War of Jenkins' Ear
War of Jenkins' Ear | |||||||
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Part of the War of the Austrian Succession | |||||||
Trade map of the West Indies and North America during the war, 1741 | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
British Empire | Spanish Empire | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Casualties and losses | |||||||
20,000 dead and wounded, majority from disease outbreaks 407 ships lost[2] |
4,500 dead, 5,000 wounded, 186 ships lost[citation needed] |
Wars of Great Britain |
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History of Spain |
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Timeline |
The War of Jenkins' Ear (Spanish: Guerra del Asiento, lit. 'War of the Agreement') was a conflict lasting from 1739 to 1748 between Britain and Spain. The majority of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. It was related to the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession. The name was coined in 1858 by British historian Thomas Carlyle,[3] and refers to Robert Jenkins, captain of the British brig Rebecca, whose ear was allegedly severed by Spanish coast guards while searching his ship for contraband in April 1731.
Response to the incident was tepid until opposition politicians in the British Parliament, backed by the South Sea Company, used it seven years later to incite support for a war against Spain, hoping to improve British trading opportunities in the Caribbean.[4] They also wanted to retain the lucrative Asiento de Negros, a contract issued by Spain to British merchants granting them permission to sell slaves in Spanish America, which is why the Spanish call it the Guerra del Asiento.[5] The failed British attack at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741 resulted in heavy British casualties, primarily from disease and was not repeated.[6]
Apart from minor fighting in Florida, Georgia and Havana, after 1742 the conflict was largely subsumed into the War of the Austrian Succession, which involved most of the powers of Europe, and ended with the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Great Britain failed to achieve its territorial and economic ambitions,[7] and Spain successfully defended its possessions in the Americas.[8][9] The war is remembered in British naval history for Admiral George Anson's voyage around the world from 1740 to 1744.
Background
The war was traditionally seen as a dispute between Britain and Spain over access to markets in Spanish America. More recent historians argue trade was only one of a number of issues, including tensions over British colonial expansion in North America. They suggest the decisive factor in turning an economic dispute into war was the domestic political campaign to remove the Whig government led by Robert Walpole, Prime Minister since 1721.[10]
The 18th-century economic theory of
However, the value of these rights was insignificant compared to the trade between Britain and mainland Spain, which a leading
Accepting that smuggling was too lucrative and widespread to stop altogether, the Spanish tried to manage it and sometimes used it as an instrument of policy. During the 1727 to 1729 Anglo-Spanish War, French ships carrying contraband were let through, while British ships were stopped and severe restrictions imposed on British merchants in Cadiz. This was reversed during the 1733 to 1735 War of the Polish Succession, when Britain supported Spain.[17]
Under the 1729
Tensions increased after the founding of the British colony of
The January 1739
Name
The incident that gave its name to the war had occurred in 1731, off the coast of Florida, when the British brig Rebecca was boarded by a party from the Spanish patrol boat La Isabela, commanded by the guarda costa (effectively privateer) Juan de León Fandiño. After boarding, Fandiño cut off the left ear of the Rebecca's captain, Robert Jenkins, whom he accused of smuggling (although Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette for 7 October 1731, says it was Lieutenant Dorce).[4] Fandiño told Jenkins, "Go, and tell your King that I will do the same, if he dares to do the same." In March 1738, Jenkins was ordered to testify before Parliament, presumably to repeat his story before a committee of the House of Commons. According to some accounts, he produced the severed ear as part of his presentation, although no detailed record of the hearing exists.[28] The incident was considered alongside various other cases of "Spanish Depredations upon the British Subjects",[29] and was perceived as an insult to Britain's honour and a clear casus belli.[30]
The conflict was named by essayist and historian Thomas Carlyle, in 1858, 110 years after hostilities ended. Carlyle mentioned the ear in several passages of his History of Friedrich II (1858), most notably in Book XI, chapter VI, where he refers specifically to "the War of Jenkins's Ear".
