Capture of Minorca (1708)

Capture of Minorca
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
Date 14–21 September 1708 Location Minorca, Spain Result Grand Alliance victory. Minorca awarded to Britain by treaty in 1713
Belligerents
Great Britain  Dutch Republic	Bourbon Spain
Commanders and leaders
James Stanhope George Wade Sir John Leake

The Capture of Minorca saw the island of Minorca captured from Spain by British-Dutch forces acting on behalf of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor the Austrian claimant to the Spanish throne in September 1708 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The British would later annex the island as their own possession at the Treaty of Utrecht (1713).

Since 1702 a war had been fought over who would inherit the Spanish throne with Britain and the Dutch supporting the Austrian candidate while France and her allies supported a French candidate. In 1704 the Anglo-Dutch fleet had captured Gibraltar and defeated a Spanish fleet at the Battle of Málaga. Allied forces had also landed in Catalunya where they captured Barcelona in 1705. The Catalans largely supported the Austrian claimant and many joined the Allied armies.

On 14 September 1708 an Anglo-Dutch naval force under the command of General James Stanhope landed on the island of Minorca and laid siege to the town of Mahón. Sir Edward Whitaker, with his Admiral's flag in HMS Northumberland, went to join Sir John Leake in the Mediterranean where he assisted in the capture of Minorca taking Fornelle and Ciutadella de Menorca. The island's inhabitants were, like most Catalans pro-Austria, and greeted the British and Dutch soldiers as liberators. A week later the Franco-Spanish garrison surrendered.

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