The
Battle of Milazzo
was fought on 15 October 1718 near the city of
Milazzo
in
Sicily
,
Italy
between
Spain
and
Austria
as part of the
War of the Quadruple Alliance
.
Background
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]
Frustrated by the loss of his Italian possessions after the
War of the Spanish Succession
,
King
Philip V of Spain
had invaded
Sardinia
, now in Austrian possession in August 1717 and
Sicily
, which had been awarded to the
Duke of Savoy
, in July 1718.
He was taking advantage of the power vacuum in France after the death of Louis XIV, and the fact that Austria was tied up in the
Austro-Turkish War of 1716?18
. But on 21 July 1718 the
Treaty of Passarowitz
ended the war with Turkey and on 2 August this led to the formation of the
Quadruple Alliance
against Spain, between Austria, Britain, the Dutch Republic, and France.
Meanwhile, the Spanish, with 30,000 men under command of the
Marquis of Lede
, had taken the whole island, with the exception of the area around
Messina
, which was besieged since 18 July.
On 11 August, at the
Battle of Cape Passaro
, a British fleet, led by
Sir George Byng
, attacked and destroyed the Spanish fleet. On 13 October this British fleet landed an Austrian army, assembled in Naples by the Austrian Viceroy
Count Wirich Philipp von Daun
near
Milazzo
, to lift the siege by the Spanish forces. This led to the battle on 15 October.
The battle
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The Austrians attacked very early in the morning, taking the Spanish by surprise. The two Spanish Dragoon regiments (Batavia and Lusitania) stopped the attack, to give the rest of the Spanish army time to deploy. Both regiments were decimated, but their sacrifice gave Lede the opportunity to counterattack. The Austrians were pushed back and the Spanish pursued the fleeing army, causing many casualties.
The Austrians lost 1,500 killed or wounded and 300 prisoners. The Spanish lost 1,500 killed or wounded and 200 prisoners. Messina was taken by the Spanish, but the Marquis de Lede didn't take to opportunity to drive the Austrians completely from the island, leaving them a bridgehead around Milazzo. This bridgehead and naval supremacy after the
Battle of Cape Passaro
, gave the Austrians a chance to send over more troops the next year, leading to the
Battle of Francavilla
.
References
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]
- ^
Chandler:
The Art of Warfare in the Age of Marlborough,
p. 305. All statistics taken from Chandler.
Bibliography
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]