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Spanish invasion of Portugal (1762)
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Spanish-Portuguese War
1761–1763
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Anglo-Spanish War
1761–1763
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The Spanish invasion of Portugal was a military campaign as part of the Seven Years' War, between May 9 and November 24, 1762. It initially involved the armies of Spain and Portugal, before the French and British intervened in the conflict on the side of ther respective allies.
The Spanish Plan
The original Spanish plan was to take Almeida and then to advance towards the Alentejo and Lisbon. But after the Marquis of Sarria had been appointed commander-in-chief he decided to begin by an attack in the north with Oporto as its aim. This would deal a hard blow to the British, who had large commercial interests in Oporto, and would also be agreeable to Elisabeth of Parma, the Queen Mother, who was still very much a power behind the Spanish throne and wished to spare the position of her daughter Mariana Victoria, the Queen Consort of Portugal. In any case there was no point in antagonising the Portuguese unduly, and if they were not attacked in their capital they might be readier to give in.
The Spanish attack
In the beginning of May, the Spanish troops from Galicia crossed into Portugal and easily took the undefended towns of Chaves and Bragança and also Miranda do Douro, which was fortified but capitulated at once after an accidental explosion had made a large breach in the walls. They then overran the Trás-os-Montes plateau as far as Torre de Moncorvo, which was also an open town though the Spaniards expected it to be defended, and where they found a large number of guns and munitions.
The attack on Oporto came to a standstill, because the Spanish did not realise the difficulties of the country to be traversed. A further delay was caused by the fact that the main body of Spanish troops at Zamora, intended for Almeida, were held up by the flooded River Esla, a northern tributary of the Douro, which they could not cross until a pontoon-bridge had been laid across it. France also send some 12,000 men, but this force was decimated by disease and never used on the field, because their relations with the Spaniards were difficult. The Marquis of Sarria lost precious time and was replaced by the Count of Aranda by mid August.
British entry in the War
This delay gave the British the time to bring over five regiments under John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun from Belle-Ile. They arrived in Lisbon in the third week of July. It was decided that the Earl of Loudoun would be second-in-command and that the German Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe would take over the command from the sick Baron Tyrawley.
In mid-August the new Spanish commander-in-chief, Conde de Aranda, crossed the Côa river, occupied Castelo Rodrigo and took the fortress of Almeida on August 25. Lippe had decided he would relieve the pressure on Almeida and Oporto by organizing a counter-attack. A task force under John Burgoyne supported by a sizeable body of Portuguese infantry crossed the Tagus and on August 24 took the Spanish city of Valencia de Alcántara by surprise. They cleared the neighbourhood of the enemy, taking a number of prisoners including a Spanish general and returned with a ransom of a year's taxes paid in corn. This little victory raised Portuguese moral and Burgoyne was given a large diamond and the Spanish Colours captured.
Lippe then organized a defence along the Zêzere river, and spent the summer studying the enemy positions and thinking up counter-measures, directing his troops in many marches and counter-marches.
He prevented the enemy to cross the Tagus at Vila Velha de Ródão, and on October 7 Burgoyne raided the Spanish at Vila-Velha and put out of action a battery of guns which were about to be emplaced, and safely crossed the river again.
By half October the rains had swelled the Zêzere to render it impracticable. In November the enemy attacked two small places, Marvão and Ouguela, but both cities were successfully held.
On November 24 the Count of Aranda informed Lippe that peace preliminaries had been signed, emissaries were exchanged and an armistice agreed.
Conclusion
The British and Portuguese won by adroit marches and counter-marches, so that the enemy, although hugely superior in numbers, were always confronted by defenders in a good position and never dared to risk an all-out attack. There had been few deaths in battle, but many soldiers on both sides had died from sickness. A number of British and Spanish soldiers later to become notable in the American War of Independence served in this campaign. It has largely been ignored from public attention, perhaps because no major battles took place, it was overshadowed by other theatres of the war, and because it took place so close to the conclusion of the Seven Years War.
Popular Culture
The conflict is portrayed in the novel Absolute Honour by CC. Humphries, where the hero Jack Absolute serves with the British Light Dragoons under the command of Colonel John Burgoyne, later to be famous for his entrapment at Saratoga.
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