Conduct of the war
First attack on La Guaira (22 October 1739)
Vernon sent three ships commanded by Captain Thomas Waterhouse to intercept Spanish ships between
Capture of Portobelo (20–22 November 1739)
Prior to 1739, trade between mainland Spain and its colonies was conducted only through specific ports; twice a year, outward bound ships assembled in
During the 1727 to 1729
The victory was widely celebrated in Britain; the song "
However, taking a port in Spain's American empire was considered a foregone conclusion by many
First attack on Cartagena de Indias (13–20 March 1740)
Following the success of Portobelo, Vernon decided to focus his efforts on the capture of
On 7 March 1740, in a more direct approach, Vernon undertook a
Destruction of the fortress of San Lorenzo el Real Chagres (22–24 March 1740)
After the destruction of Portobelo the previous November, Vernon proceeded to remove the last Spanish stronghold in the area. He attacked the
At 3 pm on 22 March 1740, the British
Following the strategy previously applied at Porto Bello, the British destroyed the fort and seized the guns along with two Spanish patrol boats.
During this time of British victories along the Caribbean coast, events taking place in Spain would prove to have a significant effect on the outcome of the largest engagement of the war. Spain had decided to replace Don Pedro Hidalgo as governor of
Second attack on Cartagena de Indias (3 May 1740)
In May, Vernon returned to Cartagena de Indias aboard the flagship HMS Princess Caroline in charge of 13 warships, with the intention of bombarding the city. Lezo reacted by deploying his six ships of the line so that the British fleet was forced into ranges where they could only make short or long shots that were of little value. Vernon withdrew, asserting that the attack was merely a manoeuver. The main consequence of this action was to help the Spanish test their defences.[37]
Third attack on Cartagena de Indias (13 March – 20 May 1741)
This section needs additional citations for verification. (November 2015) |
The largest action of the war was a major amphibious attack launched by the British under Admiral Edward Vernon in March 1741 against Cartagena de Indias, one of Spain's principal gold-trading ports in their colony of New Granada (today Colombia). Vernon's expedition was hampered by inefficient organisation, his rivalry with the commander of his land forces, and the logistical problems of mounting and maintaining a major trans-Atlantic expedition. The strong fortifications in Cartagena and the able strategy of Spanish Commander Blas de Lezo were decisive in repelling the attack. Heavy losses on the British side were due in large part to virulent tropical diseases, primarily an outbreak of yellow fever, which took more lives than were lost in battle.[6]
The extreme ease with which the British destroyed Porto Bello led to a change in British plans. Instead of Vernon concentrating his next attack on Havana as expected, in order to conquer Cuba, he planned to attack
Colonial officials assigned Admiral Blas de Lezo to defend the fortified city. He was a marine veteran hardened by numerous naval battles in Europe, beginning with the War of the Spanish Succession, and by confrontations with European pirates in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, and Barbary pirates in the Mediterranean Sea. Assisting in that effort were Melchor de Navarrete and Carlos Desnaux, with a squadron of six ships of the line (the flagship vessel Galicia together with the San Felipe, San Carlos, África, Dragón, and Conquistador) and a force of 3,000 soldiers, 600 militia and a group of native Indian archers.
Vernon ordered his forces to clear the port of all
On the evening of 19 April, the British mounted an assault in force upon
Reversing the tide of battle, the Spanish initiated a
Vernon carried on, successfully attacking the Spanish at
News of the defeat at Cartagena was a significant factor in the downfall of the British Prime Minister Robert Walpole.[41] Walpole's anti-war views were considered by the Opposition to have contributed to his poor prosecution of the war effort.
The new government under Lord Wilmington wanted to shift the focus of Britain's war effort away from the Americas and into the Mediterranean. Spanish policy, dictated by the queen Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, also shifted to a European focus, to recover lost Spanish possessions in Italy from the Austrians. In 1742, a large British fleet under Nicholas Haddock was sent to try and intercept a Spanish army being transported from Barcelona to Italy, which he failed to do having only 10 ships.[42] With the arrival of additional ships from Britain in February 1742, Haddock successfully blockaded the Spanish coast[43] failing to force the Spanish fleet into an action.
Lawrence Washington survived the yellow fever outbreak, and eventually retired to Virginia. He named his estate Mount Vernon, in honour of his former commander.
