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Major campaign of the Seven Years' War From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762) between 5 May and 24 November, was a military episode in the wider Fantastic War in which Spain and France were defeated by the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance with broad popular resistance. It involved at first the forces of Spain and Portugal until France and Great Britain intervened in the conflict on the side of their respective allies. The war was also strongly marked by guerrilla warfare in the mountainous country, which cut off supplies from Spain, and a hostile peasantry, which enforced a scorched earth policy as the invading armies approached that left the invaders starving and short of military supplies and forced them to retreat with heavy losses, mostly from starvation, disease, and desertion.
Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762) | |||||||
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Part of the Fantastic War | |||||||
William, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe, generalissimus of the Anglo-Portuguese forces that thrice defeated the Spanish and French offensives against Portugal. Painting by Joshua Reynolds. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Portugal Great Britain |
Spain France | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Count of Lippe Brás de Carvalho Count of Santiago Earl of Loudoun George Townshend John Burgoyne |
Count of Aranda Marquis of Sarria Alejandro O'Reilly Prince de Beauvau | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
8,000 Portuguese[1][2] 7,104 British[3][4] (5 infantry regiments, 1 dragoon regiment & 8 artillery companies)[5] |
30,000 Spaniards 94 cannons[6][7] 10,000–12,000 French (12 battalions)[6][7] Total: 42,000[8] (largest Franco-Spanish military mobilisation of the eighteenth century)[9][10] | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Very low:[11] (14 British soldiers killed in combat, 804 by disease or accidents;[12] Portuguese losses low) | 25,000–30,000 dead,[lower-alpha 1] wounded, or captured[13][14] |
During the first invasion, 22,000 Spaniards commanded by Nicolás de Carvajal, Marquis of Sarria, entered the Province of Alto Trás-os-Montes, in the northeast of Portugal, with Oporto their ultimate goal. After occupying some fortresses they were confronted with a national uprising. Taking advantage of the mountainous terrain, the guerrilla bands inflicted heavy losses on the invaders and practically cut off their communication lines with Spain, causing a shortage of essential supplies. Near starvation, the Spaniards tried to conquer Oporto quickly but were defeated in the Battle of Douro and the Battle of Montalegre before they retreated to Spain. After that failure, the Spanish commander was replaced by Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda.
Meanwhile, 7,104 British troops landed in Lisbon, leading a massive reorganization of the Portuguese army under Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe, the supreme commander-in-chief of the allies.
During the second invasion of Portugal (Province of Beira), an army of 42,000 French and Spanish soldiers under Aranda took Almeida and several other strongholds, and the Anglo-Portuguese army stopped another Spanish invasion of Portugal by the province of Alentejo and won the Battle of Valencia de Alcántara (Spanish Extremadura), where a third Spanish corps was assembling for an invasion.
The allies managed to stop the invading army in the mountains east of Abrantes, where the slope of the heights facing the Franco-Spanish army was abrupt but very soft on the side of the allies, which facilitated the supply and movements of the allies but acted as a barrier for the Franco-Spaniards. The Anglo-Portuguese also prevented the invaders from crossing the river Tagus and defeated them at the Battle of Vila Velha.
The Franco-Spanish army (which had their supply lines from Spain cut off by the guerrillas) was virtually destroyed by a deadly scorched earth strategy. Peasants abandoned all nearby villages and took with them or destroyed the crops, food and all else that could be used by the invaders, including the roads and houses. The Portuguese government also encouraged desertion among the invaders by offering large sums to all deserters and defectors. The invaders had to choose between stay and starve or withdraw. The outcome was the disintegration of the Franco-Spanish army, which was compelled to retreat to Castelo Branco, closer to the frontier, when a Portuguese force under Townshend made an encircling movement towards its rearguard. According to a report sent to London by the British ambassador in Portugal, Edward Hay, the invaders suffered 30,000 losses, almost three-quarters of the original army, mainly caused by starvation, desertion and capture during the chase of the Franco-Spanish remnants by the Anglo-Portuguese army and peasantry.
Finally, the allies took the Spanish headquarters, Castelo Branco, capturing a large number of Spaniards, wounded and sick, who had been abandoned by Aranda when he fled to Spain, after a second allied encircling movement.
During the third invasion of Portugal, the Spaniards attacked Marvão and Ouguela but were defeated with casualties. The allies left their winter quarters and chased the retreating Spaniards. They took some prisoners, and a Portuguese corps entered Spain took more prisoners at La Codosera.
On 24 November, Aranda asked for a truce which was accepted and signed by Lippe on 1 December 1762.
