Capture of Minorca (1708)

Capture of Minorca
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
Date 14–21 September 1708 Location Menorca, Spain Result Grand Alliance victory. Minorca awarded to Britain by treaty in 1713
Belligerents
Great Britain  Dutch Republic	Bourbon Spain
Commanders and leaders
Sir John Leake

The Capture of Minorca saw the island of

Background

Since 1702

On 14 September 1708 an Anglo-Dutch naval force under the command of General James Stanhope landed on the island of Menorca and laid siege to the town of Mahón. Sir Edward Whitaker, with his Admiral's flag in HMS Northumberland, went to join Sir John Leake in the Mediterranean where he assisted in the capture of Menorca taking Fornelle and Ciutadella de Menorca.^[1] The island's inhabitants were—like most Catalans—pro-Austria, and greeted the British and Dutch soldiers as liberators. A week later the Franco-Spanish garrison surrendered.^[2]

Aftermath

Realising the potential of Menorca as a British naval base, the British moved to fully take control of it — and received acknowledgement of this at the

The British occupied the island on and off until 1802 when it was finally handed back to Spain as part of the Amiens Treaty. During that time Menorca became an important part of Britain's security architecture in the Mediterranean Sea with a major naval base.^[4]

See also

• Battle of Minorca (1756)
• Siege of Fort St Philip (1756)
• Invasion of Minorca (1781)
• Capture of Minorca (1798)

References