Battle of Saragossa
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- For other battles, see Siege of Saragossa
| Battle of Saragossa | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Spanish Succession | |||||||
 An artist's rendition of the Battle of Saragossa, or Monte Torrero. |
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| Combatants | |||||||
| Spain | Austria Britain United Provinces Crown of Aragon |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Marquis de Bay | Guido Starhemberg Lord Stanhope |
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| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000 |
23,000–30,000 | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| 7,000–10,000 dead or wounded 4,000–5,000 captured |
~1,500 dead or wounded | ||||||
| War of the Spanish Succession |
|---|
| Carpi – Chieri – Cremona – Luzzara – Cádiz – Friedlingen – Vigo Bay – Ekeren – Höchstädt – Schellenberg – Blenheim – Málaga – Cassano – Calcinato – Elixheim – Ramillies – Turin – Almansa – Toulon – Oudenarde – Lille – Malplaquet – Saragossa – Almenara – Brihuega – Villaviciosa – Bouchain – Denain – Barcelona |
The Battle of Saragossa (Spanish: Zaragoza) took place on August 20, 1710 in the War of the Spanish Succession.
Contents |
[edit] Prelude
On July 27, 1710 the Spanish troops suffered a defeat in the Battle of Almenara. They had to leave Catalonia and withdraw to the capital of Aragón. The Spanish commander, marquis de Bay, positioned his troops between the river Ebro (on his left) and the Torrero heights (on his right).
On August 15, an allied cavalry-attack was successfully countered. Five days of skirmishes followed.
On August 19, the allied troops crossed the river Ebro unchallenged and were allowed to deploy their army during the night.
[edit] The battle
The allied left-wing was composed of Catalan and Dutch troops under Count Atalaya. The right-wing was commanded by Stanhope and was composed of British and Austrian troops. Starhemberg was in charge of the center, which was mainly German infantry.
On August 20 at 08:00 an artillery-duel started which lasted until noon. In the afternoon, the battle was more or less a repeat of the Battle of Almenara. The Spanish cavalry attacked fiercely and were almost successful, but the allied troops stood firm.
Then the British and Austrian infantry counter-attacked and the Spanish army was pushed back. Thousands were killed or taken prisoner. Philip V only escaped disguised as an ordinary soldier and helped by a local miller.
[edit] Aftermath
Archduke Charles entered Zaragoza then next day.
The Spanish defeat was total, the way to Madrid was open. Philip V abandoned Madrid on September 9, and went to Valladolid.
Archduke Charles entered a very hostile and almost empty Madrid on September 28. Charles commented: "This city is a desert!"
In the winter of 1710, Archduke Charles and the allied troops had to abandon Madrid, and suffered the decisive defeats of Brihuega and Villaviciosa.
