Editing Battle of Almansa (section)

==Background==
[[File:Spain 1702-1714.png|thumb|left|upright=1.0|Peninsular Spain, showing Crowns of Castile and Aragon.]]

Campaigning in Spain and size of the armies involved were limited by logistics to a greater extent than [[Flanders]] or [[Italy]]. Reliance on local sources for forage and other supplies limited operations in arid areas like Northern Spain, that until the advent of railways in the 19th century, goods and supplies were largely transported by water.{{Sfn|Childs|1991|pp=32–33}} Control of the seas allowed the Allies to successfully conduct short-term offensives outside the coastal areas but lack of popular support meant they could not hold territory. The [[Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg)|Grand Alliance]] secured an operations base in [[Lisbon]] when [[Peter II of Portugal]] changed sides in May 1703, and the following March, [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Charles of Austria]] arrived to head a land campaign.{{Sfn|Francis|1965|pp=71–93}} 

The [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] alliance between France and Spain won a series of minor victories along the Spanish-Portuguese border, offset by the British [[capture of Gibraltar]]; attempts to retake it were defeated at the naval [[Battle of Vélez-Málaga|Battle of Málaga]] in August 1704, with a land siege being abandoned in April 1705.{{Sfn|Lynn|1999|p=296}} The 1705 'Pact of Genoa' between English and Catalan representatives opened a second front in the north-east; the Allied capture of [[Siege of Barcelona (1705)|Barcelona]] and Valencia left [[Toulon]] as the only major port available to the Bourbons in the Western Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Lynn|1999|p=302}} 

An attempt in May 1706 by [[Philip V of Spain]] to [[Siege of Barcelona (1706)|retake Barcelona]] failed, while his absence allowed an Allied force to capture Madrid and [[Zaragossa]] but they could not be resupplied so far from their bases and were forced to withdraw. By November 1706, Philip controlled the [[Castile (historical region)|Crown of Castile]], [[Region of Murcia|Murcia]] and parts of the [[Kingdom of Valencia]].{{Sfn|Lynn|1999|p=302}} Over the course of 1706, Allied victories in the [[Battle of Ramillies|Spanish Netherlands]] and [[Siege of Turin|Italy]] forced the French onto the defensive and Galway sought to take advantage by launching a new offensive in 1707. To counter this, [[James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick]], was appointed commander of Bourbon forces in North-East Spain, a total of 33,000 men, split equally between French and Spanish troops, with a number of exiled [[Flight of the Wild Geese|Irish regiments]].{{Sfn|Périni|1896|p=186}}  

Before beginning his advance on [[Valencia]], Berwick detached 8,000 men to besiege [[Siege of Xàtiva (1707)|Xàtiva]], prompting the [[Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough|Earl of Peterborough]], Allied commander in Spain, to consolidate his forces in Catalonia, rather than combine with the 16,500 troops led by [[Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway|Galway]] and [[António Luís de Sousa, 2nd Marquess of Minas|Minas]]. This left them badly outnumbered when they moved to intercept Berwick.{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=445}} On 22 April, Berwick halted outside the town of [[Almansa]], from where he could threaten supply lines for the Allied garrison in Valencia.{{Sfn|Périni|1896|p=186}}