User:Lord Cornwallis/Spain in the Seven Years War

Spain was a leading participant in the Seven Years War. Although officially neutral from the beginning of the war in 1756 until 1761, Spain played a leading diplomatic role - and from 1761 until 1763 became an active belligerent allied to France. Spains' entry into the war swiftly proved to be an error, as they lost Havana and Manila to the British while their own major offensive - an Invasion of Portugal - failed. The Peace of Paris in 1763 saw Spain lose Florida and forced to pay the Manila Ransom to Britain in return for control of the Phillipines. In compensation for its losses Spain was handed Louisiana by France.

Background

Ricardo Wall rose to power in 1754 and pursued a generally pro-British foreign policy. Wall had been born in Nantes, but was of Irish descent.

Between 1739 and 1748 Britain and Spain had been at war over a series of trading disputes in a conflict known as War of Jenkins' Ear. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and the Treaty of Madrid had resolved most of the disputes between the two states. With the fall of Elisabeth of Parma, who had pursued a strong anti-British policy, there was a distinct shift as the new Chief Minister Ricardo Wall was an anglophile of Irish descent who wished to avoid future conflicts with Britain.

In the years after the war, the British government pursued a deliberate policy of friendship towards Spain spearheaded by the Duke of Newcastle. The British Ambassador in Madrid Benjamin Keene was a regular go-between, and his presence helped to underpin the relationship. The 1750 Treaty of Madrid settled the dispute that has caused the War of Jenkins' Ear by awarding Britain £100,000 in compensation and offering generous trading rights to British mechants. This represented a dramatic turnaround from the conflict of a decade before, and seriously alarmed the French government who believed that their hold over their Spanish allies was weakening. A concerted attempt was made by Paris to secure covert Spanish support as an ally in any future war with Britain, but this was rejected by the Spanish government. The closeness of Keene and Wall meant that two states kept the other closely aprised of their intentions.

As Britain and France edged closer to war becuase of colonial disputes in North America in 1754-55 Spain took a policy of strict neutrality, and occasionally offered to mediate the dispute. This was unsuccesful, and war was finally declared between the two states in 1756.

Policy of Neutrality

When war broke out in Europe in 1756, Spain did not join either of the two coallitions that were established. While there were many supporters of France, they were balanced out by those who saw a potential war with Britain as unessecary costly. The Spanish believed that they had received good terms from the previous war, and saw little to be gained from entering into the fresh conflict. Britain made an offer to hand Gibraltar to Spain, if they would declare war on France and help the British recover Minorca which they had lost in 1756, but this was rejected by the Spanish monarch - partly because he believed the British were about to lose the war. The Spanish were joined in their neutrlity by the Dutch Republic, a prominent British ally, who like Spain had no wish to become embroiled in a war they saw offering little benefit to themselves.

The Spanish policy of neutralty was tested by an incident in --- 1756 when a British privateer the Anti-Gallican captured a French ship - and due to the stormy weather was forced to put into La Corunna. The Spanish authrorities inpounded both ships while they attempted to discover if the engagement had taken place withint Spanish teritorial waters.

Spain insisted that the === should be returned to France, along with the Anti-Gallican which was awarded as compensation. This outragoued British public opinion but, embroiled in a growing war, they took no action - although this began the decline in Anglo-Spanish relations, which was compounded by the death of Benjamin Keene in --- 1757, and his replacement by Lord Bristol, a less popular figure in the eyes of the Spaniards.

Accession of Charles III

Spain had during the previous decade enjoyed a good relationship with Portugal, a traditional British ally, helped by the fact that the Spanish Queen Barbara was Portuguese. Her death in 1758 put this relationship in jepoardy, particularly as Portugal and Spain were involved in a heated dispute concerning the demarcation of the Brazlian border. The King was deeply affected by the death of his wife, and withdrew from public life - growing himself increasingly ill. In his absence the pro-French fraction was able to gain strength at the Spanish court, and the neutralist policies he had been such a strong supporter of were significantly weakened.

