Portugal took part in the War of the Spanish Succession between 1704 and 1712, triggered by the death of Spanish King Charles II without direct heirs. This caused a dispute between rival claimants to the throne, namely Philip V, supported by France, and Archduke Charles Habsburg, supported by England, the Dutch Republic and the Holy Roman Empire. Portugal joined the war on the side of the Grand Alliance and emerged from the conflict in a reinforced position in the Americas but fundamentally with closer ties to Britain.
Portuguese participation came about just 36 years after the War of Portuguese Restoration of Independence, because king Peter II wished to increase the diplomatic standing of the Braganza dynasty and secure the borders of Brazil, as well as those of Portugal in Europe. Portugal initially aligned with France and Spain, but joined the Grand Alliance once it became clear that France lacked the ability to challenge the allies at sea and Phillip V harboured the ambition to re-annex the country.
After a poor start marked by the loss of Colónia do Sacramento in South-America along with the invasion of Portugal by Spanish army, a joint Portuguese, English and Dutch force recaptured the occupied territory and marched into Spain. The energetic Marquis of Minas António Luís de Sousa led an allied army in a bold campaign that reached Madrid and had Archduke Charles acclaimed as King of Spain in the city, which resonated throughout Europe at the time. Nevertheless, the balance of power swung back in Bourbon favor after the Battle of Almansa and Portugal spent the last five years on the defensive, engaged in border skirmishes and fighting French privateers overseas.
Background Towards the end of the 17th century, Spain was in decline and King Charles II had no direct heirs, which led the European powers to anticipate a conflict over the Spanish throne. Portugal embarked on intense diplomatic activity with various powers and negotiated contingencies in the event of a new military confrontation.
Charles II died in 1700 and in his will named Duke Phillip of Anjou as his successor, who thus ascended the throne as Philip V of Spain. King Peter II of Portugal wished to secure the border of Brazil by expanding it to the River Plate, which was a much clearer and safer boundary with Spanish America, and acquire the Spanish towns of Tui, Vigo, Baiona, A Guarda, Badajoz, Albuquerque and Valencia de Alcántara to strengthen Portugal's defences in Europe.A. H. de Oliveira Marques: História de Portugal, Palas Editores, 1983, p. 348. "Portugal proclamava os seus direitos ao Rio da Prata como fronteira meridional do Brasil (cf. Cap. IX) - coisa que a Espanha se recusava a aceitar - e desejava proteger melhor as suas fronteiras na Europa pela aquisição de várias cidades fortificadas espanholas: Vigo, Baiona, Tui Valencia de Alcântara, Albuquerque e Bedajoz. Consequentemente, Portugal resolveu-se a interferir depois da morte de Carlos II de Espanha (1700). Tendo as suas pretensões sido rejeitadas pela Inglaterra, Portugal aliou-se primeiro à França, mas hesitou depois em entrar em guerra quando verificou que os inimigos daquele país dominavam os mares." As England did not support this expansionist project and the main Portuguese diplomat, the Duke of Cadaval, was pro-French, the Portuguese king recognised Philip V against the opinion of his advisers and Portugal initially aligned with France.Monteiro, Nuno Gonçalo: "A Guerra da Sucessão de Espanha" in Barata, Manuel Themudo e Teixeira, Nuno Severiano: Nova História Militar de Portugal, Círculo de Leitores, volume II, 2004, pp. 301-306.
The succession of Philip V was not accepted by Emperor Leopold, who considered that the Spanish throne belonged to his son, Archduke Charles of Habsburg. He was also backed by England and the Netherlands, which were later joined by other powers.Joaquim Veríssimo Serrão: História de Portugal, volume V, Editorial Verbo, 1982, p. 222. The war between France and the allied powers began throughout Europe and the Mediterranean in 1701.
French defeats the following year and the fact that France failed to produce a fleet that would help Portugal defend its colonies and shipping routes as per the agreement led king Peter to reconsider his position.Veríssimo Serrão, 1982, p. 223. He did not wish to antagonize Britain and the Netherlands, and furthermore Philip V insisted on addressing King Pedro II insultingly as Duke of Bragança only, which exposed his intentions to reannex Portugal into Spain.A. H. de Oliveira Marques, Joel Serrão. Nova História de Portugal, volume VII, Editorial Presença, 2001, p. 177-178. All this led Portugal to abandon the pro-Bourbon bloc in September 1702.Marques, Serrão, 2001, p. 176.
A brief period of Portuguese neutrality followed. To avoid clashes in Portuguese waters between hostile navies coming in or out of Portuguese ports, the king ordered port authorities not to allow ships from rival powers to leave with less than two tides between them.
Portugal joins the Grand Alliance
In May 1703, Portugal joined the Grand Alliance by the signing of two treaties with England, the Netherlands and the Holy Roman Empire. King Peter II pledged to enter the war with 12,000 foot-soldiers and 3,000 cavalrymen.Veríssimo Serrão, 1982, p. 224."Guerra da Sucessão de Espanha" at infopedia.pt In return, the allies would support Portugal with 12,000 soldiers and also pay for the recruitment of 13,000 more, in annual instalments of one million patacas. A secret treaty was also signed with Archduke Charles, which provided for the surrender of the border towns of Tui, Vigo, Baiona, A Guarda, Badajoz, Albuquerque and Valencia de Alcántara in Spain and all the lands north of the River Plate, which would serve as the border between the two Crowns in South America. A proposal for the marriage of the Portuguese heir to an Austrian princess and Archduke Charles to a Portuguese princess sealed Portugals entry to the Grand Alliance.
