ Anderson p.498
- ^ Anderson p.498–99
- ^ Anderson p.499–501
- ^ a b Anderson p.501–02
- S2CID 163683579.
- ^ Marley p.441
- ^ Rodger Command of the Ocean p.286–87
- ^ Simms p.555
- ^ Tracy pp.75–76
- ^ Longmate p.183–85
Sources
- Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. Faber and Faber, 2001
- Anderson, Fred and Cayton, Andrew. The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North America 1500–2000. Penguin Books, 2005.
- Anderson, Fred. The War that Made America: a Short History of the French and Indian War. Penguin Books, 2006.
- Browning, Reed. The Duke of Newcastle. Yale University Press, 1975.
- Longmate, Norman. Island Fortress: The Defence of Great Britain, 1603–1945. HarperCollins, 1993
- David F. Marley (2008). Wars of the Americas: a chronology of armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere, 1492 to the present. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, Inc. p. 441. ISBN 978-1-59884-100-8.
- Rodger NAM. Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain, 1649–1815. Penguin Books, 2006.
- N. A. M. Rodger, The Insatiable Earl: A Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich (London: HarperCollins, 1993)
- Simms, Brendan (2008). Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire. Penguin Books.
- Tracy, Nicholas (1995). Manila Ransomed. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 0859894266.