Battle of Cadiz

Battle of Cadiz

Part of: War of the Spanish Succession

Contemporary map of the battle

date	August 23 to September 30, 1702
place	Cadiz , Andalusia , Spain
output	Bourbon -Spanish Victory

Parties to the conflict
Bourbon - Spain	England United Netherlands
Commander
Marquis de Villadarias	George Rooke Duke of Ormonde
Troop strength
about 1000 regular infantry, several thousand militia	160 ships, including 50 warships: 30 English ships 20 Dutch ships 14,000 men
losses
unknown	unknown

The Battle of Cádiz , fought in August / September 1702, was triggered by an Anglo-Dutch attempt to take the southern Spanish port of Cádiz in the War of the Spanish Succession . The Andalusian city ​​of Cadiz was the great center of Spanish-American trade. The capture of the port would not only have cut the Spaniards off from their empire in America , but would also have given the Allies a strategically important base of operations for their fleet to control the western Mediterranean .

The military campaign was accompanied by diplomatic actions in Portugal aimed at securing the support of Peter II of Portugal for the Augsburg Alliance . The Allies also wanted to collect support for an uprising in favor of the Austrian pretender to the Spanish throne Archduke Charles . The Battle of Cádiz was the first battle of the war on the Iberian Peninsula , but due to rivalries within the Alliance, poor discipline, poor cooperation and a skilful defense by the Marquis de Villadarias , Admiral George Rooke was unable to achieve his goal of taking the port reached and sailed home after a month of unsuccessful things.

background

→ Main article : War of the Spanish Succession

On May 15, 1702, the powers of the Augsburg Alliance , led by England and the Dutch Republic, declared war on France and Spain. Emperor Leopold I also declared war on the Bourbons, but his armed forces under Eugene of Savoy had already started hostilities in the Po Valley in northern Italy to secure Austria's Spanish- ruled Duchy of Milan . Prince Eugen's successful campaign of 1701 had aroused enthusiasm for a war against France in England and thus used Leopold's efforts to convince King William III. Convince England to send an Allied fleet into the Mediterranean. The Count von Mitrowitz , the imperial envoy to England, warned that the sight of an Allied fleet in the Mediterranean would boost a revolution in the Spanish province of Naples . In his opinion, this would have the effect that southern Italy could be snatched from the dangerous hands of Philip V, the Francophile Pope Clement XI. would be intimidated and the Duke of Savoy and other Italian princes could be induced to switch sides. Prince Eugene, on the other hand, was more moderate and only asked for a squadron to secure his supply lines from Trieste across the Adriatic .

The English had their own interests in the Mediterranean: the Levant Company needed escorts and the presence of an Allied fleet could break the dominance of King Ludwig's Toulon fleet, which would have had a devastating effect on the French naval forces. It was clear, however, that the Allies first had to secure a base in the Iberian Peninsula before engaging in any way with strategies in the Mediterranean. The decision for Cádiz, the capture of which would open the Strait of Gibraltar and bring trade with the New World under Allied control, was made even before the death of King William III. in March 1702, but his successor Queen Anne and her ministers under the direction of the Earl of Marlborough continued this policy.

England's representatives at the Portuguese court in Lisbon, John Methuen and his son Paul also campaigned for a strong marine demonstration off the Spanish coast to get the wavering King Peter II of Portugal to terminate the current treaties with Spain and France to join the Augsburg Alliance. The Methuens received support from Prince Georg von Hessen-Darmstadt , a cousin of Empress Eleonore Magdalene . The Allies hoped that during the Methuens' negotiations with the Portuguese, the prince could initiate and even lead a pro-Austrian revolt in Spain in favor of the emperor's youngest son and claimant of the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles .

foreplay

The Anglo-Dutch fleet set sail at the end of July and passed the Portuguese coast on August 20. Admiral Rooke was under 50 warships (30 English and 20 Dutch) and other transport ships, a total of 160 ships. Ormonde, the commandant of the soldiers, commanded a total of 14,000 men, including 10,000 English (including 2,400 marines) and 4,000 Dutch. Still, Rooke did not have too high hopes for the expedition: his ships had insufficient supplies for a long operation and he was concerned about the French port of Brest , which lay between him and his home country.

Prince Georg von Hessen-Darmstadt (1670–1705) accompanied the fleet on behalf of Austria.

