Battle of Almansa

Battle of Almansa
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
The Battle of Almansa by Ricardo Balaca
Date 25 April 1707 Location Almansa, Albacete, Spain Result Franco-Spanish victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Spain  Kingdom of France	Kingdom of England Kingdom of Portugal  Dutch Republic  Holy Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Duke of Berwick	Earl of Galway Marquess of Minas Jacques-Louis Comte de Noyelles[1]
Strength
25,500 25,000[2] 21,000[3]	28,000[4] 16,500[2] 16,000[3]
Casualties and losses
1,500 killed or wounded[5] 2,000 killed or wounded[3][6] 5,000 killed or wounded[2]	4,000 killed or wounded, 3,000 captured[2] 7,000 killed, wounded or captured[5] 5,000 killed or wounded, 7,000 captured[3] 5,000 killed or wounded, 10,000 captured[6] 17,000 killed, wounded or captured[7]

The Battle of Almansa took place on 25 April 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession. It was fought between an army loyal to Philip V of Spain, Bourbon claimant to the Spanish throne, and one supporting his Habsburg rival, Archduke Charles of Austria. The result was a decisive Bourbon victory that reclaimed most of eastern Spain for Philip.

The Bourbon army was commanded by the Duke of Berwick, illegitimate son of James II of England, while Habsburg forces were led by Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, an exiled French Huguenot. This makes it "probably the only battle in history in which the English forces were commanded by a Frenchman, the French by an Englishman."^[8]