The Battle of La Gudina, Battle of Val Gudina, or Battle of Campo Maior(Spanish: Batalla de La Gudiña) (Portuguese: Batalha de Caia) was fought on 7 May 1709 near Arronches between the Spanish Bourbon army of Extremadura, under the Marquis de Bay, and the Portuguese and British, under the Huguenot Earl of Galway and the Marquis of Fronteira. This battle resulted in a crushing defeat for the Anglo-Portuguese army, 4,000-5,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or captured, while the Spanish had only 400 soldiers dead or wounded.[2]
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house of French origin, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Spanish Bourbon dynasty held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma. Spain and Luxembourg currently have monarchs of the House of Bourbon.
Extremadura is an autonomous community of the western Iberian Peninsula whose capital city is Mérida, recognised by the Statute of Autonomy of Extremadura. It is made up of the two largest provinces of Spain: Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by the provinces of Salamanca and Ávila to the north; by provinces of Toledo and Ciudad Real to the east, and by the provinces of Huelva, Seville, and Córdoba (Andalusia) to the south; and by Portugal to the west. Its official language is Spanish.
Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay was a French military officer in the service of Spain during the War of the Spanish Succession.
Advancing from Elvas and passing the river Caya (Caia in Portuguese) the Anglo-Portuguese army had in front the Spaniards commanded by the Marquis de Bay. On 17 May and on the plain of La Gudina the two armies met. The Portuguese cavalry was routed with but slight resistance, and it left exposed two battalions of English foot, which were thus cut off and compelled to lay down their arms. Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, who had a horse shot from under him, narrowly escaped being taken prisoner with them. The rest of the Anglo-Portuguese army made an orderly retreat to Elvas, maintaining their position there during the rest of the campaign, the danger of an allied invasion from the Portuguese frontier was staved off for the moment.[1]
Elvas is a Portuguese municipality, former episcopal city and frontier fortress of easternmost central Portugal, located in the district of Portalegre in Alentejo. It is situated about 200 kilometres (120 mi) east of Lisbon, and about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) west of the Spanish fortress of Badajoz, by the Madrid-Badajoz-Lisbon railway. The municipality population as of 2011 was 23,078, in an area of 631.29 square kilometres (243.74 sq mi). The city itself had a population of 16,640 as of 2011.
Henri de Massue, 2nd Marquis de Rouvigny, Earl of Galway, was a French Huguenot soldier and diplomat who was influential in the English service in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession.
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2 (80,823 sq mi), it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island, and the ninth-largest island in the world. In 2011, Great Britain had a population of about 61 million people, making it the world's third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of Great Britain, and together these islands, along with over 1,000 smaller surrounding islands, form the British Isles archipelago.
Background
After the defeat at the Battle of Almansa, the British situation was desperate, they were no longer present in the south-eastern territory of Spain and had minimum or no influence in the course of the war. Henri de Massue formally pressed London to send more reinforcements, and Britain responded sending 25,000 men. About 8,000 British troops were sent to Portugal under the orders of the Earl of Galway, and the rest to Catalonia.
The Battle of Almansa took place on 25 April 1707 during the War of the Spanish Succession, between the forces of Philip V of Spain, Bourbon claimant to the Spanish throne and his Habsburg rival, Archduke Charles of Austria. The result was a decisive Bourbon victory that reclaimed most of eastern Spain for Philip.
Catalonia is an autonomous community in Spain on the northeastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula, designated as a nationality by its Statute of Autonomy. Catalonia consists of four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain and the core of the sixth most populous urban area in the European Union. It comprises most of the territory of the former Principality of Catalonia. It is bordered by France (Occitanie) and Andorra to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east, and the Spanish autonomous communities of Aragon to the west and Valencia to the south. The official languages are Catalan, Spanish, and the Aranese dialect of Occitan.
In Portugal, Galway met with the Marquis of Fronteira to prepare a combined attack against the Bourbon allies of Spain and advance toward Madrid. But for this, first they had to capture the city of Badajoz, a Spanish stronghold near the Portuguese frontier. In the past, Henri de Massue had already tried twice to capture the city without success. This time he did not take the risk. Knowing that France had withdrawn some troops as a consequence of defeats of Louis XIV in Flanders, his Anglo-Portuguese army crossed the border near the fortress of Campo Mayor, composed of maximum 20,000 Portuguese and 8,000 English, towards Badajoz. While his enormous supply train crosses the river Caya, the Anglo-Portuguese made contact with the vanguards of the Spanish cavalry in the fields of Gudiña.
Count of Torre was a Portuguese title of nobility created by a royal decree, dated from July 26, 1638, by King Philip II of Portugal, and granted to Dom Fernando de Mascarenhas, Lord of Rosmaninhal.
Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has almost 3.3 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union (EU), smaller than only London and Berlin, and its monocentric metropolitan area is the third-largest in the EU, smaller only than those of London and Paris. The municipality covers 604.3 km2 (233.3 sq mi).
Badajoz is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The population in 2011 was 151,565.