Prince Georg had joined the fleet at Cabo de São Vicente with his ship, the Adventure . Both the Prince and Paul Methuen (who had also joined the expedition) reported to Rooke that Cádiz was poorly defended, whereas the Admiral's own inquiries, based on information obtained from captured fishermen, pointed to a powerful garrison of regular Spanish troops, that had already strengthened the city, closed. Allied doubts about the real strength of the forces opposing them were exacerbated by the Spanish strategy of making large fires on elevations. Therefore, the three days after the Allied fleet anchored off Cádiz on August 23 was wasted in useless discussions before any decision was made.

There were several options for an Allied attack. According to Rooke's August 25 diary, Sir Stafford Fairborne suggested:

“… After proposing to storm the harbor and destroy the eight French galleys anchored under the protection of the walls of Cadiz, he [the admiral] convened a council of flag officers to discuss this; but ... it was decided unanimously that it was unreasonable and impracticable to endanger even one of the frigates for such a coup. "

Another option for the Allies was to land an army under the fire protection of the fleet on the isthmus , which would have separated Cadiz from the mainland; from there the troops could have stormed the city. Ormonde preferred this tactic, but Major General O'Hara insisted that a landing on the isthmus would be inadvisable if the Navy could not guarantee the landing of sufficient provisions, which it could not do because of the Lee coast . Ormonde's second choice was a blockade, accompanied by the bombing of the city; however, there were doubts as to whether the fleet could anchor close enough offshore to ensure effective fire. Prince Georg objected to this plan that the population would be offended. Therefore, the decision was made to land the Allied troops between the Bay of the Bulls and Fort Saint Catherine. This suited the Navy, as it was able to bring its ships close to the coast in this way and thus take the cities of Rota and El Puerto de Santa María from this bridgehead . In any case, it was a long way from the landing site to the Isthmus of Cádiz (see map below).

The Marquis de Villadarias had been given command of the threatened province of Andalusia. Cádiz, the capital of Andalusia, held a garrison of 300 ill-equipped men and a similar number to defend the coastline. But the sudden appearance of the Allied fleet created distress and, in Philip Stanhope's words, "the spirit and determination to throw it back." The wealthy cities of Cordoba and Seville made their contribution to the Spanish cause, the nobles took up arms and the local peasants were organized into battalions, so that after the city garrison had been strengthened, Villadarias could still equip five or six hundred horsemen and several thousand militia men could lead. In order to further strengthen his defensive position, the Spanish commander secured the port with a strong port chain and sank two massive hulls at the port entrance.

battle

Landing and pillage

Battle of Cadiz 1702

The landing took place on August 26th while a fresh wind was blowing, resulting in the loss of 25 landing craft and 20 drowned men. Shelling by a Spanish 4-gun battery and an attack by a cavalry squadron opposed the invaders. The first ranks of the Allies consisted of grenadiers who repulsed the Spanish horsemen. Nonetheless, one of the Allied officers, Colonel James Stanhope , who would later become British Commander-in-Chief in Spain, emphasized the courage of the English and Spanish troops involved in this little skirmish, admitting that 200 more such horsemen had thwarted the Allied landing.

Ormonde's troops marched from the landing site to Rota. The city was found deserted (although the governor and some residents returned after a while to greet the soldiers). The Allies stayed there for two days and landed horses and supplies. Although military power remained in Anglo-Dutch hands, Prince George was placed at the head of the civil administration in every city controlled by the Allies. He had manifestos distributed in which the Spaniards were asked to declare themselves for the House of Austria; the fact that some came to Rota to join the allied cause was of great value to the alliance, as the imperial representative was dependent on local volunteers to make contact with other residents. In any case, the Spanish authorities took extensive measures to prevent desertion to the Allied side by threatening to hang anyone found in possession of Prince George's manifesto.

The Allies advanced to capture the fortress of Saint Catherine before entering the town of El Puerto de Santa María. Ormonde's men camped outside the city at first, but the mistake was to allow them to return there. The troops found the town full of unguarded warehouses and cellars full of wine and brandy, mostly owned by English and Dutch traders who traded in Spanish names. The men served each other freely, gradually lost control and fell into looting, robbery and destruction, not only of the warehouses, but also of convents and churches. Prince George despaired and sent a report home condemning the conduct of the officers, in particular that of Ormonde's subordinates Sir Henry Belasyse (Ormonde's deputy), O'Hara and the Dutch Baron Sparr, whom he held responsible for it Of persuading Ormonde to billet the troops in town. The marines were initially not involved in the looting, but were soon tempted to get their share.

