Battle of Brihuega

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Brihuega


caption=
partof=the War of the Spanish Succession
date=December 8–9, 1710
place=Brihuega, Guadalajara, Spain
result=Franco-Spanish victory
combatant1=flagicon|UK|1606 Great Britain
combatant2=flagicon|France|restauration [George Ripley, Charles Anderson Dana, "The American Cyclopaedia", New York, 1874, p. 250, "...the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleur de lis...". * [http://www.anyflag.com/history/fleur23.htm] The original Banner of France was strewn with fleurs-de-lis. * [http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgdisplaylargemeta.cfm?strucID=585779&imageID=1236061&parent_id=585395&word=&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&num=0&imgs=12&total=98&pos=1&snum=] :on the reverse of this plate it says: "Le pavillon royal était véritablement le drapeau national au dix-huitième siecle...Vue du chateau d'arrière d'un vaisseau de guerre de haut rang portant le pavillon royal (blanc, avec les armes de France)." [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Flag] from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica: "The oriflamme and the Chape de St Martin were succeeded at the end of the 16th century, when Henry III., the last of the house of Valois, came to the throne, by the white standard powdered with fleurs-de-lis. This in turn gave place to the famous tricolour."] Kingdom of France
flagicon|Spain|1701 Kingdom of Spain
commander1=James Stanhope
commander2=Louis Joseph de Vendôme
strength1=4,000
strength2=12,000
casualties1=600 dead or wounded
3,400 captured
casualties2=1,000 - 1,500 dead or wounded

The Battle of Brihuega took place on December 8, 1710 in the War of the Spanish Succession. A British rearguard under Lord Stanhope was outfought and overwhelmed by the duc de Vendôme on the road to Barcelona.

Stanhope surrendered and was taken prisoner. Only a small British detachment made it to Barcelona, and the Habsburg alliance in Spain, already weakened by defeat, began to crumble.

Prelude

After the victories in the Battle of Almenara (July 27), and the Battle of Saragossa (August 20), the allies supporting Archduke Charles conquered Madrid for the second time.On the 21st of September the archduke entered Madrid.

But the invasion of 1710 was a repetition of the invasion of 1706. The 23,000 men of the allies, reduced by a loss of 2,000 in the actions at Almenara and Saragossa, by casualties in constant skirmishes with the guerrilleros, and by disease, were absolutely incapable of occupying the two Castiles. The Portuguese gave no help.

The Spaniards were reorganized by the duc de Vendôme, who was lent to Philip V, by his grandfather, and were joined by soldiers of the Irish brigade, and by some Frenchmen who were allowed, or secretly directed, to enter the Spanish service.

The position of the allies at Madrid, which was deserted by all except the poorest of its inhabitants, became untenable. On the 9th of November they evacuated the town, and began their retreat to Catalonia. The archduke left the army with 2,000 cavalry, and hurried back to Barcelona. The rest of the army marched in two detachments, the division being imposed on them by difficulty of finding food. General Guido Starhemberg with the main body of 12,000 men, was a day's march ahead of the British troops, 5,000 men, under Lord Stanhope. Such a disposition invited disaster in the presence of so capable a general as Vendome.

The battle

In this situation, Vendôme was all himself. He set out from Talavera with his troops, and pursued the retreating army of the Allies with a speed perhaps never equalled, in such a season, and in such a country. He marched night and day. He swam, at the head of his cavalry, the flooded stream of Henares, and in a few days, overtook Stanhope, who was at Brihuega with the left wing of the Allied army.

"Nobody with me," says the English general, “imagined that they had any foot within some days' march of us and our misfortune is owing to the incredible diligence which their army made." Stanhope had but just time to send off a messenger to the centre of the army, which was some leagues from Brihuega, before Vendôme was upon him on the evening of december 8.

The next morning the town was invested on every side. The walls were battered with cannon. A mine was sprung under one of the gates. The English kept up a terrible fire till their powder was spent. They then fought desperately with the bayonet against overwhelming odds. They burned the houses which the assailants had taken. But all was to no purpose. The British general saw that resistance could produce only a useless carnage. He concluded a capitulation; and his gallant little army became prisoners of war on honourable terms.

Aftermath

Scarcely had Vendôme signed the capitulation, when he learned that Staremberg was marching to the relief of Stanhope. On December 10 was fought the obstinate and bloody battle of Villaviciosa.

The British troops did not remain in captivity for long before they were exchanged and sent to England in October 1711.

References

External links

* [http://www.ingenierosdelrey.com/guerras/1702_sucesion/1710_villaviciosa.htm Description of the Battles of Brihuega and Villaviciosa (in Spanish)]