The 1762 Bourbon invasion of Portugal was actually a succession of three military campaigns in different places and times with similar results:
"The first object of the allied governments of Spain and France was to invade Portugal, the ancient ally of Great Britain, which was supposed to be wholly incapable of defending itself against so formidable a confederacy...that feeble and defenceless kingdom was invaded shortly afterwards at three distinct points by three Spanish armies, such was the spirit of patriotism awaked among the peasantry by a few British officers, that the invaders were repulsed, and ultimately driven back in disgrace."[15]
— Studies in history
During the Seven Years' War, a British fleet under Admiral Boscawen defeated a French fleet in Portuguese waters in front of Lagos, Algarve, in 1759. Three French ships of the line were captured and two were destroyed. Portugal, though an old ally of Britain, had stated her neutrality in this war and accordingly, the Portuguese prime minister Pombal demanded satisfaction from Great Britain. The British government apologized to the Portuguese king, José I, by sending a special delegation to Lisbon,[16] yet the captured vessels were not returned, as demanded by France (Pombal had previously informed Pitt that he did not expect it).[17] The Portuguese government materially assisted the French garrisons that had taken refuge in Lagos after the battle. The French king, Louis XV, thanked José I for all the assistance given to the French sailors, although claiming for the navies. The case seemed settled, but Spain and France would use it as a pretext to invade Portugal four years later.
Portugal was having increasing difficulties in maintaining its neutrality in the Seven Years' War because of outbreaks of minor incidents between British and French: on one occasion, the British consul in Faro instructed British frigates to enter the city's harbour and prevent a French warship from unloading; and in Viana do Minho, British businessmen armed themselves and boarded a boat, recapturing a captured British merchant ship from a French corsair. Despite these incidents, the king and government of Portugal were strongly committed to keep the country out of the war.
On their part, the French were pressuring a reluctant Spain to enter the war on their side (while beginning secret negotiations with Great Britain to end it).[18] Both countries eventually signed the third Family Compact (15 August 1761), a "continental system" mainly designed to isolate Britain in Europe.[19] However, British ships intercepted official correspondence from Spain to France and learned that there was a secret clause providing that Spain should declare war on Britain on 1 May 1762.[20][21] The British anticipated Spain, declaring war first on 2 January 1762.
Both Bourbon powers decided to force Portugal to join their Family Compact (the Portuguese king was married to a Bourbon, the Spanish king Charles's sister). Spain and France sent an ultimatum to Lisbon (1 April 1762) stating that Portugal had to:[23]
Portugal was given four days to answer, after which the country would face an invasion by the forces of France and Spain. Both Bourbon powers hoped to benefit by diverting British troops from Germany to Portugal, while Spain hoped to seize Portugal and its empire.[24]
The Portuguese situation was desperate. The great Lisbon earthquake, tsunami and fire of 1755 had completely destroyed the Portuguese capital, killing tens of thousands and damaging most of the Portuguese fortresses. Rebuilding a new Lisbon left no money to sustain an army or navy; and even the military cadres who had died in the earthquake were not replaced by 1762. From 1750 onward the Brazilian gold supply (which made Portugal by far the largest gold owner on earth during the 18th century) started its irreversible decline, and the price of Brazilian sugar also fell as British and Dutch demand reduced.[25]
The Portuguese navy – which had been powerful during the 15th century, was reduced to only three ships of the line and some frigates. The general picture of the Portuguese "army" was calamitous: The regiments were incomplete, the military warehouses were empty, and there were no military hospitals. By November 1761, the troops had not been paid for a year and a half (they received 6 months payment on the eve of war), and many soldiers lived from robbery, or "assassinating for a livelihood".[28] Military discipline was a distant memory and the greater part of the troops was "without uniforms and without arms".[29] When French Ambassador O'Dunne delivered the ultimatum to the Portuguese government (1 April 1762), a party of sergeants with a captain knocked on the door, begging for alms.[30] Recruitment often included trapping vagrants and transients during popular gatherings. The Count of Saint-Priest, French ambassador in Portugal, reported: "It was impossible to find an army in greater disorder than in Portugal. When the Count of Lippe [the supreme allied commander, sent by England] arrived, the army had as Field Marshal the Marquis de Alvito, who had never learned to shoot a rifle or command a regiment, even in peacetime. The colonels, mostly great Lords, placed as officers in their regiments their valets. It was very common to see soldiers, mostly ragged, begging for alms [even the sentinels of the royal palace]. This state of disorder had just finished shortly before I arrived. We need to be fair. The Count of Lippe established discipline, forced officials to choose between the position in the regiment or his previous condition as valets. (...).With the aid of some foreign officials, military bodies were disciplined and when I arrived, were already trained."[31]
To reinforce their ultimatum and press the Portuguese government, Spanish and French troops started gathering on the Portuguese northern frontiers since 16 March 1762, alleging it was merely a "preventive army". The Portuguese government declared its intention of defending to the last. As soon as news of the entry of Spanish troops into the North of the kingdom reached the Court, Portugal declared war both on Spain and France (18 May 1762), asking for British financial and military assistance. Spain and France declared war on 15 and 20 June, respectively.
