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| Anglo-Spanish War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Anglo-Spanish Wars and theCoalition Wars | |||||||||
.jpg) The Battle of Trafalgar byJ. M. W. Turner (oil on canvas, 1822–24) | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
1796–1802: 1804–1808:  Spanish Empire French Empire | 1796–1801: 1801–1802, 1804–1808:  United KingdomSupported by:  Portugal | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 100+ ships of the line[1] 80,000 (1801) 50,000 (1807) | ||||||||
TheAnglo-Spanish War was fought between 1796 and 1802, and again from 1804 to 1808, as part of theCoalition Wars. The war ended when an unexpected alliance was formed between Great Britain and theSpanish Bourbon dynasty, resulting in theFrench invasion. The Anglo-Spanish alliance eventually ended in military victory against Napoleonic France, instrumental in endingNapoleon's reign and dominance overEurope.
In theWar of the First Coalition, Spain declaredwar on the newly formed French Republic, and joined the Coalition in attempting to restore the Bourbon Monarchy. The main Spanish general wasAntonio Ricardos, who failed to secure a decisive victory, despite initial successes. French forces elsewhere quickly overran theAustrian Netherlands after theBattle of Fleurus, and theDutch Republic collapsed under huge pressure. The Spanish were having similarly bad times. The Spanish navy did little, with the exception of combining with the British and participating in theSiege of Toulon.
Following theBattle of the Black Mountain, the French Republican forces gained a huge advantage, and by 1795, thePeace of Basel was signed, forcing Spain and thePrussia to exit the Coalition. In 1796, encouraged by massive French gains in theRhine campaign and theItalian campaign, Spanish prime ministerManuel Godoy signed theSecond Treaty of San Ildefonso, establishing a Franco-Spanish alliance and common war against Great Britain. The hope was that victorious France would also win over land and money for Spain,[2] particularly against Spain's then main naval threat, Britain. The alliance continued the longstanding cooperation between France and Spain established by thePacte de Famille in 1733, broken only by the French Revolution.
The war was damaging for Spain and for the Spanish Crown's revenues, with the British blockade greatly reducing the amount of wealth arriving from the colonies. A main Spanish fleet, underJosé de Córdoba y Ramos, had 27ships of the line, however, and planned to link with the French and protect convoys of valuable goods. The British Mediterranean fleet had 15 ships of the line—heavily outnumbered by Franco-Spanish threats, forcing a retreat fromCorsica andElba by 1797. However, the Spanish Navy proved incapable of coordinating with its French Republican allies, and was heavily defeated at theBattle of Cape St. Vincent. This left Spain in a disadvantaged position at sea for the rest of the war, even if they repulsed two British assaults onCádiz andTenerife and a laterBritish expedition to Ferrol.
The war extended to the Pacific, where in early 1797 the Spanish captured a number of British merchantmen andwhaling ships.
In 1797, a British force led by General SirRalph Abercromby launched the invasion of Trinidad. His squadron sailed through the Bocas and anchored off the coast of Chaguaramas. The Spanish Governor Chacón decided to capitulate without fighting. Trinidad thus became a British crown colony, with a French-speaking population and Spanish law. Afterwards, Abercromby secured possession of the settlements of Demerara and Essequibo in South America. A major assault on the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in April 1797 failed after fierce fighting where both sides suffered heavy losses.
Also in 1797, the BritishEast India Company (EIC) atCalcutta chartered a number ofEast Indiamen and local vessels to serve as transports for a planned attack on Manila. However, the Government cancelled the invasion following a peace treaty with Spain and the EIC released the vessels it had engaged.
TheTreaty of Amiens in 1802 provided for a temporary truce in hostilities, only to be broken in 1804 when, by surprise and without declaration of war,British ships attacked a Spanish squadron offrigates that was carrying gold and silver bullion toCádiz. Spanish frigateNuestra Señora de las Mercedes blew up and the British captured the rest.
The French planned an invasion of Britain in the coming year; the Spanish fleet was to be an integral part in assisting this invasion. At theBattle of Trafalgar, in 1805, a combined Franco-Spanish fleet, attempting to join forces with the French fleets in the north for the invasion, were attacked by a British fleet and lost in a decisive engagement. The British victory ended the immediate threat of an invasion of Britain by Napoleon. It also seriously shook the resolve of the unpopular Godoy-led Spanish government, which began to doubt the utility of its uncertain alliance with Napoleon. Meanwhile, aBritish campaign (1806–1807) to conquer the strategically importantRío de la Plata region in Spanish South America met with failure.
Godoy withdrew from theContinental System that Napoleon had devised to combat Britain, only to join it again in 1807, after Napoleon had defeated the Prussians. Napoleon, however, had lost his faith in Godoy and Spanish KingCharles IV. There was also growing support in Spain for the king's son,Ferdinand, who opposed the widely despised Godoy. Ferdinand, however, favoured an alliance with Britain, and Napoleon had always doubted the trustworthiness of any Bourbon royalty.
In 1807, France and Spain invaded Portugal, and, on 1 December, Lisbon was captured with no military opposition. In the beginning of 1808, the French presence in Spain was so dominating that it led to revolt. Napoleon then removed King Charles and his son Ferdinand toBayonne and forced them both to abdicate on 5 May, giving the throne to his brotherJoseph. This led to thePeninsular War and the de facto end of the Anglo-Spanish War, asGeorge Canning,foreign secretary of His Majesty's Government, declared:
With this, the Bourbon government of Spain, along with anyJuntas claiming to represent it, became allies of Britain, as the Peninsular War developed and ended in victory for both Britain and Spain.