Portugal began mobilizing for war immediately, and several generals were appointed to the borders: the Count of Galveias, Dinis de Melo e Castro, to Alentejo; the Marquis of Minas, António Luís de Sousa, to Beira; the Count of Alvor Francisco de Távora, to Trás-os-Montes; the Count of Atalaia, Luís Manuel de Távora, to Minho; and the Count of Alvito to the Algarve.João Vieira Borges: Conquista de Madrid 1706: Portugal Faz Aclamar Rei de Espanha o Arquiduque Carlos de Habsburgo, Tribuna da História, 2003, p. 52. The defences at the mouth of the Tagus were reinforced, the navy was put on alert and warnings and signals were tested on land. King Peter took out loans to finance the reconstruction of walls and the acquisition of military equipment, while asking the country's city halls to maintain a 4.5% contribution for the purchase of weapons and ammunition.Veríssimo Serrão, 1982, p. 225. Judge António Rodrigues da Costa was instructed to write up a "Justification" in Spanish and Latin of the reasons for Portugal's intervention in the conflict to be published abroad.
On the eve of hostilities, Portuguese forces maintained the old terço organization. The Portuguese royal army numbered 15,000 footsoldiers divided in 22 terços and 3500 cavalrymen, plus a terço of marines and a terço maintained by the Junta do Comércio ("Board of Commerce"), each with 660 men. This did not include the territorial terços in each of the provinces, totalling about 14. Some changes were made to the armed forces on the eve of hostilities: any matchlock muskets or arquebuses still in use were phased out and replaced with flintlock firearms.Fortunato de Almeida: História de Portugal, tome V, book nine, Coimbra, 1927, p. 284-286. The number of men in each terço was increased from 660 men to 800 and then 1000. By a royal decree dated 14 November 1702 every regular army terço was to have two companies of grenadiers. The number of men in cavalry companies was increased from 80 to 120, while the artillery corps was increased from 500 men to 1000.
The reasons for Portugal's involvement in the war were poorly understood by most of the population however, and few believed in the outbreak of hostilities. In August of that year, a fleet of 40 merchant ships called at Lisbon with a large cargo of cod, cheese, and butter, and loaded Portuguese products in a peaceful atmosphere.
On 7 March 1704, Archduke Charles landed at Lisbon accompanied by allied troops, as Portugal had insisted during negotiations. This event represented an unprecedented international recognition of the House of Braganza and was celebrated lavishly. The English troops were commanded by the Duke of Schomberg and the Dutch by François Nicolas Fagel.
The Iberian theater Spain declared war on Portugal on 30 April 1704.
On 7 May, the province of Beira was invaded by a 26,000 to 40,000-man army personally commanded by Philip V, who had veterans brought in from both Italy and the Netherlands, as well as a detachment of French troops commanded by the Duke of Berwick James FitzJames.Borges, 2003, p. 53. Salvaterra do Extremo, Segura and Zebreira were occupied without a shot, while Monsanto and Idanha-a-Nova put up resistance and were taken by storm.Veríssimo Serrão, 1982, p. 226. The garrison of Monsanto was beheaded and the town looted for having offered some resistance. Atrocities were perpetrated against the rural population. On 20 May, the Spanish attacked Castelo Branco and four days later entered the city. Its occupation was presided by Philip V himself. Penamacor was then attacked, and at Sobreira Formosa a detachment of English troops en route to Almeida was annihilated by the Spanish. The Spanish also built a pontoon bridge at Vila Velha de Ródão on 30 May and crossed south into the Alentejo.
Franco-Spanish advance in Beira would be checked by the Marquis of Minas, who organized a counter-attack. He left Almeida on 2 June with a small division reinforced with troops from Minho and Trás-os-Montes and recaptured Monsanto between 9 and 11 June. From there, he entered Spain and occupied Fuenteguinaldo.
Beira was chosen by English and Portuguese generals as the best place to cross into Spain.Veríssimo Serrão, 1982, p. 227. King Pedro II and Archduke Charles met in Guarda and in September moved from there to Almeida, where most of the allied troops had been concentrated. Ciudad Rodrigo across the border was defended by Berwick with 8,000 men and it was attacked on 7 October, but the autumn rains had by that point begun and the Spanish had fortified the crossing of the Águeda River effectively. Seeing no way to cross the Águeda, the allied army returned to Portugal.Borges, 2004, p. 54. Archduke Charles then left for Lisbon, and there he re-embarked for Catalonia.
After the departure of Archduke Charles from Portugal, a brief lull followed in western Iberia. The Spanish sieged Gibraltar, which had been captured by the English the previous year and in March 1705, a dispatch from the commander of Gibraltar Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt reached Lisbon, requesting aid from Admiral Sir John Leake. Portugal participated in the allied relief expedition to Gibraltar with eight warships under the command of Gaspar da Costa de Ataíde. At the Battle of Cabrita Point on the morning of 20 March, the Anglo-Dutch-Portuguese fleet seized a smaller French squadron then leaving Gibraltar, apparently caught unaware of the size of their adversary due to the thick fog until it was too late.Monteiro, 1997, VII, pp. 59-60.
Back in Portugal, the presence of foreign troops caused unrest in the country. Soares da Silva wrote that the movement of troops in Beira and Alentejo was a cause of ‘unrepentant, irredeemable and unpunished violence’. In early 1705, he stated that: