Berwick's Great Victory | Almansa 1707 | War of the Spanish Succession

After a string of defeats, the Bourbons finally strike back!
Discord:
/ discord
Music from:
/ artemgreben
Ben Hayden
Filmstro
References/Sources:
Kronoskaf, Battle of Almansa
Retrieved from:
kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?ti...
Fortescue, J. W.: A History of the British Army, Vol. I, MacMillan, London, 1899, pp. 484-488
www.wfgamers.org.uk/general-w...
Nicholas Dorrell, 19 April 2015: Marlborough’s Other Army The British Army and the Campaigns of the First Peninsular War, 1702-1712, Helion and Company
Chartrand, Rene, 2021:The Armies and Wars of the Sun King 1643-1715:
Volume 4: The War of the Spanish Succession, Artillery, Engineer,s and Militias, Helion

[@FieldMarshalYT]

Corrections: The Defense of Toulon in 1707 was not conducted by Villars. It was actually conducted by the Comte de Médavy and Comte de Tessé.

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Can't wait, each one of these videos is like an epic tvshow

[@FieldMarshalYT]

That's the goal! It's a good format that brings in the less kowledgable viewers.

[@jerolvilladolid]

In 1700 Spain was still hot property. The second largest economy after France. The war neutered Spain of its italian, dutch, and holy roman empire possessions and turned it into a second class country in europe

[@smal750]

why do they need other territories France was still by far the strongest country with not even having all of france

[@deteon1418]

Great video! 👍👍👍 I am impressed by the fast video output and by the increasing quality! It is just a shame I am late again.

[@GrudgeyCable]

Oh man I’m looking forward to this one! 🍿

[@Thomas_Name]

Your videos keep improving. This battle was much easier to follow compared to the ones in your first few videos. Thank you for covering this significant war in such detail.

[@michaelcarlin9153]

Great analysis and excellent tactical maps!!

[@paulbarteltii9998]

I’ve been looking for new battles to learn about and you nailed it. Thank you man

[@FieldMarshalYT]

Glad I could help!

[@coolpaul3975]

You are so underrated wow but one thing i think you can improve the troops

[@thrrashed2423]

YES

[@gustavokibasha1585]

Great

[@gronndar]

These are good and detailed. I was listening this series while playing Empire Total War as Austria, lol

[@thegloryofromeiseternal]

I listen to it while playing Spain

[@dennisjk768]

I just started off a new GB campaign, waiting for Ultimate General: American Revolution....

[@HillaryRodham1947]

when will you start the North American theatre of the spanish succession war

[@FieldMarshalYT]

I will be taking a break from the war after this video, and when it returns, it will be on different fronts like the Americas and Hungary!

[@GrudgeyCable]

Love me some queen Anne’s war :D

[@fedecano7362]

liked!

[@oliviervece6121]

• MARSHAL BERWICK'S ACCOUNT • "The cannons on our right began to fire at three o'clock, but they had hardly fired 20 volleys when the enemy, having passed a long deep road, which was in front of their left, seized the height where this battery was located, before which I ordered our army to advance to attack.The battle began on the right, our cavalry charged on the enemy's left with such bravery that they managed to break through it, but the enemy infantry fired so intensely on ours that they were They were forced to give way; our cavalry, however, rallied again and charged the enemy, who had rallied under the cover of their infantry; with this attack the enemy was again broken, but the fire of the battalions forced a Once more our cavalry to retire.Seeing that it would be difficult for our right wing to succeed without infantry, I caused the Maine brigade, commanded by M. de Bulkeley, to advance from the second line; this brigade attacked the enemy infantry and completely routed it; our cavalry charged at the same time and then the left wing was completely routed. • Our left, commanded by M. d'Avary, had made several charges, but although it gained some ground and was even helped by La Sarre's brigade, it had not been able to penetrate the enemy line. Our right, having pushed all before it, advanced in battle order on the left flank of the enemy's right, attempting to withdraw, but was so closely pushed, that he soon dispersed, and fled at full speed. , his infantry was destroyed. • The battle did not go so well in the center, for the enemy had routed the main body of our infantry, and two of his battalions, having managed to break through our two lines, advanced to the walls of Almansa. Don José Amézaga, Quartermaster of Cavalry, advanced with two squadrons of Órdenes Viejo, charged and defeated them. • The rest of the enemy infantry, seeing that ours was attacking, that there were still some brigades that had not yet charged, that their left wing was beaten and that their right fled in disorder, tried to withdraw, but in their retreat several battalions were attacked and shattered. General Count of Dehna, with 13 battalions, took refuge on a wooded hill, and the next morning, finding himself surrounded, with no hope of escape, surrendered himself prisoner of war. • Memoirs, vol I, pp. 357-59

[@alexgaelsotorodriguez3870]

It's Almansa, not Almanza. It's still not too late to correct it!