The Archduke's cause had suffered a severe setback from the misconduct and misdirection of Ormonde's men, who plundered Santa María to the "bare walls" of Trevelyan. A resident English trader wrote disparagingly: "Our fleet has spread such a disgusting stench among the Spaniards that an entire age will hardly be enough to get rid of it." These excesses put an end to any hope that the local population could turn their backs on Philip V. turn to turn to the Allies and boosted Bourbon propaganda. Rooke himself reported that the "inhuman sacking of Santa María has sparked an outcry on land and sea and will spark throughout Christendom."

Re-embarkation

The immediate effects of the looting were only detrimental to the expedition; the soldiers of the army thought mainly of how to get their booty home safe and, according to David Francis, lost their fighting spirit. The navy feared for their ships anchored on the lakeshore, which could be dangerous in bad weather. Nonetheless, the troops ashore needed the support of the men from Rooke's fleet on their long march from the landing point to the target object. Crew members built bridges, cut fascines , dug trenches and hauled goods, but illnesses meant that there were never enough men available. Rooke was finally forced to put an end to these oppressive demands on his men by declaring that "such slave labor is not that of a seaman". The admiral was probably left with no alternative, but his declaration put a serious damper on relations between army and navy.

After the occupation of Santa María, the attack lost momentum. The swampy coast to Puerto Real was taken and the English generals became more and more defiant. Nonetheless, Baron Sparr insisted on attacking Fort Matagorda on the Puntales (a sandy spit near the entrance to the inner harbor) in order to allow Rooke's fleet to enter the anchorage before the enemy ships therein were destroyed. With 600 Dutch and 1,600 British troops, the Allies built a dam over the deep sand and thus brought a battery into position near the fortress, but found themselves vulnerable and within range of the Franco-Spanish ships under the command of the Conde de Fernan Núñez were anchored behind the chain of ports. They were also attacked by the galleys that were still outside the port.

Meanwhile, Villadarias continued his attacks on dispersed Allied detachments and cut them off from their lines of communication. By means of a surprise attack, he also succeeded in retaking Rota, whose garrison commander, the former governor, was sentenced to death and executed as a traitor. The Allies, on the other hand, made little to no progress. Matagorda held out, and after a few days Rooke declared that even if the fort could be taken, the other fortress guarding the entrance of the Puntales would prevent the fleet from passing through the bottleneck. Therefore, in view of the certain failure, the decision to embark the troops was made on September 26th. A plan to bombard the city (contrary to Prince George's wishes) was abandoned due to bad weather and after another council of war the fleet sailed home on September 30th. The attempt to take Cadiz had failed miserably.

Aftermath

The fact that the Allies had received no significant support from the Spanish side during the battle for Cadiz meant a severe loss of prestige for Prince George; however, a delegation of Spanish grandees from Madrid reached him on board his ship, who had missed him in Lisbon and ferried him from Faro . The prince informed Rooke and Ormonde that the Spaniards were ready to declare themselves for the House of Austria but did not want to undertake until the Allies guaranteed adequate support and left behind a force to winter in Spain. However, this help was not available. However, there had been quite a few Castilian apostates and defectors to the Allies; the most famous of them was probably the Admiral of Castile, Juan Tomas Enriquez de Cabrera , Duke of Rioseco and Count of Melgar. After leaving Madrid on September 13, 1702, he fled to Portugal, where he denounced the Bourbon government and entered the service of Archduke Charles.

Ormonde and Prince Georg wanted to land at another Spanish key point, but Rooke decided to head for England, concerned about the autumn storms. At this point, Ormonde and Rooke barely exchanged a word: the general believed he could have taken Cadiz had he not been sabotaged by Rooke's veto; the admiral, for his part, had complained bitterly to Ormonde in a letter about the behavior of his men on the coast. In any case, the news that the Spanish silver fleet from America had reached the coast of Galicia was auspicious to Rooke, Ormonde, and the whole Allied cause. The subsequent naval battle at Vigo was significantly more successful than the undertaking off Cádiz (although the stolen treasures fell far short of expectations), so that the success at Vigo took the greatest edge off the failure off Cádiz. Nonetheless, after the return of the fleet to England , the House of Lords insisted on an investigation into the incidents and the conduct of the military leadership at Cadiz.

