| Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660) | |||||||||
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| Part of theFranco-Spanish War | |||||||||
 TheBattle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1657) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Spain Royalists ofEngland,Ireland andScotland[1] |  Commonwealth of England France(1657–59) | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Caribbean: Bernardino de MenesesCristóbal Arnaldo IsasiSpain: Pablo Fernández de ContrerasMarcos del PuertoDiego de EgüésFlanders: Willem Bette †Juan José de AustriaLouis, Grand Condé | Caribbean: William PennRobert VenablesEdward DoyleyChristopher MyngsHenry MorganSpain: Robert BlakeRichard StaynerFlanders: John ReynoldsThomas MorganVicomte de Turenne | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~7,500 soldiers and sailors killed in action[3] | ~7,500 soldiers and sailors killed in action[4] | ||||||||
Part ofa series on the |
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| Wars ofInterregnumEngland |
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TheAnglo-Spanish War was fought betweenEngland andSpain between 1654 and 1660. It was driven by the economic and religious rivalry between the two countries, with each side attacking the other's commercial and colonial interests in various ways, such asprivateering and naval expeditions.
In 1655, an Englishamphibious expedition invaded Spanish territory in the Caribbean, eventually capturing the island ofJamaica. In 1657, England formed an alliance withFrance, merging the Anglo-Spanish war with the largerFranco-Spanish War, with major land actions that took place in theSpanish Netherlands.
Although the war was terminated afterThe Restoration ofKing Charles II of England in 1660, tensions in the Caribbean with regard to the English possession ofJamaica kept the conflict going intermittently for over ten years. This included raids on Spanish territory by notable PrivateerHenry Morgan. The war officially ended with two peace treaties, which were signed atMadrid in1667 and1670.
When theFirst Anglo-Dutch War came to an end, Cromwell turned his attention to theconflict between France and Spain, both traditional rivals of England. France and Spain were both of theRoman Catholic faith, anathema to Cromwell, who believed it is God's will thatProtestantism should prevail in Europe. However, he considered Spain to be the greater threat to the Protestant cause, and thus pragmatically allied his nation with France. By going to war with Spain, he also sought a return to a policy of commercial opportunism pursued in the days ofElizabeth I and subsequently abandoned by herStuart successors. Cromwell's attack on Spanish trade and treasure routes immediately recalled the exploits ofFrancis Drake andWalter Raleigh; and it is not by accident that printed accounts of their activities began to circulate in England at this time. There was, however, one important difference: alongside silver and gold a new treasure was becoming ever more important – sugar. This meant occupation of territory, a step beyond the piracy pursued in Elizabethan days.
During the first year of the Protectorate, Cromwell conducted negotiations with the FrenchstatesmanCardinal Mazarin, resulting in the drafting of an Anglo-French alliance against Spain in October 1655. The alliance had an added benefit: France, which was currently offering refuge to the Stuarts, would now be disinclined to assist them in reclaiming the English throne.
Meanwhile, Cromwell had already launched the Western Design against Spain's colonies in theSpanish West Indies. The fleet leftPortsmouth in late December 1654 and arrived in the West Indies in January. In May 1655, an Englishamphibious expedition led byGeneral at SeaWilliam Penn, father ofthe founder of Pennsylvania, and GeneralRobert Venables invaded Spanish territory in the West Indies with the objective of capturingHispaniola. It was one of the strongest ever to sail from England, with some 3,000 marines under the command ofGeneral Robert Venables, further reinforced inBarbados,Montserrat, andSt. Kitts and Nevis.
Although Cromwell had previously been interested in the possible acquisition of Hispaniola island, the expedition's commanders were given the freedom to determine their own priorities in the circumstances they faced on arrival. Several options were considered, including a landing on the coast ofGuatemala or onCuba. Both were discounted, as Penn and Venables decided to attempt to repeat Drake's attack onSanto Domingo on Hispaniola. However, the 1655Siege of Santo Domingo failed because the Spanish had improved their defences in the face of Dutch attacks earlier in the century. Cromwell, on the other hand, saw the Hispaniola defeat as God's judgement.[5] Despite various subsequent successes, the defeat made the whole operation against theSpanish West Indies a general failure. Venables and Penn were imprisoned therefore in theTower of London on their arrival on England.[6][7]
Jamaica was thecasus belli that resulted in the actual Anglo-Spanish War in 1655.[8] Weakened by fever, the English force then sailed west for theColony of Santiago (present-dayJamaica), the only Spanish West Indies island that did not have new defensive works. They landed in May 1655 at a place called Santiago de la Vega, nowSpanish Town. They came, and they stayed, in the face of prolonged local resistance that was reinforced by troops sent from Spain andNew Spain (México). In 1657 the English Governor invited theBuccaneers to base themselves atPort Royal on Santiago, to deter the Spanish from recapturing the island. For England, Jamaica was to be the "dagger pointed at the heart of the Spanish Empire", although in fact it was a possession of little value then.[7] Cromwell, despite all difficulties, was determined that the presence should remain, sending reinforcements and supplies. New Spanish troops, sailing from Cuba, lost theBattle of Ocho Rios in 1657 and theBattle of Rio Nuevo in 1658, failing in their attempts to retake Jamaica. Nevertheless, the fear of another invasion meant that the EnglishGovernor of Jamaica Edward D'Oyley felt his new duty was to organize the defence of the island against the Spanish. By using the tactic of attacking instead of defending, he sent outChristopher Myngs to raid Spanish colonial cities and bases.Tolú andSanta Marta were among them in 1658 and the following yearCumana,Puerto Caballos andCoro were plundered and devastated and Myngs returned to Jamaica with a vast amount of plunder and treasure.[9]
