British invasion of the Philippines in 1762
The British invasion of the Philippines in 1762 is a chapter at the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). It lasted from 1762 to 1764 and was embedded in the efforts of the Kingdom of Great Britain to weaken the war opponent Spain in its colonial empire and to force it to leave the war.
background
The invasion of the Philippines in 1762 was in the colonial context of the Seven Years' War, which France and Great Britain fought in their overseas possessions and tried to weaken the opposing side. This involved the Seven Years' War in North America (1754–62), the Third Carnatic War in India (1756–62) and the British invasion of West Africa in 1758. Spain was not directly at war with Great Britain until 1762, but was part of the coalition with France, Austria and Russia . Great Britain on his side stood in a coalition with the Kingdom of Prussia , Portugal and other smaller principalities. Both coalitions waged a war of attrition with varying fortunes on the European continent and in their colonies. Political relations between Spain and Great Britain were tense, but both sides avoided direct military confrontation in the first years of the war. At that time, Prime Minister Ricardo Wall was in charge of government in Spain and was considered to be extremely pro-British. This neutral stance of both states changed when the new King George III took office. in Great Britain in 1760. George III. and his Prime Minister William Pitt believed that war with Spain could only be a matter of time and that Spain would assist France in the North American conflict. Pitt resigned on October 5, 1761, because he did not get a majority in the cabinet for a declaration of war on Spain, nevertheless Great Britain declared war on the Spanish kingdom on January 4, 1762.
Battle of Manila
In preparation for the invasion, Britain assembled 5,600 soldiers and military equipment in Madras , India. In August 1762 soldiers and equipment were loaded onto 14 warships of the British East India Company and sailed for Manila . The fleet was under the command of Vice-Admiral Samuel Cornish, the ground troops were under the command of Brigade-General William Draper. They reached Manila Bay on September 23, with no loss during the crossing, and were immediately noticed by the Spanish colonial authorities.
The Spaniards were surprised at the appearance of the British warships and panic broke out in the authorities in Manila. The Philippines did not have a governor at that time, this function was filled by the Archbishop of Manila, Manuel Rojo del Río y Vieyra. The Spanish side was militarily disadvantaged from the start, as only 565 soldiers were present in the city and stationed in the city fortress of Intramuros . The city fortress was almost 190 years old at the time, and the systems and armament were largely out of date and in poor condition. Other defense forces were made up of militias that were briefly organized by monks of the Augustinian order . However, these militias had no military training. Despite these disadvantages, the archbishop refused to hand over the city fortress without a fight on the evening of October 4th.
After arriving in the area of what is now the Malate district, the British armed forces went ashore, quickly approached the city fortress and began the siege. The British brought their superior artillery into position in what is now Taft Avenue. On October 5th, the bombardment of the city fortress and the northern parts of the city began, which at that time had a total personnel strength of 1,000 men and were led by Brigade General Marcos de Villa Maidana. The British soldiers were able to take the bastions of San Diego, San Andes and San Eugeno on the first day. On October 6th, the city fortress and Fort Santiago surrendered , the losses on the Spanish side amounted to approx. 400 wounded and 85 killed in the city fortress. Historians believe the British fired around 25,000 projectiles at Manila and burned down large parts of the city center. The exact number of dead in the city can no longer be reconstructed. After their victory, the British informed the city's residents that they were demanding four million Mexican silver pesos from them or that they would loot the city. The residents could only raise one million pesos. The city was then sacked by British troops, which lasted for almost 2 days.
Occupation 1762–64
The British were able to get out of Manila after the battle of 5./6. October, only occupy parts of today's provinces Bulacan , Cavite , Rizal and Laguna , so that the old Spanish colonial administration remained intact and in function in large parts of the Philippines. However, the Spanish nobility and the Archbishop of Manila did not agree on the form of resistance. The Spanish nobleman Don Simón de Anda y Salazar organized the resistance in the province of Bulacan and was able to gather around 10,000 men and involve the British in a small-scale, loss-making guerrilla war. Resistance in the rest of the provinces was largely organized by priests of the Roman Catholic Church . These resistance groups succeeded in keeping the British out of large parts of the provinces of Rizal and Cavite.
The British did not remain idle, however, and in 1763 they allied with Diego Silang , who led a rebellion against Spanish rule in the Ilocos region . However, the promised troops were not sent to him, so after his success in the conquest of Vigan he was captured by the Spanish colonial administration and executed on May 28th. His wife Gabriela continued to resist the Spaniards but was also captured and executed on September 20th. The British entered into another alliance with the Sultanate of Sulu , which allowed the British to build a fortress on the island of Balambangan. The fortress was supposed to control the spice trade with the Moluccas , but was never accepted by the locals. On March 5, 1775, she was attacked by the Tausug tribe and the entire crew killed.
End of the invasion
The British occupation formally ended with the signing of the Peace of Paris on February 10, 1763, and Spanish sovereignty over the Philippines was recognized by Great Britain. However, the British forces remained in Manila until February 1764 and only then did the British hand over Manila and its surroundings to the Spanish.
aftermath
The British invasion of the Philippines in 1762 and the simultaneous uprisings such as the Silang and Palaris uprisings made it clear to the Filipinos that Spanish suzerainty over the Philippines would not last forever. It basically laid the foundation for the later independence movement of the Katipunan and was intended to inspire resistance in the Philippine-American War . Many Filipino intellectuals like José Rizal saw this military conflict as the laying of the foundation stone for a Filipino national consciousness. The Northern Luzon Heroes Hill National Park was established in 1963 in honor of the Silangs .
During the conquest of Manila, the English captured countless documents. Among other things, the reports of the Spanish explorer Luiz Váez de Torres , which had been kept secret by the Spanish for a century and a half. Geographer Alexander Dalrymple received the documents for translation and recognized the importance of Torres' discovery, the first to pass the Strait of the Sea between Australia and New Guinea , today's Torres Strait . He published Torres' discovery in his book on the explorations of the South Seas.
literature
- Nicholas Tracy: "Manila ransomed" University of Exeter Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-85989-426-5 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tracy, p. 78
- ↑ The Palaris Revolt of 1762 National Historical Commision of the Philippines (English)
- ↑ Australian Dictionary of Biography: Alexander Dalrymple
Coordinates: 14 ° 34 ′ 1.2 ″ N , 120 ° 58 ′ 58.8 ″ E