Editing Battle of Almansa

{{Short description|Battle in the War of the Spanish Succession}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Battle of Almansa
| partof            = the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]
| image             = Balaca-Battle of Almansa.jpg
| image_size        = 300
| caption           = ''The Battle of Almansa'' by [[Ricardo Balaca]]
| date              = 25 April 1707
| place             = [[Almansa]], [[Albacete]], [[Spain]]
| result            = Franco-Spanish victory
| combatant1        = {{flagicon|Spain|1701}} [[Enlightenment in Spain|Spain]]<br> {{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[Kingdom of France|France]]
| combatant2        = {{flagcountry|England}} <br> {{flagcountry|Portugal|1707}} <br>{{flagcountry|Dutch Republic}}
| commander1        = {{flagicon|Kingdom of France}} [[James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick|Duke of Berwick]]
| commander2        = {{flagicon|Kingdom of England}} [[Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway|Earl of Galway]]<br>{{flagicon|Portugal|1707}} [[António Luís de Sousa, 2nd Marquess of Minas|Marquess of Minas]]
| strength1         = 21,000{{Sfn|Bodart|1908|p=151}} to 25,000{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=445}}
| strength2         = 16,000{{Sfn|Bodart|1908|p=151}} to 16,500{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=445}}
| casualties1       = 1,500{{Sfn|Albareda Salvadó|2010|p=223}} to 2,000 killed or wounded{{Sfn|Bodart|1908|p=151}}{{Sfn|Périni|1896|p=190}}
| casualties2       = 7,000 killed, wounded or captured{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=445}} {{Sfn|Albareda Salvadó|2010|p=223}}
}}
{{Campaignbox War of the Spanish Succession|state=collapsed}}
The '''Battle of Almansa''' took place on 25 April 1707, during the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]. It was fought between an army loyal to [[Philip V of Spain]], [[House of Bourbon|Bourbon]] claimant to the Spanish throne, and one supporting his [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]] rival, [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Charles of Austria]]. The result was a decisive Bourbon victory that reclaimed most of eastern Spain for Philip.

The Bourbon army was commanded by the [[James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick|Duke of Berwick]], illegitimate son of [[James II of England]], while Habsburg forces were led by [[Henri de Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny, 1st Viscount Galway|Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway]], an exiled French [[Huguenot]]. This makes it "probably the only battle in history in which the English forces were commanded by a Frenchman, the French by an Englishman."{{Sfn|Norwich|2007|p=237}}

==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}}

==Battle==
[[File:Benedetto Gennari - James, Duke of Berwick - Alba Collection.png|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick]], Franco-Spanish commander]]

The Allies broke camp early on 25 April and reached Almansa after a long and tiring march. Berwick had drawn up his army in two lines, just in front of the town, his infantry in the centre and the French and Spanish cavalry on the wings. Although Galway was clearly outnumbered, he commenced his attack in mid-afternoon after a short artillery exchange. His infantry successfully drove back the Bourbon centre but a gap opened between them and Portuguese troops on the right, under the 63-year-old [[António Luís de Sousa, 2nd Marquess of Minas|Marquess of Minas]]. Seeing this, the Franco-Spanish cavalry attacked; Berwick's account states the Portuguese fought bravely for some time but eventually collapsed and fled. Their retreat was covered by a few squadrons under Das Minas' personal command, including his mistress, who fought dressed as a man and was killed.{{Sfn|Cavendish|2007}}

The Allied centre was now attacked on three sides; using his remaining cavalry, Galway successfully withdrew some of his troops but 13 battalions lost contact with the rest of the army. Pursued by the Spanish cavalry, they took up a defensive position some 8 miles (12&nbsp;km) from the battlefield but surrendered the next morning; according to Henry Kamen, allied casualties were 4,000 killed or wounded and 3,000 captured, with Franco-Spanish losses around 5,000 killed or wounded.{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=445}} French military historian Périni claimed Franco-Spanish casualties totalled around 2,000 killed or wounded, with the Allies losing 5,000 casualties and 10,000 prisoners, but from a larger force than 16,500 men. Périni also accepts the bulk of the cavalry escaped, some 3,500 men.{{Sfn|Périni|1896|p=190}}  According to [[Gaston Bodart]], the Franco-Spanish lost 2,000 men from an army of 21,000 and the allies 12,000 men (5,000 killed or wounded and 7,000 captured) from a force of 16,000.{{Sfn|Bodart|1908|p=151}} Finally, according to [[Joaquim Albareda]], the Bourbon forces lost 1,500 men, whereas total allied losses were around 7,000.{{Sfn|Albareda Salvadó|2010|p=223}} 