In April 1656 English Admiral Robert Blake with a fleet of around forty warships, fireships and supply vessels sailed toblockade the Spanish port ofCádiz which continued throughout the summer. The Spanish remained on the defensive and took no aggressive action against the English fleet. In mid-June, Captain Edward Blagg sailed with eight ships to raid ports in northern Spain. On 24 June, Blagg raidedVigo, where a number of ships in the harbour were destroyed. While Blake replenished his water supplies on the African coast, a detachment of five frigates under a Captain Smithraided Malaga in southern Spain on 19 July. Smith sank nine Spanish ships, spiked the harbour guns and bombarded the town. A similar raid onAlicante was unsuccessful, but the threat of attack disrupted trade all along the coasts of Spain.[10] On the evening of 8 September, one of Blake's captains, Richard Stayner,intercepted a Spanish treasure fleet and captured or sank all but two of its ships. The loss of the cargoes of the ships captured or sunk by the English was a serious blow to the economy of Spain with an estimated loss of£2,000,000. For the first time in naval history, Blake kept the fleet at sea throughout an entire winter in order to maintain the blockade against Spain.[11]
In February 1657, Blake received intelligence that the plate fleet fromNew Spain was on its way across the Atlantic. Leaving two ships to watch Cádiz, Blake sailed from there to attack the plate fleet, which had docked atSanta Cruz onTenerife in theCanary Islands to await an escort to Spain. In April in theBattle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Blake completely destroyed the Spanish merchant convoy—the West Indian Fleet—however, the fleet had landed the bullion before the battle.[12] Blake was unable to seize it, but it was also unavailable to the government in Madrid.
The short-term effect of Blake's blockade of Spain and his victory at Santa Cruz was the disruption of the Spanish economy, which depended upon silver and gold from the Americas and thereby damaged Spain's capacity for waging war.[13][14] The English lost 1,500 to 2,000 merchant ships to Spanish privateers and instead of using captured English ships to replace their destroyed convoys, the Spanish government placed the care of Spanish trade in the hands of neutral Dutch merchantmen.[15]
An Anglo-French alliance against Spain was established when theTreaty of Paris was signed in March 1657. Based on the terms of the treaty, the English would join with France inher continuing war against Spain inFlanders. France would contribute an army of 20,000 men, England would contribute both 6,000 troops and the English fleet in a campaign against the Flemish coastal fortresses ofGravelines,Dunkirk andMardyck. It was agreed that Gravelines would be ceded to France, Dunkirk and Mardyck to England. Dunkirk, in particular, was on the Commonwealth's mind mainly because of the privateers that were causing damage to the mercantile fleet. For Cromwell and the Commonwealth, the question of possession of Dunkirk thus passed from regional diplomatic possibility to urgent political necessity.[16]
The combined Anglo-French army for the invasion of Flanders was commanded by the great French MarshalTurenne. The Spanish Army of Flanders was commanded by DonJuan-José, an illegitimate son of the Spanish KingPhilip. The Spanish army of 15,000 troops was augmented by a force of 3,000 English Royalists—formed as the nucleus of potential army for the invasion of England byCharles II, with Charles's brotherJames, Duke of York, among its commanders.[17]
TheCommonwealth fleet blockaded Flemish ports but, to Cromwell's annoyance, the military campaign started late in the year and was subject to many delays. Marshal Turenne spent the summer of 1657 campaigning against the Spanish inLuxembourg and made no move to attack Flanders until September. Mardyck was captured on 22 September and garrisoned by Commonwealth troops. Dunkirk was besieged in May 1658. A Spanish relief force attempted to lift the siege but was defeated on 4 June at theBattle of the Dunes. The Commonwealth contingent in Turenne's army fought with distinction and impressed their French allies with a successful assault up a strongly defended sandhill 150 feet high during the battle. When Dunkirk surrendered to Turenne on 14 June, Cardinal Mazarin honoured the terms of the treaty with Cromwell and handed the port over to the Commonwealth, despite the protests ofLouis XIV. The Commonwealth also honoured its obligations in respecting the rights of the Catholic populations of Mardyck and Dunkirk. A contingent of Commonwealth troops remained with Turenne's army and were instrumental in the capture of Gravelines and other Flemish towns by the French. With the privateering threat of Dunkirk out of the way, England's mercantile fleet suffered far fewer losses; not only because theDunkirkers had lost their largest base, but because English trade had already been largely lost to the Dutch as a result of Dunkirker privateering.[18]