Anson expedition
The success of the Porto Bello operation led the British, in September 1740, to send a squadron under Commodore George Anson to attack Spain's possessions in the Pacific. Before they reached the Pacific, numerous men were killed by disease, they had to outrun pursuing Spanish naval vessels, and ultimately the fleet found itself in no shape to launch any sort of attack.[27] Anson reassembled his force in the Juan Fernández Islands, allowing them to recuperate before he moved up the Chilean coast, raiding the small town of Paita. He reached Acapulco too late to intercept the yearly Manila galleon, which had been one of the principal objectives of the expedition. He retreated across the Pacific, running into a storm that forced him to dock for repairs in Canton. After this he tried again the following year to intercept the Manila galleon. He accomplished this on 20 June 1743 off Cape Espiritu Santo, capturing more than a million gold coins.[42]
Anson sailed home, arriving in London more than three and a half years after he had set out, having
Florida
In 1740, the inhabitants of
French neutrality
When war broke out in 1739, both Britain and Spain expected that France would join the war on the Spanish side. This played a large role in the tactical calculations of the British. If the Spanish and French were to operate together, they would have a superiority of ninety
Many in the British government were afraid to launch a major offensive against the Spanish, for fear that a major British victory would draw France into the war to protect the balance of power.[47]
Invasion of Georgia
In 1742, the Spanish launched an attempt to seize the British colony of
Second attack on La Guaira (2 March 1743)
The British attacked several locations in the Caribbean with little consequence to the geopolitical situation in the Atlantic. The weakened British forces under Vernon launched an
After a fierce defence by Governor Gabriel José de Zuloaga's troops, Commodore Knowles, having suffered 97 killed and 308 wounded over three days, decided to retire west before sunrise on 6 March. He decided to attack nearby Puerto Cabello. Despite his orders to rendezvous at Borburata Keys—4 miles (6.4 km) east of Puerto Cabello—captains of the detached Burford, Norwich, Assistance, and Otter proceeded to Curaçao. The commodore angrily followed them in. On 28 March, he sent his smaller ships to cruise off Puerto Cabello, and once his main body had been refitted, went to sea again on 31 March. He struggled against contrary winds and currents for two weeks before finally diverting to the eastern tip of Santo Domingo by 19 April.[27]
Merger with wider war
By mid-1742, the War of the Austrian Succession had broken out in Europe. Principally fought by Prussia and Austria over possession of Silesia, the war soon engulfed most of the major powers of Europe, who joined two competing alliances. The scale of this new war dwarfed any of the fighting in the Americas, and drew Britain and Spain's attention back to operations on the European continent. The return of Vernon's fleet in 1742 marked the end of major offensive operations in the War of Jenkins' Ear. France entered the war in 1744, emphasizing the European theatre and planning an ambitious invasion of Britain. While it ultimately failed, the threat persuaded British policymakers of the dangers of sending significant forces to the Americas which might be needed at home.
Britain did not attempt any additional attacks on Spanish possessions. In 1745,
Privateering
The war involved
Lisbon negotiations
From August 1746, negotiations began in the city of
Aftermath
The eventual diplomatic resolution formed part of the wider settlement of the War of the Austrian Succession by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which restored the status quo ante.[51] British territorial and economic ambitions on the Caribbean had been repelled,[52][53][54] while Spain, although unprepared at the start of the war, proved successful in defending its American possessions.[55] Moreover, the war put an end to the British smuggling, and the Spanish fleet was able to dispatch three treasure convoys to Europe during the war and off-balance the British squadron at Jamaica.[56] The issue of the asiento was not mentioned in the treaty, as its importance had lessened for both nations. The issue was finally settled by the 1750 Treaty of Madrid in which Britain agreed to renounce its claim to the asiento in exchange for a payment of £100,000. The South Sea Company ceased its activity, although the treaty also allowed favourable conditions for British trade with Spanish America.[57]
George Anson's expedition to the Southeast Pacific led the Spanish authorities in Lima and Santiago to advance the position of the Spanish Empire in the area. Forts were thus built in the Juan Fernández Islands and the Chonos Archipelago in 1749 and 1750.[58]
Relations between Britain and Spain improved temporarily, in subsequent years, due to a concerted effort by the
The War of Jenkins' Ear is commemorated annually on the last Saturday in May at
.See also
References
- ^ Bemis, Samuel Flagg (1965). A Diplomatic History of the United States. Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 8.
- ISBN 9780815303961.
All in all, the war cost Britain 20,000 casualties and 407 ships, primarily merchantmen, in exchange for little commercial or strategic gain.
- ^ Carlyle discusses Jenkins' Ear in several passages of his History of Friedrich II(1858), most notably in Book XI, chap VI, where he refers specifically to "the War of Jenkins' Ear"
- ^ a b Graboyes & Hullar 2013, pp. 368–372.
- ^ Olson 1996, pp. 1121–1122.
- ^ a b Webb 2013, pp. 396–398.
