Battle of Zaragoza

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Battle of Zaragoza

Battle of Zaragoza

date	August 20 , 1710
place	Zaragoza , Spain
output	Allied victory

Parties to the conflict
Spain	Allies: Austria Great Britain United Netherlands Aragon and Catalonia
Commander
Alexandre Maître	Guido von Starhemberg James Stanhope
Troop strength
22,000	23,000-30,000
losses
7,000-10,000 killed or wounded, 4,000-5,000 prisoners	1,500 killed or wounded

The Battle of Saragossa (Spanish: Zaragoza ) on August 20, 1710 in the War of the Spanish Succession ended with an Allied victory over Spain.

prehistory

After their defeat at the Battle of Almenara on July 27, 1710, the Spanish troops had to give up Catalonia and retreat to Aragon . In anticipation of further attacks by the coalition troops pursuing them, the Spaniards positioned themselves under their new commander, the French general Alexandre Maître, Duke of Bay, on the south bank of the Ebros , not far from Saragossa . After the Spanish army repulsed an attack by the opposing cavalry on August 15, the main mass of the allies crossed the river unmolested on August 19 and were able to line up in battle the following night.

The battle

The Allied army was divided into three wings: on the left, Catalan and Dutch troops were under the command of the Count of Atalaya, and the right wing was formed by British and Austrian units, commanded by Stanhope. German infantry under Starhemberg's command was posted in the center.

The battle began at 8 o'clock with mutual artillery fire, which lasted until noon. In the early afternoon, the Spanish cavalry attacked, but without being able to achieve any decisive success. The subsequent counterattack by the Austrians and British broke through the enemy ranks and drove the Spaniards to flee.

During the battle, the Spanish army lost roughly every second man to death, wounding or capture, while the Allied army suffered only minor losses.

consequences

On August 21, the day after the battle, Archduke Charles entered Saragossa.

Due to the high losses suffered in the battle, the Spanish army was no longer capable of any appreciable resistance. On September 9, the Spanish King Philip V left the unprotected Madrid and went to Valladolid . Karl moved into Madrid on September 28th, but had to vacate the Spanish capital on November 11th after French troops marched into Spain in support of Philip and oppressed the allied army.

Web links

• Description of the Battle of Saragossa (Spanish)