Anglo-Spanish War (1762–1763)

The Anglo-Spanish War ( Spanish: ''Guerra Anglo-Española'') was a military conflict fought between Britain and Spain as part of the Seven Years' War. It lasted from January 1762 until February 1763, when the Treaty of Paris brought it to an end.

For most of the Seven Years' War, Spain remained neutral, turning down offers from the French to join the war on their side. During the war's latter stages, however, with mounting French losses to the British leaving the Spanish Empire vulnerable, King Charles III signaled his intention to enter the war on the side of France. This alliance became the third Family Compact between the two Bourbon kingdoms. After Charles had signed the agreement with France, seized British shipping, and expelled British merchants, Britain declared war on Spain. In August 1762, a British expedition captured Havana then, a month later, captured Manila. Between May and November, three major Franco-Spanish invasions of Portugal, Britain's long time Iberian ally, were defeated. In South America, the Spanish succeeded in capturing a strategically important port, but otherwise the war in South America ended in stalemate.

By the Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Florida to Britain and returned conquered Portuguese and Brazilian territories to Portugal in exchange for the British handing back Havana. As compensation for their ally's losses, the French ceded Louisiana to Spain by the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

Background

After war was declared between France and Great Britain in 1756, Spain remained neutral. King Ferdinand VI of Spain's prime minister Ricardo Wall effectively opposed the French party who wanted to enter the war on the side of France. The geopolitical situation changed when Ferdinand VI died in 1759 and was succeeded by his younger half-brother Charles III of Spain. Charles was more ambitious than his complacent brother, and one of the main objects of Charles's foreign policy was the continued survival of Spain as an imperial power and, therefore, as a power to be reckoned with in Europe. He was alarmed by French defeats in the war, suspecting that it would upset the balance of power.

With evidence of growing Franco-Spanish co-operation, Pitt suggested it was only a matter of time before Spain entered the war. The prospect of war with Spain shattered the cabinet unity that had existed up to that point. Pitt strongly advocated a pre-emptive strike which would allow them to capture the annual plate fleet, denying Spain the money required to fund a continuous war. The rest of the cabinet refused, and Pitt resigned. In spite of this war with Spain swiftly became unavoidable; by 1761, France looked as if it was going to lose the war with Britain. Suspecting that a French defeat in the Seven Years' War would upset the balance of power, Charles signed the Family Compact with France (both countries were ruled by branches of the Bourbon family) in August 1761. In December 1761, Spain placed an embargo on British trade, seized British goods in Spain and expelled British merchants. In response to this, Britain declared war on Spain on January 4, 1762.

War

Portugal

From the British point of view the most pressing issue in the war with Spain was a threatened invasion of Portugal, which although a historic British ally, had, like Spain, remained neutral through most of the conflict. France persuaded a reluctant Spain into attacking Portugal and hoped that this new front would draw away British forces then directed against France. Portugal's long but rugged border with Spain was considered by the French to be vulnerable and easy to overrun (a view not shared by the Spanish), rather than the more complex effort needed to besiege the British fortress of Gibraltar. Spanish forces massed on the Portuguese border, ready to strike. Britain moved swiftly to support their Portuguese allies, shipping in supplies and officers to help co-ordinate the defence.

The original Spanish plan was to take Almeida and then to advance towards the Alentejo and Lisbon, but they switched their target to Porto as it would strike more directly at Anglo-Portuguese commerce. Under the direction of the Marquis of Sarria Spanish troops crossed from Galicia into Northern Portugal capturing several towns. However, the thrust against Porto stalled in difficult terrain and due to the flooding of the River Esla. British troops began arriving that summer with 6,000 coming from Belle Île under Lord Loudoun and a further 2,000 from Ireland. On May 9 Spain invested and captured the border fortress of Almeida. A British-Portuguese counter-attack led by John Burgoyne captured the Spanish town Valencia de Alcántara. French forces began to arrive to support the Spaniards, but like their allies they began to suffer high levels of attrition through disease and desertion. In November with problems with their lines of supply and communication the Bourbon allies withdrew after suffering 25,000 casualties and sued for peace.Anderson p.498 Despite the large numbers of forces involved, there had been no major battles.

South America

The Seven Years' War spilled over into Portuguese-Spanish conflict in their South American colonies. The South American war involved small colonial forces taking and retaking remote frontier areas and ended in a stalemate. The only significant action was the First Cevallos expedition, in which Spanish forces captured and then defended the strategically important port town on the River Plate Colony of Sacramento.

Cuba

In June 1762, British forces from the West Indies landed on the island of Cuba and laid siege to Havana

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