Battle of Saragossa

For other battles, see Siege of Saragossa (disambiguation).

Battle of Saragossa
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
A painting of the battle
Date 20 August 1710 Location Zaragoza, Spain Result Grand Alliance victory [1]
Belligerents
Austria Habsburg Spain   Great Britain   Dutch Republic   Portugal	Bourbon Spain
Commanders and leaders
Guido Starhemberg Stanhope Atalaia	Marquis de Bay
Strength
30,000 [1] [2]	26,000 [1] [2] 20 guns
Casualties and losses
1,500 dead or wounded	5,000 to 6,000 dead or wounded 7,000 captured 20 guns captured

The Battle of Saragossa, 20 August 1710, took place during the War of the Spanish Succession, near Zaragoza in Spain. A Spanish army commanded by the Marquis de Bay was defeated by a Grand Alliance force under Guido Starhemberg.

Victory allowed the Allies to enter Madrid, but lack of supplies forced them to retreat, while defeats at Brihuega in November and Villaviciosa in December effectively ended hopes of deposing Philip V of Spain.

Background

The 1710 campaign began on 15 May when a Spanish army led by Philip V and Villadarias, advanced on Balaguer. ^[3] Allied Allied forces in Catalonia under Guido Starhemberg halted this attempt by blocking them from crossing the Segre river. Philip made another attempt in June, but was defeated at Almenar on 27 July and withdrew to Zaragoza, while Villadarias was replaced by the Marquis de Bay. ^[4]

After reaching Zaragoza on 9 August, de Bay positioned his troops with the river Ebro on his left and the Torrero heights to the right. On 15 August, an Allied cavalry attack was repulsed, followed by five days of minor skirmishes before the Allies crossed the Ebro in force on 19 August and were allowed to deploy during the night. ^[1]

Battle

Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg

The two forces were roughly equal in strength, the allies having thirty-seven battalions of infantry and forty-three squadrons opposed to the Spanish-Bourbon army of thirty-eight battalions and fifty-four squadrons. ^[5] The Allied left, composed of Catalonian and Dutch troops, was led by the Count of Atalaya, the right by Stanhope, made up of British, Portuguese and Austrian cavalry, with Starhemberg in charge of the centre, mainly German, Austrian and Spanish infantry. ^[1]

Portrait of James Stanhope by Sir Godfrey Kneller

On 20 August at 08:00 an artillery-duel started which lasted four hours ^[6] before Stanhope charged the Bourbon-Spanish left. At first the Spanish and Walloon troops of the Bourbon army seemed to gain the advantage, having defeated a body of eight Portuguese squadrons, which they chased from the field. ^[7] This opened a gap in the Bourbon lines, which Stanhope exploited to rout the disorganized Spanish soldiers, while the attacks of the Bourbon army on the center and the right were repulsed. ^[8]

The battle followed the same pattern as at Almenar: The allies first repulsed fierce Bourbon cavalry charges and then counter-attacked with their infantry, pushing the Spanish back. ^[1] In less than three hours, the Allies army won a comprehensive victory, ^[8] capturing the Bourbon artillery along with 73 standards. Between 5,000 or 6,000 Spanish soldiers were killed or wounded, and another 7,000 captured, with Allied losses estimated as 1,500 men dead or wounded. ^[9]

Aftermath

Archduke Charles entered Zaragoza the next day. The defeat of the army of Philip V of Spain was severe, the way to Madrid was open. ^[1] Philip V abandoned Madrid on 9 September and went to Valladolid. Archduke Charles entered a very hostile and almost empty Madrid on 28 September. Charles commented: "This city is a desert!" In the winter of 1710, Archduke Charles and the allied troops had to abandon Madrid, due to the great opposition of the people of Madrid and the dangerous strategic situation. After this, the British army suffered a defeat at the Battle of Brihuega, ^[10] and the rest of the allied army was defeated at the Battle of Villaviciosa. ^[10]

References

1. Kamen 96–97
2. Alby 47–48
3. Cust 1858, p. 114.
4. Cust 1858, p. 115.
5. Stanhope, p. 308
6. Tucker 2011, p. 712.
7. Stanhope, p. 310
8. Stanhope, p. 311
9. Cust, p. 116
10. Frey 61–62

Sources

• Kamen, Henry. Felipe V, el rey que reinó dos veces. Ediciones Temas de Hoy S.A. Colección: Historia. Madrid (2000) (in Spanish)
• Albi, Julio. La Caballería española, un eco de clarines. Tabapress S.A. Madrid (1992) (in Spanish)
• Frey, Linda and Marsha (1995). The Treaties of the War of the Spanish Succession: an Historical and Critical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN   978-0-313-27884-6.
• Tucker, Spencer C., ed. (2011). A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East. Vol. II. ABC-CLIO.
• Stanhope, Philip Henry. History of the War of the Succession in Spain. London, John Murray (1832).
• Cust, Edward Sir (1858). Annals of the wars of the eighteenth century: compiled from the most authentic histories of the period, Volume 1. Mitchell's military library.

External links

• Description of the Battles of Zaragoza (Spanish)

41°36′31″N00°53′23″W / 41.60861°N 0.88972°W / 41.60861; -0.88972