Ferdinand died in August 1759, and was suceeded by his half-brother Charles III, who had previously been the ruler of Naples. Charles travelled slowly to Madrid, delayed partly by the illness of one of his sons. When he arrived in the Spanish capital, he caused some surprise to observors by announcing that all of his brother's minister's would be retained in their posts - including Ricardo Wall as Chief Minister. Despite expectations that his mother Elisabeth of Faranese would become a politically influential figure once more and dominate foreign affairs, she retired to live in the countryside and played little further part in politics. Charles IIIs first actions as King were enough to convince the British Ambassador that he indended to continue the policies of his brother, and keep Spain as a neutral power.

Loan to France

Charles' intention to keep Spain from the French alliance might have been caused by a devestatingly bad year for France in the war. The French in North America had been overwhelmed by a multi-pronged British assault which had seen the Canadian capital, Quebec, captured by British troops. Guadeloupe in the West Indies had fallen to British troops while France had suffered two major naval defeats at Quiberon Bay and Lagos that had ended any hopes of successfulyl invading Britain, which had been France's principal objective for 1759.

Despite investing huge numbers of troops and resources into attacking Hanover and Prussia, the French commanders had not achieved the decisive victory they had been looking for and following the Battle of Minden it was the Anglo-German forces which were on the offensive.

By early 1760 the widely expected French triumph in the war had not come, and the Brtitish were now considered the more likely victors. The French national finances had been in a poor state at the beginning of the conflict, but were now in a desperate state after the cost of a number of failed campaigns.

Entry into War

Spain's major goals were the capture of Gibraltar from Britain, as well as capturing the island of Jamaica. However the initial intention of the Spanish high command was to knock Portugal out of the war by a large-scale invasion.

Abandoned invasion

Main article: Planned Franco-Spanish Invasion of Britain (1762)

The French had reawakaned a previous project to launch an Invasion of Great Britain. A planned invasion had failed in 1759 because of British naval supremacy, but the French war leader Choiseul believed the combined might of the Sanish Ferrol fleet and the Frech Channel fleet could overcome Britain's smaller naval forces. The proposal eas greeted with sceptcism in Madrid, but eager to gain French support for their own major objectves, Wall agreed that Spain would participte - largely in a diversionay role to allow the French invasion army a clear crossing of the English channel.

Defeats

News of Manila's fall did not reach Europe until after the peace agreement had ben signed, and it was dealt with by the great powers seperately to the rest of the war.

Peace Treaty

Spain was determined to coninue, considering launching a further attempt to overrun Portugal, a siege of Gibraltar and a possible attempt to recover Cuba. The French after nearly a decade of war, were ready to negotiate a peace agreement even if mean surrendering some of their most valuable colonies to the British.

Bute suggested a proposal to Choiseul which was re-iterated to the Spanish. France would cede Spain its last remaining territory on mainland North America, Louisiana, in exchange for a Spanish agreement to end the war and sign a peace treaty with the Britsh. Spain sent delegates to Paris and The Treaty of Paris which was eventually agreed saw Spain hand over control of Florida to the British.

Aftermath

The series of defeats to the British came as a shocking blow to the Spanish government, which had ploughed resources into rebuilding its navy ad colonial administration following the perceived poor performance of Spanish forces during the previous war. Wall, who had counselled against the war, stepped down as First Minister and handed over to Jerónimo Grimaldi. Grimaldi initially tried to continue the policies of Wall, by mantaining a neutral status for Spain while reforming administration and rebuilding the Spanish navy. Over the years this eventually gave way to a more overt pro-French position, as there was a demand amongst the Spanish people for a war of revenge to win back the losses to Britain during the war.

See also

• France in the Seven Years War
• Great Britain in the Seven Years War

Bibliography

• Longmate, Norman. Island Fortress: The Defence of Great Britain, 1603-1945. Pimlico, 2001.
• Petrie, Sir Charles. Charles III, King of Spain.
• Woodfine, Phillip. Britannia's Glories: The Walpole Ministry and the 1739 War with Spain. The Boydell Press, 1998.