Battle of Almansa

Part of the War of the Spanish Succession

The Battle of Almansa by Ricardo Balaca

Date	25 April 1707
Location	Almansa, Albacete, Spain
Result	Spanish-French victory

Belligerents

England

Commanders and leaders

Earl of Galway

Marquess of Minas

Duke of Berwick

Strength

22,000

25,000

Casualties and losses

7,000 dead or wounded
17,000 captured

2,000 dead or wounded

The Battle of Almansa, fought on 25 April 1707, was one of the most decisive engagements of the War of the Spanish Succession. At Almansa, the Franco–Spanish army under Berwick soundly defeated the allied forces of Portugal, England, and the United Provinces led by the Earl of Galway, reclaiming most of eastern Spain for the Bourbons.

It has been described as "probably the only Battle in history in which the English forces were commanded by a Frenchman, the French by an Englishman."

The Bourbon army of about 25,000 was composed of Spanish and French troops in equal proportion, as well as an Irish regiment. Opposing them was a mainly Anglo-Portuguese force with strong Dutch, German, and French Huguenot elements.

The battle began with an artillery exchange. When Galway committed his reserves to an attack on the Bourbon centre, Berwick unleashed a strong force of Franco-Spanish cavalry against the weakened Anglo-Portuguese lines, sweeping away the Portuguese cavalry. A general rout followed. Only the Portuguese infantry held, attacked by the three sides, and tried to retire fighting. They surrendered by nightfall. Galway lost 5,000 men killed and 12,000 taken prisoner; of his army of 22,000, only 5,000 escaped to Tortosa.

The victory was a major step in the consolidation of Spain under the Bourbons. With the main allied army destroyed, Philip V of Spain regained the initiative and gained Valencia.

The city of Xàtiva was burned, and its name changed to San Felipe in order to punish it. In memory of these events, nowadays the portrait of the monarch still hangs upside down in the local museum of L'Almodí.

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Wikipedia