Siege of Gibraltar (1704)

Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar
Part of War of the Spanish Succession
French map of the siege of Gibraltar by Louis Boudan (1704)
Date September 1704 – May 1705 Location Gibraltar 36°09′19″N 5°20′45″W / 36.155341°N 5.345964°W / 36.155341; -5.345964Coordinates: 36°09′19″N 5°20′45″W / 36.155341°N 5.345964°W / 36.155341; -5.345964 Result Grand Alliance victory
Belligerents
Bourbon forces: Pro-Bourbon Spain  Kingdom of France	Grand Alliance:  Kingdom of England  Dutch Republic  Austria Pro-Habsburg Spain  Kingdom of Portugal
Commanders and leaders
Marquis of Villadarias Marshal de Tessé	Prince George of Hesse Sir John Leake
Casualties and losses
10,000 (mainly from disease and desertion)	400
Location within Spain

The Twelfth Siege of Gibraltar was fought between September 1704 and May 1705 during the War of the Spanish Succession. It followed the capture in August 1704 of the fortified town of Gibraltar, at the southern tip of Spain, by an Anglo–Dutch naval force led by Sir George Rooke and Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt. The members of the Grand Alliance, Holy Roman Empire, England, the Netherlands, Pro-Habsburg Spain, Portugal and the Savoy, had allied to prevent the unification of the French and Spanish thrones by supporting the claim of the Habsburg pretender Archduke Charles VI of Austria as Charles III of Spain. They were opposed by the rival claimant, the Bourbon Philip, Duke of Anjou, ruling as Philip V of Spain, and his patron and ally, Louis XIV of France. The war began in northern Europe and was largely contained there until 1703, when Portugal joined the confederate powers. From then, English naval attentions were focused on mounting a campaign in the Mediterranean to distract the French navy and disrupt French and Bourbon Spanish shipping or capture a port for use as a naval base. The capture of Gibraltar was the outcome of that initial stage of the Mediterranean campaign.

At the start of the siege, Gibraltar was garrisoned by around 2,000 Dutch, English, Austrian and pro-Habsburg Spanish troops facing a besieging force of up to 8,000 French, pro-Bourbon Spanish and Irish troops. The defenders were able to hold off the numerically superior besieging force through exploiting Gibraltar's geography and the small town's fortifications, though they were frequently short of manpower and ammunition. The besiegers were undermined by disputes between the French and Spanish officers and terrible conditions in their trenches and bastions, which led to outbreaks of epidemic disease and undermined morale. Sea power proved crucial, as the French navy sought unsuccessfully to prevent the Grand Alliance shipping in fresh troops, ammunition and food. Three naval battles were fought during the siege, two of which were clear defeats for the French and the last of which resulted in the siege being abandoned as hopeless after nine months of fruitless shelling. The outcome was disastrous for the French and Bourbon Spanish side, which was said to have lost 10,000 men against only 400 for the Grand Alliance.