On 30 April 1762 a Spanish force penetrated into Portugal through the province of Trás-os-Montes and posted a proclamation entitled "reasons for entering Portugal", in which the Spaniards declared that they were coming not as enemies, but as friends and liberators who came to free the Portuguese people from the "heavy shackles of England",[32] the "tyrant of the seas".
On 5 May, the Marquis of Sarria, leading an army of 22,000 men started the real invasion.[33] Portugal declared war on both Spain and France (18 May 1762).
Miranda, the only fortified and provisioned fortress of the province, was besieged on 6 May 1762, but an accidental and huge powder explosion (20 tons) killed four hundred and opened two breaches in the ramparts, forcing the surrender on 9 May 1762. Bragança (12 May), Chaves (21 May), and Torre de Moncorvo (23 May) were open cities without soldiers, and were occupied without firing a gun. There were neither fortresses with intact walls nor regular troops inside the entire province of Trás-os-Montes (neither powder nor provisions).[34] The Spanish general joked about the complete absence of Portuguese soldiers across the province: "I can not discover where these insects are."[35]
At first, the relationship of the invaders with the civil population was apparently excellent. The Spaniards paid double for the provisions they acquired, and there wasn't a single shotgun.[36] But Madrid had committed a double error: since the Spaniards believed that the simple show of power would be enough to induce Portugal to submission, they entered the country almost without provisions, which would undermine the entire campaign.[33] They also assumed that the country could provide them all the necessary food. When this proved an illusion, the Spanish army imposed forced requisitions of provisions to the populations. These were the trigger for a popular revolt, with war for food feeding war.[37]
Victory seemed a matter of time, and in Madrid, it was confidently expected that the fall of Oporto was imminent, but suddenly the invaders were confronted with a national rebellion, which spread around the Provinces of Trás-os-Montes and Minho. Francisco Sarmento, the governor of Trás-os-Montes, posted a declaration ordering the people to resist the Spaniards or be branded rebels. The Spaniards were confronted by deserted villages with neither food nor peasants to build roads for the army. Together with some militias and ordnances (respectively a kind of Portuguese military institution of 2nd and 3rd line), gangs of civilians armed with sickles and guns attacked the Spanish troops, taking advantage of the mountainous terrain.[38] The Spaniards suffered heavy losses and high rates of disease. Several reports on the ground (published in the British press in 1762) confirm this: "[Province of] Beira. Almeida, June 12, (...) the Enemy [Spaniards], to the number of eight thousand has entered the frontier... several parties have rallied forth from the camp, and had pillaged the villages upon that frontier, and had not even spared the churches; but that these parties had been driven back by the Portuguese militia, who had killed and taken prisoners upwards of two hundred Spaniards (...). [Province of] Minho...June 20...those [Spaniards] who retired from Villa Real and Mirandela towards Miranda, were attacked upon their march by the militia... who killed some of the Spaniards, and took twenty odd prisoners...we have advice of the 22d [June], that a convoy of sixty mules, laden with provisions, had been taken from the enemy about two leagues from Chaves."[39]
According to a French contemporary source, more than 4,000 Spaniards died in the hospital of Braganza,[40] both from wounds and disease. Many others were killed by the guerrillas, taken prisoners, or died from starvation – which was becoming a growing problem. The Portuguese nationalism and the atrocities committed by the Spanish army against peasant villages – mainly during food expeditions – were the fuel for the revolt. Even the King of Spain Charles III, in his declaration of war to Portugal (15 June 1762) – one month and a half after the start of the invasion and almost one month after the Portuguese declaration of war on Spain – complained that many Portuguese populations, conducted by undercover officers, had treacherously killed several Spanish detachments.[41] In another example, the Portuguese Corregidor of Miranda reported in August 1762 that the invading forces in the north had
experienced a mortal hatred from the countrymen, who have made them war, and do not spare neither soldiers nor sutlers...and initially even killed defectors, accusing them of being spies. No countrymen take groceries to the stronghold... and sutlers don't dare seeking them out without an escort of more than 30 men, because of fewer, none of them comes back to the fortress.[42]
The invaders were forced to split their forces in order to protect conquered strongholds, find food, and escorting convoys with supplies. The food for the army had to come from Spain itself, which made it vulnerable to attacks. Unless the Spanish army could quickly take Oporto, starvation would make their situation untenable.
