- Siege of Barcelona
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Siege of Barcelona
caption=11 September 1714: the last stage of theSiege of Barcelona . The Catalan defenders charge against the Franco-Castilian army of the Bourbonking Philip V .
Almost all of them died.
partof=theWar of the Spanish Succession
date=25 July 1713 -11 September 1714
place=Barcelona , modern-daySpain
result=Decisive Bourbon victory.
combatant1=
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=¬word=&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
combatant2=
commander1=Duke of Berwick
commander2=Antoni de Villarroel
strength1=40,000regular s
80cannon s
20howitzer s
strength2=2,000regular s
4,700 militians of theCoronela
Some piece of artillery
casualties2=7,000 dead or wounded
casualties1=14,000 dead or woundedThe Siege of Barcelona was a battle at the end of theWar of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), which pitted Archduke Charles (backed by Britain,Austria , and theNetherlands ), against Philip V, backed byFrance andSpain in a contest for Spanish lands.Prelude
During the early part of the war,
Barcelona had fallen to the forces of Archduke Charles: his fleet had anchored in the port on22 August 1705 , landing troops which surrounded the city. These troops later captured the fort ofMontjuic , and used it to bombard the city into its submission on October 9 of that year.Battle
Even though the freshly defeated Catalan court then supported the Archduke against Philip V, the Franco-Spanish forces were not strong enough to attempt a recapture of the city until 1713. By
25 July of that year, the city was surrounded by Bourbon forces, but attacks upon it were unfruitful due to the scarcity of artillery. The Bourbons then waited for a 20,000 man reinforcement force, which arrived in April-May of 1714. The assault was renewed under the command of the Duke of Berwick, and after entering the city on30 August , the Bourbons finally triumphed on11 September . This date is now commemorated as theNational Day of Catalonia .Aftermath
The war's end in 1714, with the surrender of the pro-Archduke forces to a Franco-Spanish army, marks a two century long period of greater suppression of Catalan autonomy. The defenders of the city were buried in a cemetery, now a plaza,
Fossar de les Moreres , where Catalans gather every11 September .References
External links
* [http://www.a2a.org.uk/search/documentxsl.asp?com=1&i=2&nbKey=1&stylesheet=xslA2A_com.xsl&keyword=catalans&properties=0601 Documents about "the case of the catalans"] dated on
1714 , at theHouse of Lords ,UK .
* Journal of the House of Lords: volume 19, 2 August 1715, "Further Articles of Impeachment against E. Oxford brought from H.C." [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=38455&strquery=catalan%20case#s14 Article VI] .
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