The bad mood between Rooke and Ormonde had raised the hope of actually clearing up the actual circumstances, but the success at Vigo had given the Tories the opportunity to stylize Rooke as a hero; Ormonde was also given a triumphant welcome to join the Tories. Hence the investigation degenerated into a struggle of political parties: the Tories glorified Rooke and Ormonde, while the Whigs remained critical. The two Allied commanders stuck together relentlessly before the Committee of the House of Lords. In any case, a court-martial was held over the leadership behavior of Belasys and O'Hara. O'Hara was acquitted, but Belasys was released. Both men were stripped of command of their regiments, with Belasys later reinstated and O'Hara promoted to lieutenant general in 1704.

literature

• Churchill, Winston : Marlborough: His Life and Times , First Book, Second Edition. University of Chicago Press, (2002).
• Francis, David: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713. Ernest Benn Limited, (1975).
• Kamen, Henry: The War of Succession in Spain: 1700-15. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
• Roger, NAM: The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815. Penguin Group, (2006).
• Stanhope, Philip : History of the War of the Succession in Spain. London, (1836)
• Trevelyan, G. M : England Under Queen Anne: Blenheim. Longmans, Green and Co., (1948).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ All dates in this article are given according to the Gregorian calendar, unless otherwise stated. The Julian calendar as it was used in England in 1704 differs by eleven days. Therefore, according to the Gregorian calendar, the battle began on August 23rd, according to the Julian calendar on August 12th.
2. ↑ Stanhope: History of the War of the Succession in Spain, p. 51. In addition to the garrison of Cádiz, Villadarias also commanded around 500 to 600 cavalry men and 'several thousand' men of poorly equipped and inexperienced militias.
3. ^ Francis specified 13,801 men.
4. ^ ^{A b} Trevelyan: England Under Queen Anne: Blenheim, p. 262
5. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 31
6. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702–1713, p. 36. To insure yourself from Portugal would have made the port of Lisbon available to the Anglo-Dutch fleet. In return for joining the Augsburg Alliance, Methuen hinted that the King of Portugal could receive concessions to Spanish territory and compensation for losing the Asiento to France.
7. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 40
8. ↑ Rooke was suffering from gout at the time. In addition, the news of the death of his wife, which suddenly reached him on the day of departure, had upset him.
9. ↑ The Portuguese government, still bound by its treaties with the Bourbons, were very concerned about those who were zealously agitated by Prince George. In response to protests from the French and Spanish ambassadors, King Peter found it useful to politely inquire of the prince whether Portugal could be released from its obligations.
10. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 45
11. ^ Churchill: Marlborough: His Life and Times, Volume 1, 2nd Edition, p. 610
12. ^ ^{A b c d} Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702–1713, p. 46
13. ↑ Stanhope calls Villadarias the 'most active and capable' of all Spanish generals in this war.
14. ^ Stanhope: History of the War of the Succession in Spain, p. 50
15. ^ Stanhope: History of the War of the Succession in Spain, p. 51
16. ^ Stanhope: History of the War of the Succession in Spain, p. 54
17. ↑ Stanhope reports that the governor of Rota let the Allies into the city and was the only notable defector on the Allied side. His name is not known, but Prince Georg awarded him the title of marquis in order to entice other well-known Spaniards to defection.
18. ^ ^{A b} Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 47
19. ^ ^{A b} Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 48
20. ↑ Captain John Norris , the future admiral, was brought to court martial for allegedly beating an officer in a dispute over a couple of barrels of wine they had appropriated.
21. ^ Trevelyan: England Under Queen Anne: Blenheim, p. 265
22. ^ Roger: The Command of the Ocean: A Naval History of Britain 1649-1815, p. 166
23. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 49
24. ^ ^{A b} Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 50
25. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 51
26. ↑ ^{a b c} Trevelyan: England Under Queen Anne: Blenheim, p. 266
27. ^ Stanhope: History of the War of the Succession in Spain, p. 59
28. ^ Francis: The First Peninsular War: 1702-1713, p. 52
29. ↑ Kamen: The War of Succession in Spain: 1700-15, p. 94
30. ^ Churchill: Marlborough: His Life and Times, Book First, 2nd Edition, p. 611
31. ^ Churchill: Marlborough: His Life and Times, Book First, 2nd Edition, p. 612