The allies, according to the Portuguese account, were 49 regiments of infantry and cavalry, against only 40 on the side of their Spanish opponents; according to the London Gazette, No 4538, about 17,000foot and 5,000 horse in very good order, and, by the reports from the deserters, much superior in number to the enemy.[2] The Spanish army were, by their published line of battle, about 24 battalions and 47 squadrons. The artillery of each party was stated as equal, or 20 pieces of artillery.[2]
The allied army which had thrown nine bridges across the river Caya, were ready to do battle. In the center were deployed troops of the Marquis of Fronteira, but his troops were unable to see the Spanish infantry, unlike the cavalry. On the left flank, the first line was commanded by the Count of San Juan, and the second line was positioned under the command of the Earl of Galway, with three British regiments. The allies stretched this wing to take advantage of their numerical superiority, and thus outflank the opposing Spanish wing.
After several attacks designed to attract Anglo-Portuguese forces, the Marquis de Bay, -who commanded the Spanish cavalry on the right flank- sent the Spaniards to attack the Portuguese in the first row. The very well trained and experienced Spanish cavalry made the Portuguese flee. The Count of San Juan desperately tried to reorganize its troops but failed and was captured. The Spanish cavalry also captured a battery of artillery.
Lord Galway then launched an attack to take the battery with 3 regiments. The Spanish dragoons dismounted and engaged the English, which were forced to retreat. Because the Spanish cavalry was dominating the battlefield, the English attempted to retreat into a building. At that point, Galway jumped on a horse and fled. Lord Barrymore and General Pearse were captured. Practically every soldier of the 3 British regiments was either killed or captured. The Spanish cavalry pursued the Anglo-Portuguese, killing 1,500 and capturing 1,000.
The first and second lines of the Anglo-Portuguese wing fled. English Col. Ally, who commanded the center, which had no cavalry, also took flight, even before the Spanish infantry arrived on the field. Leaving all the standards, as well as tents, baggage and guns on the field, he recrossed the river Caya, without destroying the bridges behind their passage.
The Portuguese and British were severely defeated, with the loss of about 1,700 men killed or wounded, about 2,300 prisoners, 17 cannon, 15 colours or standards, as well as tents, and baggage. The Spaniards having had about 400 men, and 100 horses, killed or wounded.[2]
Of the 2,300 prisoners, the greater number, around 1,500, were Queen Anne's troops, and the remainder, or 800, were Portuguese.[2] The highest ranking British officers made prisoners, were Major-General James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore, Nicholas Sankey; Brigadier-General Thomas Pearce; the 2nd Colonel of the Regiment of Galway, with Major Thomas Gordon of that corps; Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Meredith of the Regiment of Colonel Thomas Stanwix, and Lord Henry Pawlet, Aide-de-Camp to the Earl of Galway; the latter nobleman, (unfortunate here as at Almansa,) after having a horse shot out from under him, only escaping with difficulty.[3]
The Allies were thus disappointed in the preparations they had made, of being able, through their superior numbers, to capture Badajoz, and had the additional mortification to witness above 30 leagues of the Portuguese territory placed under contribution by the Marquis de Bay, who subsisted his army at the expense of his adversaries, by the end of this campaign.[2]
So generally discreditable to the British did their intelligence from Portugal appear, that a contemporary London annalist says: "For my part, I think the stories, and excuses, sent us from thence, are as mean, and poor, as our fighting, and conduct, seem to be." The victory, which led to such satisfactory results for Philip V of Spain, Brigadier Henry Crofton with his Regiment of Dragoons of 4 squadrons, was in the 1st line of the Spanish right wing of cavalry, by whose impetuous charge, upon their Portuguese opponents, it is states, that "all the cavalry of the 2 lines of the enemy's left was, in less than half an hour, broken, overthrown, and put to flight."[3]
The Battle of the Dunes, also known as the Battle of Dunkirk, was fought on 14 June 1658. It was a victory of the French army and their Commonwealth of England allies, under Turenne, one of the great generals of his age, over the Spanish army and their English Royalist and French Fronde rebels, led by John of Austria the Younger and Louis II de Condé. The battle was part of the Franco-Spanish War and the concurrent Anglo-Spanish War, and was fought near Dunkirk a fortified port city on the coast of the English Channel in what was then the Southern Netherlands that belonged to Habsburg Spain. The French army had laid siege to Dunkirk and the Spanish army was attempting to raise the siege.
In Battle of Salamanca an Anglo-Portuguese army under the Duke of Wellington defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces among the hills around Arapiles, south of Salamanca, Spain on 22July 1812 during the Peninsular War. A Spanish division was also present but took no part in the battle.
Field Marshal François de La Rochefoucauld, Marquis de Montandre, also known as Francis de La Rochefoucauld, was a British soldier, who arrived in England as a Huguenot refugee. After serving as a junior officer during the Williamite War in Ireland, he was given command of Francis du Cambon's Regiment of Foot and led his regiment in the Low Countries during the Nine Years' War. He also fought at the Siege of Badajoz and at the Battle of Alcantara during the War of the Spanish Succession. He went on to be Master General of the Ordnance in Ireland.
