Battle of Almansa

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Battle of Almansa

Part of the War of the Spanish Succession

The Battle of Almansa by Ricardo Balaca. Oil on canvas, 1862, Congreso de los Diputados, Madrid.

Date	April 25, 1707
Location	Almansa, near Albacete, Spain
Result	Decisive Franco-Spanish victory

Combatants

Portugal

Spain

Commanders

Strength

22,000

25,000

Casualties

5,000 dead or wounded
12,000 captured

3,500 dead or wounded

War of the Spanish Succession
Carpi – Chieri – Cremona – Luzzara – Cádiz – Friedlingen – Vigo Bay – Ekeren – Höchstädt – Schellenberg – Blenheim – Málaga – Cassano – Calcinato – Elixheim – Ramillies – Turin – Almansa – Toulon – Oudenarde – Lille – Malplaquet – Saragossa – Almenara – Brihuega – Villaviciosa – Bouchain – Denain – Barcelona

The Battle of Almansa, fought on April 25, 1707, was one of the most decisive engagements of the War of the Spanish Succession. At Almansa, the Franco–Spanish Empire army under Berwick soundly defeated the allied forces of Portugal, Britain, and the United Provinces led by the Count of Galway, reclaiming most of eastern Spain for the Bourbons.

1 The battle
2 Aftermath
3 Legacy
4 External links

[edit] The battle

The Bourbon army of about 25,000 was composed of French and Spanish troops in equal proportion, as well as an Irish regiment. Opposing them was a mainly Anglo-Portuguese force with strong Dutch, German, and French Huguenot elements.

The battle began with an artillery exchange. When Galway committed his reserves to an attack on the Bourbon centre, Berwick unleashed a strong force of Franco-Spanish cavalry against the weakened Anglo-Portuguese lines, sweeping away the Portuguese horse. A general rout followed. Galway lost 5,000 men killed and 12,000 taken prisoner; of his army of 22,000 only 5,000 escaped to Tortosa.

[edit] Aftermath

The victory was a major step in the consolidation of Spain under the Bourbons. With the main pro-Habsburg army in Spain destroyed, the duc d'Anjou regained the initiative and recovered Valencia. Before long, the only remaining allies of Charles of Habsburg were his supporters in Catalonia.

[edit] Legacy

Frederick the Great referred to Almansa as "the most scientific battle of our century," while Winston Churchill once compared the crushing British defeat to the disasters awaiting the British Army at the hands of Nazi Germany in the early years of the Second World War.

In the present-day Land of Valencia, proverbs recalling this defeat are still in common usage: Quan el mal ve d'Almansa, a tots alcança ("Evil tidings spare no one when they come from Almansa," or, more literally, "When the wrong comes from Almansa, it reaches everybody"), De ponent, ni vent ni gent ("From the west, neither wind nor people").