[@FieldMarshalYT]

Either spelling is correct.

[@alexgaelsotorodriguez3870]

@@FieldMarshalYT Maybe in English, still I'd say it is preferable to use the original spelling and not one probably resulting from an accidental deformation

[@alexgaelsotorodriguez3870]

@@FieldMarshalYT Especially since there are other towns in Spain which are called "Almanza", which could lead to confusion

[@FieldMarshalYT]

@@alexgaelsotorodriguez3870 Alright changed it!

[@alexgaelsotorodriguez3870]

@@FieldMarshalYT Thanks for your understanding!

[@metarus208]

No video about the Portuguese front? Why does everyone ignore Badajoz and Rodrigo City? The battles around Barcelona? Alicante?

[@FieldMarshalYT]

I do have a video on that campaign.

[@istvansipos9940]

02:53 but if he saw the 2 armies as balanced, why did he left his position?

[@Rodrigo-GonzaIez]

Can you make a EW6 mod respect a this war? Thanks

[@FieldMarshalYT]

I pretty much am done with modding

[@Rodrigo-GonzaIez]

@@FieldMarshalYT Ok 🔝🔝

[@rodrigorumbocuesta9322]

I only have two problems with this video. First is that the city's name is Almansa, with S, not Z, not Almanza. Second is with the map, Almansa is withing Albacete and Alicante, not at the North.

[@rodrigorumbocuesta9322]

Also a little mistake is that the Spanish regiment in the center is not Castillo, is Castilla.

[@FieldMarshalYT]

Don't worry. I'm going through and remaking all the earlier videos gradually. Also, the units in this video are brigades. They only go regiment-level after Malplaquet.

[@rodrigorumbocuesta9322]

@@FieldMarshalYT I can help u with this video! Cuz that's my town hehe.

[@metarus208]

"probably the only battle in history in which the English forces were commanded by a Frenchman, the French by an Englishman."

[@ccahill2322]

metarus208, Berwick was Irish. Berwick's Regiment was just one of the Regiments in the Irish Brigade which fought for the French Royalty until the Revolution.

[@sambarnett6996]

@@ccahill2322he was the son of James II of England and the Duke of Marlborough’s sister.

[@nomcognom2414]

With disastrous consequences for the non-French and non-English local nations involved. It meant doom for Catalonia (meaning by that the whole former Crown of Aragon) and disaster for Castile, where their local tradition of authoritarianism prevailed and worsened.

[@PalleRasmussen]

Not much tactical finesse in this. Especially compared to Frederick's battles 50 years later.

[@Cancoillotteman]

I think lack of communication was to blame : the armies were already huge but local initiative (introduced to his lower officers by Friedrick if memory serves) was clearly not widely accepted

[@julfer84]

I'm sorry but the battle wasn't like that, I don't know where you documented yourself, but it wasn't like that.

[@FieldMarshalYT]

Really? Because I've read and re-read a couple books and articles on the Battle.

[@julfer84]

@@FieldMarshalYT Could you say me that books? Thanks

[@FieldMarshalYT]

@@julfer84 The British Army and the Campaigns of the First Peninsular War, 1702-1713, The War of the Spanish Succession in Spain, and the Kronoskaf page kronoskaf.com/wss/index.php?title=1707-04-25_%E2%80%93_Battle_of_Almansa

[@julfer84]

@@FieldMarshalYT Battle did not start at the left flank of Borbonic army charging agains Portuguese. The battle, after an ineffective artillery fire, started charging English cavalry from the left flank of austracists. I think you omitted (I'm not sure because I don't fully understand the translation) that the Portuguese deployed part of their cavalry in the second line of the austracists left flank, alternating infantry with cavalry and that was key to understanding the disbandment on that flank. Then you usually don't explain well the maneuvers that took place in the battle. The references you use, I have only looked at the web link and it is well explained, but you have not captured the essence of combat well. Please don't take this as a negative review. I simply refer to make a substantiated criticism.