- ISBN 9780826327949
- ^ "The Spanish archives reveal that Spain was not prepared for war but willing to take measures to defend her colonies in America. Her men fought well, and for the most part successfully, when the chips were down. That they were aided, in part, by English errors and indecision, should not detract from their victories". Naval History (1680 - 1850), edited by Richard Harding, 2006
- ^ Ogelsby 1970
- ^ James 2001, p. 61.
- ^ Rothbard 2010.
- ^ Browning 1993, p. 21.
- ^ Ibañez 2008, p. 16.
- ^ McLachlan 1940, p. 6.
- ^ Anderson 1976, p. 293.
- ^ Richmond 1920, p. 2.
- ^ McLachlan 1940, pp. 91–93.
- ^ Laughton 1889, pp. 742–743.
- ^ Woodfine 1998, p. 92.
- ^ Ibañez 2008, p. 18.
- ^ McKay 1983, pp. 138–140.
- ^ McLachlan 1940, pp. 94.
- ^ Shinsuke 2013, pp. 37–39.
- ^ Morison 1965, p. 155.
- ^ Woodfine 1998, p. 204.
- ^ Davies 1994, pp. 215, 215i.
- ^ a b c Rodger 2005, p. 238.
- ^ "I want...a record confirming that Robert Jenkins exhibited his severed ear to Parliament in 1738 (War of Jenkins' Ear)". U.K Parliament Archives: FAQ. Archived from the original on 4 May 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
- ^ "Second Parliament of George II: Fourth session (6 of 9, begins 15 March 1738)". British History Online. Retrieved 7 November 2009.
- ^ James 2001, p. 59.
- ^ "Historical Chronicle" Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The Gentleman's Magazine, Saturday 23 October 1739, Vol. 9, October 1739, p. 551; accessed 13 May 2010.
- ^ Lodge 1933, p. 12.
- ^ Rodger 2005, p. 236.
- ^ Rodger 2005, p. 23.
- ^ Simms 2009, p. 276.
- ^ Sáez Abad 2015, p. 57.
- ^ Sáez Abad 2015, p. 58.
- ^ "Commission of Lawrence Washington as captain in provincial forces serving under Admiral Vernon in the Cartegena Campaign". The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mount Vernon (Lyrasis). 9 June 1740.
- ^ "ImageShack". Archived from the original on 18 August 2011.
- ISBN 9781841763248.
- ^ Browning 1993, pp. 109–113.
- ^ a b Rodger 2005, p. 239.
- ^ Browning 1975, p. 97.
- ^ branmarc60 (13 June 2018). "Bloody Battle of Fort Mose". Fort Mose Historical Society. Archived from the original on 24 June 2019. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Browning 1993, p. 98.
- ^ Longmate 1990, p. 146.
- ^ Simms 2009, p. 278.
- ^ Gott 2005, p. 39.
- ^ Francis Parkman, A Half Century of Conflict II and Montcalm and Wolfe II
- ^ Lodge 1930, pp. 202–207.
- ^ Bemis 1965, p. 8.
- ISBN 9780826327949
- ISBN 9781843835806
- ISBN 9781425113834
- ^ "The Spanish archives reveal that Spain was not prepared for war but willing to take measures to defend her colonies in America. Her men fought well, and for the most part successfully, when the chips were down. That they were aided, in part, by English errors and indecision, should not detract from their victories". Ogelsby 1970
- ^ Ogelsby 1970, pp. 156–157.
- ^ Simms 2009, p. 381.
- ^ Urbina Carrasco, María Ximena (2014). "El frustrado fuerte de Tenquehuen en el archipiélago de los Chonos, 1750: Dimensión chilota de un conflicto hispano-británico". Historia. 47 (I). Retrieved 28 January 2016.
Sources
- Anderson, M.S. (1976). Europe in the Eighteenth Century, 1713–1783 (A General History of Europe). Longman. ISBN 978-0582486720.
- Browning, Reed (1975). The Duke of Newcastle. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300017465.
- Browning, Reed (1993). The War of the Austrian Succession. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-0312094836.
- Dewald, Jonathan, ed. (2003). "History 1450–1789". Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World. Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-31200-X.
- Davies, K.G., ed. (1994). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies. HMSO.
- Gott, Richard (2005). Cuba: A new history. Yale University Press.
- Graboyes, EM; Hullar, TE (2013). "The War of Jenkins' Ear". Otol Neurotol. 34 (2): 368–372. PMID 23444484.
