Battle of Bitonto

Part of the War of the Polish Succession

Date	25 May 1734
Location	near Bitonto, Kingdom of Naples (present-day southern Italy) Coordinates: 41°07′N 16°41′E / 41.117°N 16.683°E / 41.117; 16.683
Result	Decisive Spanish victory

Belligerents

Spain

Habsburg Monarchy

Commanders and leaders

Duke of Montemar

Giuseppe Antonio, Prince of Belmonte

Strength

14,000 infantry and cavalry

8,000 infantry
2,500 cavalry

Casualties and losses

99 dead
196 wounded

1,000 dead
1,000 wounded
2,500 captured

The Battle of Bitonto (25 May 1734) was a Spanish victory over Austrian forces near Bitonto in the Kingdom of Naples (in southern Italy) in the War of Polish Succession. The battle ended organized Austrian resistance outside of a small number of fortresses in the kingdom.

King Philip V of Spain had always aimed to reconquer Naples and Sicily, which Spain lost to the Habsburgs as a consequence of the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1714 he married Elisabeth Farnese, who had dynastic interests in Italy. Under her influence he had attempted without success to recover the Italian holdings in the War of the Quadruple Alliance. When the War of the Polish Succession broke out in 1733, he saw an opportunity to act against the Habsburgs, who had no military support among western European powers (Great Britain and the Dutch Republic opting to remain neutral), with active opposition by France and Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia. In the fall of 1733 Spain and France signed the Treaty of the Escorial, the first of several Bourbon Family Compacts. The treaty pledged mutual protection and aid, and provided for the allies to work together for the conquest of Habsburg territories on the Italian peninsula.

The Spanish fleet under Luis de Córdova y Córdova landed a Spanish army in Genoa, which joined forces with the troops of Charles of Parma, ruler of Parma in northern Italy and the eldest son of Philip and Elisabeth. From there, 21,000 men marched unopposed through the Papal States towards Naples, where Charles entered the city virtually uncontested, and proclaimed himself king of the Two Sicilies on May 7, 1734. Austrian garrisons in the fortresses at Gaeta and Capua were blockaded by 6,000 men, and Montemar led 12,000 Spanish troops after the retreating Austrian viceroy.

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Wikipedia