Capture of Gibraltar

Overview

The capture of Gibraltar by Anglo-Dutch forces of the Grand Alliance occurred between 1 and 4 August 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. Since the beginning of the war the Alliance had been looking for a harbour in the Iberian Peninsula to control the Strait of Gibraltar and facilitate naval operations against the French fleet in the western Mediterranean Sea. An attempt to seize Cádiz had ended in failure in September 1702, but following the Alliance fleet's successful raid in Vigo Bay in October that year, the combined fleets of the "Maritime Powers", the Netherlands and England, had emerged as the dominant naval force in the region. This strength helped persuade King Peter II of Portugal to sever his alliance with France and Bourbon-controlled Spain, and ally himself with the Grand Alliance in 1703 as the Alliance fleets could campaign in the Mediterranean using access to the port of Lisbon and conduct operations in support of the Austrian Habsburg candidate to the Spanish throne, the Archduke Charles, known to his supporters as Charles III of Spain.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The capture of Gibraltar between 1 and 4 August 1704 gave the Grand Alliance the Iberian harbour it had sought since the opening of the War of the Spanish Succession. Control of the strait was a strategic priority because it allowed Alliance naval forces to project power into the western Mediterranean against the French fleet and to support the Austrian Habsburg claimant Archduke Charles — recognized by the Alliance as Charles III of Spain — in his campaign for the Spanish throne. Earlier efforts to secure an equivalent foothold had failed; an attempt to seize Cádiz in September 1702 had been repulsed, and though the fleet raid on Vigo Bay in October 1702 established Anglo-Dutch naval dominance in the region, it did not provide a permanent base. That demonstrated dominance had already paid a diplomatic dividend by persuading King Peter II of Portugal to break with France and Bourbon Spain and join the Grand Alliance in 1703, granting access to Lisbon as a staging port. Gibraltar consolidated these gains by giving the combined English and Dutch fleets a permanent anchorage at the mouth of the Mediterranean, shaping the naval balance of the war in the western theatre.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (4)