The Battle of Albuera was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of the frontier fortress-town of Badajoz, Spain.
The Battle of Talavera was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, an Anglo-Spanish army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Cuesta in operations against French-occupied Madrid. The French army withdrew at night after several of its attacks had been repulsed.
Gregorio García de la Cuesta y Fernández de Celis was a prominent Spanish general of the Peninsular War.
The Battle of Villaviciosa was a battle between a Franco-Spanish army led by Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme and Philip V of Spain and a Habsburg-allied army commanded by Austrian Guido Starhemberg. The battle took place during the War of the Spanish Succession, one day after a Franco-Spanish victory at Brihuega against the British army under James Stanhope. Both Philip V of Spain and the Archduke Charles of Austria claimed victory, but the number of dead and wounded, the number of artillery and other weapons abandoned by the Allied army and the battle's strategic consequences for the war confirmed victory for Philip.
The Battle of Almenar also referred to as Almenara was a battle in the Iberian theatre of the War of the Spanish Succession.
D. António Luís de Sousa, 4th Count of Prado and 2nd Marquês of Minas was a Portuguese general and governor-general of the Portuguese colony of Brazil.
The Battle of the Gebora was a battle of the Peninsular War between Spanish and French armies. It took place on 19 February 1811, northwest of Badajoz, Spain, where an outnumbered French force routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish Army of Extremadura.
In the Battle of Maguilla a British cavalry brigade led by Major General John Slade attacked a similar-sized French cavalry brigade commanded by General of Brigade Charles Lallemand. The British dragoons scored an initial success, routing the French dragoons and capturing a number of them. The British troopers recklessly galloped after their foes, losing all order. At length, the French reserve squadron charged into the British, followed by the French main body which rallied. With the tables turned, the French dragoons chased the British until the horses of both sides were too exhausted for the battle to continue. The action took place during the Peninsular War, near Maguilla, Spain, a distance of 17 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of Llerena.
The Battle of Garris or Battle of Saint-Palais saw an Allied force under the direct command of General Arthur Wellesley, Marquess Wellington attack General of Division Jean Harispe's French division. The French defenders were driven back into the town of Saint-Palais in confusion. Because of this minor victory, the Allies were able to secure a crossing over the Bidouze River during this clash from the final stages of the Peninsular War.
In the Battle of Campo Maior, or Campo Mayor, on 25 March 1811, Brigadier General Robert Ballard Long with a force of Anglo-Portuguese cavalry, the advance-guard of the army commanded by William Beresford, clashed with a French force commanded by General of Division Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg. Initially successful, some of the Allied horsemen indulged in a reckless pursuit of the French. An erroneous report was given that they had been captured wholesale. In consequence, Beresford halted his forces and the French were able to escape and recover a convoy of artillery pieces.
The 4th Siege of Badajoz took place from July to October 1658 during the Portuguese Restoration War. It was an attempt by a huge Portuguese army under the command of Joanne Mendes de Vasconcelos, governor of Alentejo, to capture the Spanish city of Badajoz, which was the headquarters of the Spanish Army of Extremadura. The fortifications of Badajoz were essentially medieval and considered vulnerable by the Portuguese, and had already been attacked by them three times during this war.
The Second Siege of Badajoz saw an Anglo-Portuguese Army, first led by William Carr Beresford and later commanded by Arthur Wellesley,The Viscount Wellington, besiege a French garrison under Armand Philippon at Badajoz, Spain. After failing to force a surrender, Wellington withdrew his army when the French mounted a successful relief effort by combining the armies of Marshals Nicolas Soult and Auguste Marmont. The action was fought during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Badajoz is located 6 kilometres (4 mi) from the Portuguese border on the Guadiana River in western Spain.
The Siege of Badajoz was a siege of the Spanish city of Badajoz in June and October 1705 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Both the June and October phases was conducted by an Anglo-Dutch force under Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway and François Nicolas Fagel on their advance into south-west Spain. However, the besiegers were forced to withdraw when cavalry reinforcements were sent by marshal René de Froulay de Tessé. The siege was renewed in October, but Galway lost an arm and Fagel again withdrew, meaning that the French were able to withdraw with all their guns. This failure led to Fagel's recall to the Netherlands.
The English expedition to Portugal also known as the British Brigade in Portugal was a brigade raised during the reign of King Charles II for service in Portugal during the ongoing Portuguese Restoration War against Spain in August 1662. The brigade, many of which were veterans of the English Civil Wars and the Dutch Revolt, then fought in all the major battles and skirmishes under the command of Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg and remained in Portugal until the end of the war being subsequently disbanded by mid 1668. The brigade under Schomberg's leadership, proved a decisive factor in winning back Portugal's independence.
References
Hargreaves-Mawdsley, W. N. Eighteenth-century Spain, 1700-1788: A political, diplomatic and institutional history. Rowman and Littlefield (1979) ISBN978-0-8476-6048-3
O'Callaghan, John Cornelius. History of the Irish brigades in the service of France,: From the revolution in Great Britain and Ireland under James II., to the revolution in France under Louis XVI. (1887) ASIN B000859OQS
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
