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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