[@FieldMarshalYT]

@@julfer84 Thank you, always open for criticism

[@nomcognom2414]

It is completely wrong to refer to the "Spanish army". Spain did not exist, to start with, as a country. What is called the Spanish monarchy just refers to whatever king or queen happened to be the sovereign over the various nations and kingdoms of Spain, i.e. the Iberian Peninsula (+/- Portugal, depending on the date). Back at the beginning of the 18th century, the Crown of Spain comprised most of the Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic and Canary Islands, plus all territories overseas, as it was an empire, as you know, led by a Habsburg branch. During the War of the Spanish Succession, different Peninsular nations made different choices. The Crown of Castile sided with the French Bourbon claimant, while the Crown of Aragon (i.e. Catalonia, etc.) sided with the Austrian claimant. Therefore, in this conflict, Castile and Catalonia became enemies, and it would be "Spaniards" fighting on either side, if only it would make sense to speak of Spaniards back then, which it doesn't. The war, by the way, was mostly won by France, more than Castile. But as a result, Castile took advantage of the military victory to annex and try to assimilate those defeated. Catalonia, for instance, which had been among the very first nation-states of Europe, and a parliamentary monarchy before England, became just another Castilian colony, only in Europe instead of overseas. Castile had already tried to do that during the whole 17th century, without success. That is when Castile, aiming to conquer and assimilate the whole peninsula, started to appropriate the name of Spain, which had been a merely geographic name since Rome coined "Hispania", as a Latin equivalent to Greek "Iberia". After their military victory, Castilians started to identify themselves as Spaniards, simply because that was what better suited their imperialistic project. They started telling everybody that everybody was "Spanish" and should speak "Spanish" (i.e. Castilian), etc. Since the 17th and 18th century, the history of Castile and Catalonia, in the Iberian Peninsula, parallels that of Russia and Ukraine. The more I learn about the history of Ukraine, especially since the Russian Empire, the more I am impressed to find the same things, even the same language and disinformation, coming from those who deny the nationhood of the neighbours they seek to destroy.

[@FieldMarshalYT]

It's more accurate to refer to them as the Bourbon Spanish. It's sometimes hard not to just refer to them as "Spanish" especially when the allied army fields so very few Pro-Habsburg battalions.

[@nomcognom2414]

​@@FieldMarshalYT , the Bourbon Spanish would be OK, provided most people weren't induced to believe it was some sort of civil war, with "Spaniards" on either side. It wasn't. It would therefore be preferrable and more accurate, actually, to speak of Castilians, Catalans, etc.. The Kindgom of Spain was only created around 1830, when Castilians felt confident they were strong enough to liquidate all historical peninsular kingdoms and fuse them together under a new crown, entirely owned and controled by themselves. They did so to further pursue the assimilation of those kingdoms that had been subdued thanks to help from France. I don't know how many ethnic Catalans fought at Almansa, under the various battalion banners, whether they were relatively few or many, for whatever reasons. As you know, the Crown of Aragon was a confederation of sorts, where each state was sovereign, had its own parliament and the king held limited power, unlike Castile and its colonies. This made it more difficult to form battalions and send them fight elsewhere. Plus, the Crown of Aragon was quite weakened, especially the Principality of Catalonia, after a whole century of warfare and destruction, brought about by both Castile and France, which had even split Catalonia between themselves a few decades ago, illegally, through their Treaty of the Pyrenees (which, being absolutely illegal, was kept secret for a number of years, as far as that matter was concerned). In contrast, Castilians had a lot more troops because, unlike Catalonia, warfare and occupation had been their main imperial business since landing in the Americas in 1492. Riches from overseas (where Catalans were not even allowed to trade up until the late 18th century) went into 1) improductive lives of luxury and 2) foreign wars across Europe and the world (to keep the silver and gold coming in). The true nature of the conflict in the Iberian Peninsula, i.e. the imperialistic side of the War of Succession, as regards Castile, the conflict between peninsular nations, is made very clear by what happened after the Treaty of Utrecht. European powers ceased to engage in warfare over the Spanish Empire, but the war resumed between Castile and France on one side, and Catalonia on the other side. The Kingdoms of Aragon and Valencia had been lost, but the Principality of Catalonia and its adjoining Kingdom of Mallorca (ethnically Catalan, like the Kingdom of Valencia) fought on. Barcelona was under siege for more than one year between 1713 and 1714, mostly by French troops under Berwick. The English betrayed Catalonia, because Catalonia had entered the War of Spanish Succession under a signed agreement with the English that they would never let us down, which they eventually did, when Queen Anne died and power shifted hands in Westminster. They would still be ashamed of that into the 20th century, with Churchill referring to that in Parliament (with words that Franco's Spain, amazingly, obtained to be removed from the official record). That was very well documented in early Bristish publications such as The Deplorable history of the Catalans (www.amazon.com.br/Deplorable-Catalans-Reduction-Declarations-Engagements/dp/1385846356) or The Case of the Catalans Considered (books.google.com.br/books/about/The_Case_of_the_Catalans_Considered.html?id=XwnuHAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y). Before Barcelona fell, it was an 18th century Mariupol type of fight. Currently, in Ukraine, a position is said to have been taken and retaken up to 14 times over several weeks or months. Well, in a single day, Barcelona citizens took and retook 11 times the convent of Sant Agustí, next to the bastion of Sant Pere, before they eventually blew it up with French troops inside. That was common people organized in various companies that fought shooting and bayonetting the enemy at close quarters. Barcelona was the capital of Catalonia, of the whole Crown of Aragon during centuries, and Catalans knew they fought for survival. They knew very well what to expect from imperialistic Castile under a French absolutist king.

