• 
• 
• 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
• 
• 
• 

made use in the spring of 1704. Around then, Archduke Charles –who had been formally proclaimed Charles III of Spain in Vienna– disembarked in Lisbon (112) and started to move through Extremadura, taking Valencia de Alcántara, Alburquerque (114), Jerez de los Caballeros and other smaller towns, although Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo failed to surrender. The same summer, an English-Dutch armada set sail from the Portuguese capital heading for Barcelona. Under the command of an English admiral, Sir George Rooke and the Prince of Darmstadt, its mission was to conquer the city. The attempt failed and upon its return, the fleet attacked Gibraltar’s weak defences. On August 4, 1704, after a two-day battle, the Spanish surrendered to the allied army (122, 113, 267, 268), although it was the English flag that was raised in Gibraltar. All attempts to reconquer the Rock failed (107, 145, 146), and Philip V decided to abandon the siege on May 7, 1705. What then occurred in the area governed by the crown of Aragon became a priority, and the recovery of Gibraltar was relegated into the background.

In 1705, the War of Succession became a civil war when the Aragon kingdoms sided with the Austrian candidate. Territorial advances started in Catalonia in the autumn of 1705: Figueras, Gerona, Lérida, Tortosa, Tarragona and, finally, Barcelona (162, 269, 115), a city which, except for Philip’s attempt to recover it in April-May, 1706 (116), remained loyal to the Austrian project until 1714. After Catalonia, the allies advanced to Valencia and Zaragoza, taking Ibiza, Majorca and Menorca in October, 1706. In Menorca, the Bourbonic forces that had disembarked in Mahón initially prevented its occupation (270 and 136) but an English-Dutch