- Hakim, Joy (2002). A History of the US. Vol. Book 3: From Colonies to Country 1735–1791. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515323-5.
- Harbron, John (1998). Trafalgar and the Spanish Navy: The Spanish Experience of Sea Power. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0870216954.
- Ibañez, Ignacio Rivas (2008). Mobilizing Resources for War: The Intelligence Systems during the War of Jenkins' Ear (PHD). UCL.
- Laughton, J.K (1889). "Jenkins's Ear". The English Historical Review. 4 (16): 741–749. JSTOR 546399.
- ISBN 0-312-16985-X.
- Lodge, Richard (1930). Studies in Eighteenth Century Diplomacy 1740–1748. John Murray.
- Lodge, Richard (1933). "Presidential Address: The Treaty of Seville (1729)". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 16 (16): 1–43. S2CID 154733459.
- Longmate, Norman (1990). Defending the Island. London: Grafton Books. ISBN 0-586-20845-3.
- McKay, Derek (1983). The Rise of the Great Powers 1648–1815. Routledge. ISBN 978-0582485549.
- McLachlan, Jean Olivia (1940). Trade and Peace with Old Spain, 1667–1750: A study of the influence of commerce on Anglo-Spanish diplomacy in the first half of the eighteenth century (2015 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1107585614.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1965). The Oxford History of the American People. Oxford University Press.
- Newman, Gerald; Brown, Leslie Ellen; et al., eds. (1997). Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714–1837. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-8153-0396-3.
- Ogelsby, J. C. M. (1970). "England vs. Spain in America, 1739–1748: the Spanish Side of the Hill". Historical Papers. 5 (1): 147–157. doi:10.7202/030729ar.
- Olson, James (1996). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire. Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-29366-X.
- Pearce, Edward. The Great Man: Sir Robert Walpole Pimlico, 2008.
- Richmond, Herbert (1920). The Navy in the War of 1739–48. War College Series (2015 ed.). War College Series. ISBN 978-1296326296.
- Rodger, Brendan (2005). The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649–1815. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0393060508.
- Rothbard, Murray (23 April 2010). "Mercantilism as the Economic Side of Absolutism". Mises.org. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
- Sáez Abad, Rubén (2015). Guerra del asiento o de la oreja de Jenkins 1739–1748 (in Spanish). ALMENA. ISBN 978-8492714094.
- Simms, Brendan (2009). Three Victories and a Defeat: The Rise and Fall of the First British Empire, 1714–1783. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0140289848.
- Shinsuke, Satsuma (2013). Britain and Colonial Maritime War in the Early Eighteenth Century. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1843838623.
- Webb, Stephen (2013). Marlborough's America. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0300178593.
- Woodfine, Philip (1998). Britannia's Glories: The Walpole Ministry and the 1739 War with Spain. Royal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0861932306.
Further reading
- Finucane, Adrian. The Temptations of Trade: Britain, Spain, and the Struggle for Empire (2016)
- Gaudi, Robert (2021). The War of Jenkins' Ear: The Forgotten Struggle for North and South America, 1739–1742. New York: Pegasus Books, Ltd., distributed by Simon & Schuster. OCLC 1272907990.
- Norris, David A. "The War of Jenkins' Ear". History Magazine (Aug/Sep 2015) 16#3 pp. 31–35.
- Shepard, Odell & Shepard, Willard. Jenkins' Ear: A Narrative Attributed to Horace Walpole, Esq. (1951). Historical fiction.
- Rivas, Ignacio. Mobilizing Resources for War: The British and Spanish Intelligence Systems in the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1744) (2010).
Other resources
- Tobias Smollett. "Authentic papers related to the expedition against Carthagena", by Jorge Orlando Melo in Reportaje de la historia de Colombia, Bogotá: Planeta, 1989.
- Gary B. Nash and Julie Roy Jeffrey. The American People: Creating a Nation and Society (8th ed., 2016).
- Quintero Saravia, Gonzalo M. (2002). Don Blas de Lezo: defensor de Cartagena de Indias. Editorial Planeta Colombiana, Bogotá, Colombia. ISBN 958-42-0326-6. In Spanish.
External links
- "Proposals relating to the War in Georgia and Florida". vault.georgiaarchives.org. Military strategies to defeat the Spanish. Georgia Archives, University System of Georgia. 1740. Retrieved 20 January 2023. – a document suggesting strategies by which General James Oglethorpe might defeat the Spanish during the War of Jenkins' Ear