==Aftermath==
Almansa has been described as "the single most important battle fought in Spain during the war".{{Sfn|Lynn|1999|p=316}} Berwick's tactics were admired by many, [[Frederick the Great]] later describing it as the most impressive battle of the century. Victory confirmed Philip's control of North-East Spain and [[Kingdom of Valencia|Valencia]], while by the end of 1707 the Allies were once again restricted to [[Catalonia]] and the [[Balearic Islands]].{{Sfn|Kamen|2003|p=445}} 

In a letter written shortly after the battle, [[Jacques-Louis Comte de Noyelles]], overall commander of Dutch troops in Spain based in [[Girona]], notes the Franco-Spanish army quickly over-ran Valencia and [[Siege of Xàtiva (1707)|besieged Xàtiva]].{{sfn|Enschedé|1896|pp=94-95}} When the town surrendered in June, much of it was destroyed  and the name changed to 'San Felipe.' In memory of these events, a portrait of the monarch still hangs upside down in the local museum. The defeat and its consequences for the autonomy of Valencia and Catalonia gave rise to two modern proverbs; "De ponent, ni vent ni gent," ('From the west, neither wind nor people') and ''Quan el mal ve d'Almansa, a tots alcança,'' ('Bad news from Almansa reaches everybody').

[[File:Ligli-Batalla de Almansa.jpg|thumb|center|upright=1.4|''Batalla de Almansa''. Landscape by Filippo Pallotta, figures by [[Buonaventura Ligli]]]]

==See also==
*[[Battle of Almansa reenactment]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal |last1=Cavendish |first1=Richard |title=The Battle of Almanza |journal=History Today |date=2007 |volume=57 |issue=4 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/battle-almanza}}
* {{cite book |last1=Périni| first1=Hardÿ de| title=Batailles françaises, Volume VI 1700–1782 |publisher=Ernest Flammarion | year=1896|lang=FR}}
* {{cite book|last1=Childs|first1=John|title=The Nine Years' War and the British Army, 1688–1697: The Operations in the Low Countries|date=1991|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=0719089964|edition=2013}}
* {{cite book|last=Enschedé|first=A.J.|title=Bulletin de la Commission pour l'histoire des églises Wallonnes|year=1896|publisher=Martinus Nijhoff|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Bulletin_de_la_Commission_pour_l_histoir/n6ARAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1|language=fr|access-date=27 March 2025}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Francis|first1=AD|title=Portugal and the Grand Alliance|journal=Historical Research|date=1965|volume=38|issue=97|pages=71–93 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-2281.1965.tb01638.x}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kamen |first1=Henry |title=Spain's Road to Empire: The Making of a World Power, 1492–1763 |date=2003 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0140285284}}
* {{cite book|last=Lynn|first=John|title=The Wars of Louis XIV, 1667–1714|year=1999|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0582056299}}
* {{cite book |last=Norwich |first=John Jules | title=The Middle Sea; A History of the Mediterranean |year=2007 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |isbn=978-0-7011-7608-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Bodart |first=Gaston | title=Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon, (1618–1905) |year=1908}}
* {{cite book |last=Albareda Salvadó |first=Joaquim | title=La Guerra de Sucesión de España (1700–1714), (1618–1905) |year=2010|publisher=Editorial Crítica|lang=Spanish}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Battle of Almansa}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070223064333/http://almansa2007.com/ 3rd centenary of the Battle of Almansa ]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090306055855/http://almansa2007.usuarios.tvalmansa.com/pdf/labatalla_eng.pdf Strategical overview]
* [http://www.uv.es/~charco/documentos/almansa.htm La Batalla de Almansa]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929011051/http://historiadealmansa.usuarios.tvalmansa.com/la_batalla_de_almansa.htm Batalla de Almansa]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090424043057/http://www.glosters.org.uk/textonly_timeline.php A description of the battle plus a song from the A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs]
* [http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?id=22346 Panoramic view of the ''II Recreation of the Battle of Almansa (2009)'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20170416044411/http://www.wfgamers.org.uk/resources/C18/almanza.htm Orders at Battle of Almansa]

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[[Category:Conflicts in 1707|Almansa]]
[[Category:Battles involving England|Almansa 1707]]
[[Category:Battles involving France|Almansa 1707]]
[[Category:Battles involving Portugal|Almansa 1707]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Dutch Republic|Almansa 1707]]
[[Category:Battles of the War of the Spanish Succession in Spain|Almansa 1707]]
[[Category:Military history of Castilla–La Mancha|Almansa 1707]]
[[Category:1707 in France]]
[[Category:History of the province of Albacete]]
[[Category:Almansa]]