LA BATALLA DE ALMANSA

CEIP PEDRO DUQUE ALICANTE

GUERRA DE SUCESIÓN

BATTLE OF ALMANSA

The Battle of Almansa, fought on 25 April 1707,

was one of the most decisive engagements of the

War of the Spanish Succession. At Almansa, the

Franco–Spanish army under

Berwick soundly defeated the allied forces of

Portugal, England, and the

United Provinces led by the

Earl of Galway, reclaiming most of eastern Spain for

the

Bourbons.

The Bourbon army of about 25,000 was composed of Spanish

and French troops in equal proportion, as well as an

Irish regiment. Opposing them was a mainly Anglo-Portuguese

force with strong Dutch,

German, and French Huguenot elements.

The Battle began with an artillery exchange. When Galway

committed his reserves to an attack on the Bourbon centre,

Berwick unleashed a strong force of Franco-Spanish cavalry

against the weakened Anglo-Portuguese lines, sweeping away

the Portuguese cavalry. A general rout followed, only the

Portuguese infantry held, attacked by the three sides, and

tried to retire fighting. They surrendered by nightfall. Galway

lost 5,000 men killed and 12,000 taken prisoner; of his army of

22,000 only 5,000 escaped to Tortosa.

AFTERMATH

The victory was a major step in the consolidation of

Spain under the Bourbons. With the main allied army

destroyed, Philip V of Spain regained the initiative and

gained Valencia.

The city of

Xàtiva was burned, and its name changed to San Felipe

in order to punish it. (In memory of these events, nowa

days the portrait of the monarch still hangs upside dow

n in the local museum of L'Almodí).

Before long, the only remaining allies of the Habsburg

pretender, Archduke Charles, were his supporters in

Catalonia and Balearic Islands.

RECREATION OF THE BATTLE