[@micupedro]

There are several falsehoods. among them that we Valencians are ethnically Catalan. The conquest of Valencia was carried out fundamentally by Aragonese and there is much more Aragonese genetic heritage than Catalan as demonstrated even today by science and genetic studies carried out. Catalan neo-nationalism since the 20th century is an imperialist Russian-type nationalism with its Valencian neighbors and exclusive with the rest of the Spaniards, from whom they differ genetically in nothing and that is why any genetic company groups everyone as Iberians without making regional distinctions. which are minimal; Well, these distinctions are only fundamentally cultural and even more so today, when half of the population of Catalonia is either immigrants or descends from one of them.

[@nomcognom2414]

​​@@micupedro , I didn't say that Valencians and Catalans are the same ethnicity, but since you are bringing this up... Yes, they absolutely are. Valencia was conquered by Jaume I, count of Barcelona (i.e. primus inter pares in Catalonia proper) and king of Aragon and Mallorca (the latter having been conquered before). The counts of Barcelona ruled Catalonia as de facto kings ever since the 9th century (when they started inheriting their title instead of being appointed by the Carolingian emperor) and definitely in the 10th century (when they stopped renewing their vassalage to the Frankish suzerain). Catalonia, ruled by the counts of Barcelona, absorbed the fledgling kingdom of Aragon in the 12th century, when the second king of Aragon married his young daughter to the count of Barcelona, to whom he gave his kingdom away, wanting to retire as a monk. From there on, the counts of Barcelona were also kings of Aragon, a kingdom that would never be annexed by Catalonia in spite of being its junior partner, so to speak, in every respect (historical, demographic, economic, geopolitical, and military). Aragon would enjoy its own parliament, same as Catalonia and all successive territorial acquisitions. Yet, since Aragon was technically a kingdom while Catalonia was ruled by a count, the counts of Barcelona would start being referred to as kings of Aragon for short, and the whole political conglomerate under them was known as Crown (not kingdom) of Aragon. When Jaume I conquered the kingdom of Valencia, it was largely repopulated by colonists from Catalonia (which included the kingdom of Mallorca) and Aragon. The former spoke Catalan while the latter spoke Aragonese. That Aragon weighted less than Catalonia is well documented, and you can perceive that even today. Because most of today's region of Valencia is Catalan speaking, save for a chunk of it which is Spanish speaking. The Aragonese language vanished from Valencia almost from the start. What's more, in today's region of Aragon, there are 6-7 times more Catalan speakers than Aragonese speakers, which speaks volumes about the relative weight of Aragon vs Catalonia through history. It's really bizarre for you to speak of population genetics, here, though it's very much in keeping with the fascist/racist mindset of Spanish nationalists that scour the www, on the lookout for Catalans or Basques, etc, who might be "subverting" the world into realizing that Catalans, Basques, etc., do exist. Unfortunately for you, not only are you giving ethnicity a racial and racist character that doesn't belong in cultural anthropolgy, but you are also contradicting yourself. Because you started pretending that Valencians are different from Catalans from a population genetics point of view, adding that the former are closer to the Aragonese, only to end saying that all of Spain and even Iberia is genetically uniform. Catalan is the language of Valencia, as all academic and state institutions acknowledge. Various regional and local dialects of Catalan are spoken across the Catalan speaking countries, which applies to the region of Valencia, where local dialects are referred to as Valencian. Recently, Catalan, Basque and Galician have been proposed by Spain as new EU official languages. Notice Valencian was not, because it would have been utterly embarrassing for Spain to pretend it is a different language from Catalan. Spanish nationalists will still spread this absurdity locally, occasionally, in Valencia, Aragon and the Balearic islands, sticking to their old trick of divide