Spain
Spanish Navy -The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
112-gun Ship-of-the-Line Santa Anna The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars witnessed a dramatic transformation in the position of the Spanish Navy. Thus, in 1792 Spain was, on paper at least, one of Europe’s leading naval powers-indeed, Spain’s navy was ranked behind only those of Britain and France-whereas in 1814 the few Spanish warships that still remained could barely be put…
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Spanish Colonies in South America
The final century and a half of Spanish colonial rule brought additional changes to the Andean political, social, and economic systems that had emerged during the age of Viceroy Toledo. From 1650 to 1750, the South American empire experienced declining mining production and tax revenues, which, from the perspective of…
British Attack French and Spanish Territory in Asia 1740-62 Part I
Joseph François Dupleix who initiated French intervention in Burma Negrais Massacre Coinciding precisely with Clive’s triumphal progress in Bengal, and yet utterly devoid of either glory or consequence, the Burmese or ‘Negrais Affair’ is readily consigned to oblivion. As with other things Burmese, the facts are obscure and the locations…
British Attack French and Spanish Territory in Asia 1740-62 Part II
Fort St George on the Coromandel Coast. Belonging to the East India Company of England 1754 Briefly then, the French took the field first. In September 1757 the first reinforcements to reach India since the outbreak of war had been landed at Pondicherry. Because of the imminent monsoon, the fleet…
Second Siege of Saragossa
This is an account of the epic siege of Saragossa in early 1809: The 27th January 1809 dawned drab and dismal. There was a light mist but the cold of the Spanish winter was intense. French troops gathered in the trenches before Saragossa, chatting nervously and shaking themselves ‘like dogs’…
Africa Colonial Wars 1919–1939 Part I
Just as Africans were taking their first, tentative steps towards nationhood and independence, Spain and Italy launched what turned out to be the last large-scale wars of conquest on the continent, in Morocco and Abyssinia. Both nations were driven by greed and historic grievances which alleged that their legitimate imperial…
Spain’s African Crusade(s)
Attack on La Goletta, with Tunis in the background. Imperial troops in the conquest of Tunis, 1535 The dangers of rebellion among the sullen inhabitants of Granada, aided and abetted by their North African kinsmen, inevitably gave fresh impetus to a long-cherished project for the continuation of the Castilian crusade…