War of Jenkins' Ear

War of Jenkins' Ear
Part of the War of the Austrian Succession
Date 1739–48 Location New Granada and the Caribbean; Florida–Georgia; Pacific and Atlantic Result Status quo ante bellum British offensive defeated in the Caribbean theatre British invasion of Florida repulsed. Spanish invasion of Georgia repulsed. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) ended hostilities Britain gave up its rights to the Asiento in the Treaty of Madrid (1750)
Belligerents
British Empire	Spanish Empire
Commanders and leaders
Sir Robert Walpole Lord Wilmington Henry Pelham Edward Vernon Chaloner Ogle George Anson Charles Knowles Thomas Wentworth James Oglethorpe	Philip V Sebastián de Eslava Blas de Lezo Manuel de Montiano Andrés Reggio
Casualties and losses
20,000 dead, wounded, missing, or captured, 407 ships lost	4,500 dead, 5,000 wounded, 186 ships lost

Status quo ante bellum

The War of Jenkins' Ear (known as Guerra del Asiento in Spain) was a conflict between Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858, refers to an ear severed from Robert Jenkins, a captain of a British merchant ship. Despite stories to that effect, there is no evidence that the severed ear was exhibited before the British Parliament.

The seeds of conflict began with the separation of an ear from Jenkins following the boarding of his vessel by Spanish coast guards in 1731, eight years before the war began. Popular response to the incident was tepid until several years later when opposition politicians and the British South Sea Company hoped to spur outrage against Spain, believing that a victorious war would improve Britain’s trading opportunities in the Caribbean. Also ostensibly providing the impetus to war against the Spanish Empire was a desire to pressure the Spanish not to renege on the lucrative asiento contract, which gave British slavers permission to sell slaves in Spanish America.

The war resulted in heavy British casualties in North America. After 1742, the war was subsumed by the wider War of the Austrian Succession, which involved most of the powers of Europe. Peace arrived with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. From the British perspective, the war was notable because it was the first time that a regiment of colonial American troops was raised and placed "on the Establishment" – made a part of the Regular British Army – and sent to fight outside North America.

At the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht gave Britain a thirty-year asiento, or contract-right, to supply an unlimited number of slaves to the Spanish colonies, and 500 tons of goods per year. This provided British traders and smugglers potential inroads into the traditionally closed markets in Spanish America. But Britain and Spain were often at war during this period, fighting one another in the War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20), the Blockade of Porto Bello (1726) and the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729).

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