Battle of the Dunes (1658)

Battle of the Dunes
Part of the Franco-Spanish War and Anglo-Spanish War
La Bataille des Dunes by Charles-Philippe Larivière. Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles. In the foreground is the French commander Turenne on a Skewbald horse. 1698 engraving by Sebastian Beaulieu Showing the Spanish deployment at top and French below.
Date 14 June 1658 Location Near Dunkirk, Spanish Netherlands (present-day France) Result Decisive Anglo-French victory
Belligerents
France Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland	Spain Royalists of the British Isles
Commanders and leaders
Vicomte de Turenne Sir William Lockhart	Juan José de Austria Le Grand Condé Marquis of Caracena Duke of York
Strength
15,000: 9,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry.	15,000: 6,000 infantry: (Including 2,000 English Royalists) 8,000 cavalry.
Casualties and losses
400 dead.	1,000 dead and 5,000 captured.

The Battle of the Dunes, fought on 14 June (Gregorian calendar), 1658, is also known as the Battle of Dunkirk. It was a victory of the French army and their Commonwealth of England allies, under Turenne, one of the great generals of his age, over the Spanish army and their English Royalist and French Fronde rebels, led by John of Austria the Younger and Louis II de Condé. It was part of the Franco-Spanish War and the concurrent Anglo-Spanish War, and was fought near Dunkirk (Dutch for 'Church in the dunes') a fortified port city on the coast of the English Channel in what was then the Southern Netherlands that belonged to Habsburg Spain. The French army had laid siege to Dunkirk and the Spanish army was attempting to raise the siege.

A complex political situation resulted in both French and English forces fighting for both sides. When France's Louis XIV formed an alliance with Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell, the exiled Charles II of England allied himself with Philip IV of Spain. Charles set up his headquarters in Bruges. The Spanish supplied only enough money to form five regiments. This was a disappointment for the Royalists, who had hoped to be able to form an army large enough to contemplate an invasion of the English Commonwealth. A renewal of a 1657 treaty between Cromwell and Louis XIV provided 6,000 Commonwealth infantry and a fleet to aid Turenne. Along with English forces, French forces fought on both sides with Condé, a French Prince of the blood, leading a contingent of French rebels of the Fronde.

...
Wikipedia