A Spanish force of 3,000 to 6,000 men led by O'Reilly left Chaves, and advanced towards Oporto. This caused great alarm among the British in the city, where their community had many stores with provisions and 30,000 pipes of wine waiting shipment. Measures for evacuating them were initiated by the British Admiralty, while the Portuguese governor of Oporto was ordered to leave the city (which he did not).[43] But when the Spaniards tried to cross the River Douro between Torre de Moncorvo and Vila Nova de Foz Côa, they met O'Hara and his Portuguese force of hundreds of peasants with guns and some Ordinances, helped by women and children in the hills of the southern margin (25 May). In the battle that followed, the Spanish assaults were completely beaten off with losses.[43][44] Panic took possession of the invaders, who made a hasty retreat and were chased by the peasants until Chaves (the expedition's starting point). In the words of the contemporaneous French general Dumouriez, who went to Portugal in 1766 to study the campaign of 1762 in loco,[45] writing a famous report sent to the King of Spain and to the French foreign minister Choiseul:
O'Reilly... turned back and made a very disorderly retreat; at Villa Pouca, and as far as Chaves, the peasants harassed him exceedingly, and had the glory of driving him back with loss and disgrace, though their number did not exceed 600, nor had they a single military man with them. This feat was highly celebrated in Portugal, and the particulars of it repeated with great pride. The failure in this operation occasioned the retreat of the Spanish army [from Portugal] to Zamora [Spain] (pp. 18–19).[46] (...). He owed this defeat to the appearance of fair (p.249) ..."[47]
— In An Account of Portugal, as it Appeared in 1766 to Dumouriez.
On 26 May, another part of the Spanish army that had marched from Chaves towards the province of Minho (Oporto being the final goal), engaged in battle with the Portuguese ordnances at the mountains of Montalegre and the outcome was similar: the Spaniards had to retreat with losses.
... After having become masters of Miranda, Bragança and Chaves, places with no garrisons or walls, the Spanish detached 12 thousand men, part on Montalegre, part on Vila Real. The division which went on Montalegre was strong of 4,000 combatants; however burghers, most of whom had neither rifles nor swords, with some companies of the King's troops, routed this body and caused it to lose many people.[48]
— Contemporary account of the Battle of Montalegre in the jornal Le Nouvelliste Suisse , July 1762.
An army of 8,000 Spaniards sent towards Almeida (in the province of Beira) also suffered defeat: the invaders were driven back after suffering 200 casualties inflicted by the militias,[39] and 600 dead in a failed assault to the fortress of Almeida (according to contemporary British sources)[49]
Finally, reinforcements were sent to Oporto and the province of Trás-os-Montes, who occupied the passes and defiles, endangering the Spanish withdrawal, and at the same time, making it inevitable.[50] Letters published in the British press few days later added: "This is all the information we have had to this day, May 29 [1762]. The officers cannot find terms to express the courage of the militia and the zeal and eagerness which the people show to be engaged with the enemy."[51]
The campaign had been commenced by the Spaniards on the side of Tras os Montes, in which province Miranda, Braganza, and some other towns, had fallen into their hands. They next resolved to proceed against Oporto, but this design was frustrated by the bravery of the peasants, who took possession of the defiles, and compelled the Spanish army to a disorderly retreat. Disappointed in this quarter the enemy turned their steps towards the province of Beira [abandoning Trás-os-Montes] ...[52]
— Orderly book of Lieut. Gen John Burgoyne
The outcome of the battle of Douro proved crucial for the failure of the Spanish invasion,[53] because as Dumouriez explained: "Portugal was at that time without troops and planet-struck; had the [Spanish] army advanced rapidly upon Oporto it must have taken it without firing a gun. Great resources would have been found there, both in money, stores and provisions, and an excellent climate; the Spanish troops would not have perished as they did, with hunger and want of accommodations; the face of affairs would have been totally changed."[54]
In addition to these setbacks, and similarly to the Napoleonic soldiers a few decades later, the Spaniards were experiencing carnage. A contemporary document notes that it was impossible to walk in the mountains of the province of Trás-os-Montes because of the nauseating odour of countless Spanish corpses, which the peasants refused – motivated by pure hate – to bury.