The war between France and Spain ended with the signing of thePeace of the Pyrenees on 28 October 1659. Cromwell's death in 1658 left England in political turmoil that would result in the return of theStuarts to the throne of England. After theRestoration of Charles II, the Anglo-Spanish War was formally terminated in September 1660 but no treaty was signed between the two nations. Charles had been allied to Spain through theTreaty of Brussels.[19]
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England and Spain had both suffered heavy economic losses; the latter suffered mainly from Blake's blockade of Cádiz. The effect of this, particularly with the action off Cádiz and at Santa Cruz, was the disruption of the Spanish economy, which depended upon silver and gold from the Americas.[20][21] This added to the difficulties of Philip's IV's overstretched armies, who for years had been campaigning simultaneously in Italy, the Pyrenees, Flanders and Portugal.[20] The Spanish answered with a privateering campaign that all but wiped out English shipping trade.[22][23][24] Consequently, the Dutch enjoyed a recovery from the losses they had suffered in thefirst Anglo-Dutch war and took much trade from the English.[25][26][27] Nevertheless, with the victory of the first Anglo-Dutch war and the successes in the war against Spain, England had done enough to establish itself as one of Europe's leading naval powers.[28]
Spain demanded the return of possessions taken by Cromwell's republic, to which Charles had been willing to agree. This soon changed however as Charles had become frustrated with Philip's failure to aid in his restoration. Only a week after war had ended Charles annulled the Brussels treaty and allowed English parliament to annex England's holdings (Jamaica, Dunkirk and Mardyck) despite Spanish protests. At the same time Charles sought a treaty with Spain so that England's holdings could be recognised but the terms for Spain were too harsh and there was hope that the latter would recapture Jamaica in a military campaign. In order to increase his finances Charlessold Dunkirk to Louis XIV of France in November 1662 – though less than £300,000 of the promised half million was ever paid.[29]
In 1662, Charles made adynastic marriage withCatharine of Braganza;Tangier andBombay were ceded to the British Crown and a military alliance was agreed to help Portugal who had beenfighting to regain her independence since 1640. British troops underFrederick Schomberg wereraised to serve to help fight the Spanish. Within a year the Spanish army attempted to overrun Portugal but at the crucialbattle of Ameixial the Portuguese and British inflicted a crushing defeat.[30]
In 1664 England through SirRichard Fanshawe sought to adjust a peace between the Portuguese and Spanish crowns and then between England and Spain but to no avail. At theBattle of Montes Claros a year later another Spanish invasion was decisively defeated so much so that it ended major combat operations during the war which definitively secured Portuguese independence from Spain.[30]
The war's Caribbean component raged on much longer.[31] With Jamaica annexed the purpose of theWestern Design (although failed in its primary objective of capturing the island of Hispaniola[32]) survived the Protectorate itself, later to be revived in the raids ordered under the behest of the Jamaican governorThomas Modyford.[33] Modyford's pretexts for licensing thebuccaneers was his suspicion thatJamaica would never be secure until the Spanish government acknowledged England's possession of Jamaica and theCayman Islands and having it named in a treaty.[34] The resulting privateer raids on theSpanish Main over the next ten years were devastating.Christopher Myngs raidedSantiago de Cuba in 1662 andCampeche the following year.Henry Morgan later took over - his most notable attacks wereat Puerto del Príncipe andat Porto bello, both in 1668 and thedefeat of a Spanish squadron onLake Maracaibo the following year. The Spanish meanwhile could do little to protect themselves.[35]
In responseMariana, the Queen Regent of Spain, issued letters of marque for privateer attacks on English shipping in the Caribbean. One of these privateers was the famed Portuguese pirateManuel Ribeiro Pardal. Charles II ordered the same – so Modyford commissioned Morgan once again to raid the Spanish main in order to preserve Jamaica once and for all.[36] In December 1670 Morgan seized the islands ofOld Providence andSanta Catalina forcing the garrisons to surrender. From there his fleet sailed toChagres and seized the fort there too – Morgan hoped to cross theIsthmus of Panama but at this time he was unaware of events in Europe.[37]
Spain during this time was politically, economically and militarily weakened by the decades of war on multiple fronts and infighting.[31] Charles II saw ideal opportunities for two eventual peace treaties signed atMadrid, both of which were favourable to England.[38] Firstly the1667 treaty was received with great satisfaction by English statesmen and merchants in terms of trade. With Portugal's restoration secure the British Brigade was subsequently disbanded but England's holdings in the Caribbean were left unsettled. Nevertheless, it was a big step for peace between the two kingdoms.[39]
Three years later at thenext Madrid treaty, Spain finally ceded Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to Britain which was a major concession and a humiliation for Spain.[31] English ships were also able to roam the Caribbean Sea without hindrance and for the first time were not seen in the West Indies as intruders or as pirates.[40] Controversially the news did not arrive in time to prevent Henry Morgan's Panama expedition fromplundering and burning Panama in 1671. Despite Spanish protests and his arrest, Morgan went unpunished claiming he had not known about the treaty.[37]
England and Spain would be allies during the next large European conflict theWar of the Grand Alliance and would remain largely at peace until 1702 with the outbreak of theSpanish Succession War.
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