Battle of Brihuega

Part of the War of the Spanish Succession

Date	8–9 December, 1710
Location	Brihuega, Guadalajara, Spain
Result	Franco-Spanish victory

Belligerents

Great Britain

Kingdom of France

Bourbon Spain

Commanders and leaders

James Stanhope (POW)

Louis Joseph de Vendôme

Strength

4,000

10,000

Casualties and losses

600 dead,
3,400 wounded or captured

1,200 dead or wounded

The Battle of Brihuega took place on 8 December 1710 in the War of the Spanish Succession, during the allied retreat from Madrid to Barcelona. The British rearguard under Lord Stanhope was cut off within the town of Brihuega and overwhelmed by a Franco-Spanish army under the duc de Vendôme. Brihuega with other events brought an end to the British participation in the war.

In 1710, victories at the Battle of Almenara (July 27) and the Battle of Saragossa (August 20) allowed the Grand Alliance army supporting Archduke Charles to occupy Madrid for the second time. On 21 September the Archduke—Charles III of Spain, according to the Allies—entered his prospective capital. But the invasion of 1710 proved to be a repetition of the invasion of 1706: The Alliance's 23,000 men, reduced by a loss of 2,000 in the actions at Almenara and Saragossa, by constant skirmishes with the guerrilleros, and by disease, were unequal to the task of holding their conquests and occupying the two Castiles. The Portuguese were unable to offer help.

The Bourbon army was rapidly refitted and reorganized by French general the duc de Vendôme, who was lent to Philip V's service by the latter's grandfather, the Sun King. Spanish volunteers and regular units were joined by the Irish brigade and by French troops secretly directed to enter Spanish service.

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Wikipedia