et impera, but they cannot afford to deny obvious reality at higher levels, like in the EU setting. As for similarities between Spain and Russia, especially in terms of genocidal imperialism since the 17th century, they are just astounding. Both nations have repeatedly denied the language and nationhood of annexed countries, which they have consistently tried to supreess by all means. Both nations claim that it is impossible for them to conceive their nation without "regions" that would feel like amputated. Both have long nurtured contempt and hatred of conquered nations, even using derogatory terms such as "polacos" (i.e. "Poles", for Catalans) and "khokhols" (for Ukrainians). Both nations have claimed that their victims were heinous traitors and victimizers, to the point of calling them Anti Russia and Anti Spain ("Antiespaña"), like we are the Anti Christ, absolutely incompatible, and a lethal poison to their nation that needs be uprooted and even "sterilized". Both Russia and Spain/Castile have a very long history of authoritarianism, while Ukraine and Catalonia have quite the opposite tradition. Both Russia and Spain have spawned fascist regimes, which Ukrainians and Catalans have fought against. But both Russia and Spain have claimed that Ukrainians and Catalans were fascists, trying to present their genocidal aggressions as some legitimate cause. Both Russia and Spain have claimed that it was Ukrainians and Catalans trying to suppress and even exterminate Russians and Spaniards. (You have basically claimed that yourself, using the old disinformation discourse of "pancatalanism".) Both Russian and Spanish fascists have long been stupid, antisemite, and anti-Ukrainian/anti-Catalan enough to call their Ukrainian/Catalan victims Nazis and Jews at the same time. "Jew" has long been a derogatory word, a slur, in Spanish, most usually applied to Catalans. Not just by fascists, but even by supposedly progressive Spaniards. Jew being taken to mean different from us, below us, treacherous and greedy. This comes from a very old, Castilian, medieval sort of racism and eugenism ("limpieza de sangre", i.e. blood cleanliness). And it comes from an old inferiority complex of Castilians and Spanish nationalists seeing that, in spite of the Crown of Castile alone having benefitted from its overseas empire, it was the Crown of Aragon that managed to develop into a regular European nation and, together with the Basques, "enjoy" an industrial revolution. The Catalan industrial revolution was very successful, and to a lesser extent, we can say the same of Valencia, while Madrid and Castile in general, remained underdeveloped. The difference was still very noticeable into the 1970s and 80s. Less so, today, after 4-5 decades of siphoning 10% of GDP from Catalan speaking lands to Spain. That difference hurt Spanish nationalists, who would try to explain it away by calling us Jews. Fascists would put more hatred into the slur, while "progressives" would pretend just being funny, not serious. And these slurs, Nazi and Jew, have often ended up together in the very same rants against Catalans. Most often coming from fascists, as progressives are often antisemite but more careful with language.

[@micupedro]

@@nomcognom2414 I cannot debate in English using Google Translate. No more writing will make you right. Everything you say is pure Catalan fascist propaganda. I am Valencian and I do not speak Catalan, nor do I want to be Catalan. In Valencia, parties that do not want to be Catalan govern by an absolute majority. I speak Valencian with the grammar of the Academy of Valencian Culture, other than Catalan. Valencia was repopulated by Aragonese and all the newspapers in Spain, Catalonia included, have repeatedly published scientific studies that prove it. Read more. Enough of Catalan fascist propaganda, respect democracy, the laws and the Constitution and do not want to impose your law by force. You Catalan nationalists only know how to carry out coups d'état and kill people in riots, you are worse than the Nazis. Your song is to make red ink with the blood of the Castilians and you still sing it today. Leave the exclusive fascism of xenophobic and racist nationalism and adapt to democracy and comply with the Constitution and if you want to change it, read it because it says how it can be done legally and not by the most brutal force.