Editing Charles III of Spain (section)

===Military conflicts===
Bourbon Spain, like their Habsburg predecessors, were drawn into European conflicts, not necessarily to Spain's benefit. The traditional friendship with Bourbon France brought about the idea that the power of Great Britain would decrease and that of Spain and France would do the opposite; this alliance was marked by a ''[[Pacte de Famille|Family Compact]]'' signed on 15 August 1761 (called the "Treaty of Paris"). Charles had become deeply concerned that [[Great Britain in the Seven Years War|British success in the Seven Years War]] would upset the [[Balance of power in international relations|balance of power]], and they would soon seek to declare war against the [[Spanish Empire]] as well. The French government ceded its largest territory in North America, [[New France]], to Britain as a result of the conflict.

In early 1762, Spain entered the war. The major Spanish objectives to [[Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)|invade Portugal]] and capture [[Colony of Jamaica|Jamaica]] were both failures. Britain and Portugal not only [[Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)|repulsed the Spanish attack]] on Portugal, but [[Siege of Havana|captured]] the cities of [[Havana]], Cuba, a strategic port for all of Spanish America, and [[Manila]], in the [[Philippines]], Spain's stronghold for its Asian trade and colony of strategic islands. Charles III wanted to keep fighting the following year, but he was persuaded by the French leadership to stop. In the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|1763 Treaty of Paris]], Spain ceded [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] to Great Britain in exchange for the return of Havana and Manila. This was partly compensated by the acquisition of [[French Louisiana]], given to Spain by France as compensation for Spain's war losses. Britain's easy victories in capturing Spanish ports prompted Spain to create a standing army and local militias in key parts of Spanish America and fortify vulnerable forts.<ref>Kuethe, "Bourbon Reforms", p 400.</ref>

In the [[Falklands Crisis (1770)|Falklands Crisis of 1770]] the Spanish came close to war with Great Britain after expelling the British garrison of the [[Falkland Islands]]. However, Spain was forced to back down when it realized its vulnerability to the British [[Royal Navy]] and France declined to support Spain.<ref>Lynch, p. 319</ref>

On 7 July 1771, Tadeo de Medrano y Acedo wrote a letter to Joaquín López de Zúñiga y Castro, 12th [[Duke of Béjar]]. In this letter, Tadeo informs the Duke of a military campaign in which Charles III of Spain led an army of over 14,000 men, including Turks and Moors, and recounts how he had the fortune to witness the first shots fired during the battle.<ref>''Letter from Tadeo de Medrano y Acedo to the 12th Duke of Béjar'' https://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/3921330</ref>

The [[Invasion of Algiers (1775)|invasion of Algiers]] in 1775 was ordered by Charles, who was attempting to demonstrate to the [[Spanish relations with the Barbary Coast|Barbary States]] the power of the revitalized Spanish military after the disastrous Spanish experience in the Seven Years' War. The assault was also meant to demonstrate that Spain would defend its [[Plazas de soberanía|North African territories]] against any [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] or Moroccan encroachment. This led to a definitive [[:es:Tratado_de_Constantinopla_(1782)|Treaty of Peace and Friendship]] between Ottomans and Spanish Empires in 1782 (inspired in the Neapolitan one achieved by Charles III before), which formally ended the Mediterranean theater of the [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars]] and the state of war between both monarchies since the times of [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I of Spain]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tabakoğlu |first=Hüseyin Serdar |date=2024-08-29 |title=The Re-establishment Of Ottoman-Spanish Relations In 1782 |url=https://turkishstudies.net/turkishstudies?mod=makale_tr_ozet&makale_id=13413 |journal=Journal of Turkish Studies |language=tr |volume=2 |issue=3 |pages=496–524 |doi=10.7827/TurkishStudies.146|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Continuing territorial disputes with Portugal led to the [[First Treaty of San Ildefonso]], on 1 October 1777, in which Spain got [[Colonia del Sacramento]], in present-day [[Uruguay]], and the [[Misiones Orientales]], in present-day [[Brazil]], but not the western regions of Brazil, and also the [[Treaty of El Pardo (1778)|Treaty of El Pardo, on 11 March 1778]], in which Spain again conceded that Portuguese Brazil had expanded far west of the longitude specified in the [[Treaty of Tordesillas]], and in return Portugal ceded present-day [[Equatorial Guinea]] to Spain.<ref>Fegley, Randall (1989). ''Equatorial Guinea: An African Tragedy'', p. 5. Peter Lang, New York. {{ISBN|0820409774}}</ref>

Concerns about the intrusions of British and [[Russian Empire|Russian]] merchants into Spain's colonies in [[History of California#Spanish colonial period (1769–1821)|California]] prompted the extension of [[Spanish missions in California|Franciscan missions]] to [[Alta California]], as well as [[presidio]]s.<ref>Weber, David J. ''The Spanish Frontier in North America''. New Haven: Yale University Press 1992</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author=Moorhead, Max L.|year=1991|title=The Presidio: Bastion of the Spanish Borderlands|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma|isbn=978-0-8061-2317-2}}</ref>

The rivalry with Britain also led him to support the American revolutionaries in their [[American Revolutionary War|war of independence]] (1776-1783), despite his misgivings about the example it would set for Spain's overseas territories. During the war, Spain recovered [[Menorca]] and [[West Florida]] in several military campaigns, but [[Great Siege of Gibraltar|failed]] in their attempt to capture [[Gibraltar]]. Spanish military operations in West Florida and on the [[Mississippi River]] helped the [[Thirteen Colonies]] secure their southern and western frontiers during the war. The capture of [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] in [[the Bahamas]] enabled Spain to also recover [[East Florida]] during peace negotiations. The [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] of 1783 confirmed the recovery of the Floridas and Menorca and restricted the actions of British commercial interests in [[Central America]].<ref>Lynch, pp. 319–321</ref>