Conquest of Cadiz

Conquest of Cadiz

Part of: Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)

Map of the Gulf of Cadiz, 17th century

date	June 30 - July 15, 1596
place	Gulf of Cadiz
output	Anglo-Dutch victory

Parties to the conflict
Spain	England United Netherlands

The conquest of Cadiz took place in 1596 during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604) when English and Dutch troops under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , and a large Anglo-Dutch fleet under Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham , with the support of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces , raided the Spanish city of Cádiz .

prehistory

Cádiz had been the destination of an English fleet under Francis Drake as early as 1587 . It had destroyed the Spanish fleet anchored there, which meant that the Spanish Armada could not sail until a year later than planned.

Philip II planned another invasion of England in 1596. When this became known in England, another pre-emptive strike was decided against Cádiz, the most important Spanish port in the Atlantic . In addition to Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex , and Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham , Walter Raleigh and Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk , and the Dutch Admiral Jan van Duijvenvoorde were also involved. The company should be refinanced by the expected loot. Essex had even more extensive plans; he wanted to conquer Cadiz and establish it as a permanent English base.

course

The English fleet, which sailed for Cádiz in 1596, was the largest and best-equipped of the war. She left England in early June. The fleet consisted of a total of 150 ships, including 17 English and 24 Dutch warships. The remaining vehicles were mostly armed merchant ships. In addition to the almost 6,800 seafarers, the fleet transported 7,400 soldiers.

She arrived before Cádiz at the end of June. Essex attacked the city from the sea. The port was poorly defended. Two Spanish galleons were destroyed and two more boarded in the attack . Numerous ships anchored in the harbor were destroyed. The Spaniards had destroyed the valuable Indian fleet themselves so that these ships would not fall into the hands of the attackers. With troops landed, Howard eventually took the city. The occupiers looted and destroyed the city and demanded a huge ransom for their departure. The plan favored by Essex for a permanent occupation of Cadiz was rejected by Howard. After two weeks, the attackers withdrew. They left a completely devastated city. The damage to the Spaniards is said to have amounted to two million ducats.

consequences

The fleet then sailed towards the Azores to intercept the Spanish silver fleet from America. When this was unsuccessful, the ships returned to their home ports. Essex was celebrated as a war hero by the population. Elisabeth I , however, reproached him for the low financial return on the trip. Incidentally, she grudged him fame, the expedition is seen as a prelude to his fall.

literature

• Julian S. Corbett : The Successors of Drake. Longmans, London et al. 1900, chapters 3 to 5 (old, but still authoritative description of the events, see Paul EJ Hammer 1999 ).
• RG Grant: Battle at Sea: 3000 years of naval warfare. London 2010, p. 125.
• Paul EJ Hammer : Myth-Making. Politics, Propaganda and the Capture of Cadiz in 1596. In: The Historical Journal 40 (1997), No. 3, pp. 621-642.
• Paul EJ Hammer: New Light on the Cadiz Expedition of 1596. In: Historical Research 70 (1997), pp. 182-202, doi : 10.1111 / 1468-2281.00039 .
• Francis Smith: The Wars from Antiquity to the Present. Berlin u. a. 1911, p. 327.
• John A. Wagner, Susan Walters Schmid: Encyclopedia of Tudor England. Santa Barbara 2012, p. 194 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pedro de Abreu: Historia del saqueo de Cádiz por los ingleses en 1596. Cádiz 1866.