The Battle of Montalegre – Another Spanish…

Orders had been dispatched for a British force at Madras to proceed to the Philippines and invade Manila almost as soon as war had been declared with Spain.

A combined force of ten thousand seven hundred men under William Draper sets off from India in late July, arriving in Manila Bay in September 1762.

They have to move swiftly before the monsoon season hits.

The British storm the city, capturing it, on October 6.

A large amount of plunder is taken from the city after the Battle of Manila.

Spanish forces regroup under Simon Anda, who had escaped from Manila during the siege.

Rebellions fomented by the British are sabotaged by Spanish agents and crushed by Spanish forces.

The British are prevented from extending their authority beyond Manila and the nearby port of Cavite.

All agreements made between the British commander and Archbishop Rojo are dismissed as illegal.

Eventually the British forces started to suffer troop desertions and dissensions within the command.

Go-Sakuramachi's personal name (imina) before her accession to Japan's Chrysanthemum Throne was Toshiko and her initial pre-accession title was Isa-no-miya and later Ake-no-miya.

She is the second daughter of Emperor Sakuramachi.

Her mother is Nijō Ieko.

Her older sister had died young, and her younger brother is Emperor Momozono.

The empress and her emperor brother are the last lineal descendants of Emperor Nakamikado.

Empress Go-Sakuramachi's Imperial family lives with her in the dairi of the Heian Palace.

Princess Toshiko accedes to the throne when Emperor Momozono abdicates in favor of his sister.

Momozono's son, Prince Hidehito (later to be known as Emperor Go-Momozono) is only five years old at this time.

Hidehito's empress aunt is expected to occupy the throne until her nephew will be able to take on the burden of responsibility.

Peter III of Russia, briefly Czar in 1762, is overthrown by supporters of his wife, Catherine II (the Great).

The unpopularity in Sweden of the costly and futile Pomeranian War means that the Hats' control of government begins to falter and the confusion the war causes leads to a deficit that will resultsi n their fall in 1765.

The death of Elizabeth of Russia in January 1762 changes the whole political situation in Europe.

A Russo-Prussian alliance, formalized on May 5, threatens to make Russia an enemy not an ally of Sweden.

The secret committee had thus decided on March 13 of this year that Sweden will seek a separate peace.

Via the queen's mediation, the Swedes sign  the peace of Hamburg with Prussia and Mecklenburg on May 22, accepting their defeat—Prussia and Sweden are restored to the status quo ante bellum.

Britain threatens to withdraw its subsidies if Prussia does not consider offering concessions to secure peace.

As the Prussian armies have dwindled to just sixty thousand men and with Berlin itself about to come under siege, Frederick's survival is severely threatened, but at the death of the Russian Empress Elizabeth on January 5, 1762, her Prussophile successor, Peter III, at once ends the Russian occupation of East Prussia and Pomerania and mediates Frederick's truce with Sweden.

He also places a corps of his own troops under Frederick's command.

Frederick is now able to muster a larger army, of one hundred and twenty thousand men, and concentrate it against Austria.

He drives them from much of Saxony, while his brother Henry wins a victory in Silesia in the Battle of Freiberg (October 29, 1762).

At the same time, his Brunswick allies capture the key town of Göttingen and compound this by taking Cassel.

Frederick the Great is keenly interested in land use, especially draining swamps and opening new farmland for colonizers who will increase the kingdom's food supply.

He calls it "peopling Prussia" (Peuplierungspolitik).

About a thousand new villages will be founded in his reign that will ultimately attract three hundred thousand immigrants from outside Prussia.

The use of improved technology has enabled him to create new farmland through a massive drainage program in the country's Oderbruch marsh-land.

The construction of embankments and drainage work had begun in 1735 but was primarily carried out between 1747 and 1762.

This program has created roughly sixty thousand hectares (one hundred and fifty thousand acres) of new farmland, but has also eliminated vast swaths of natural habitat, destroyed the region's biodiversity, and displaced numerous native plant and animal communities.

Frederick sees as this project as the "taming" and "conquering" of nature, which, in its wild form, he regards as "useless" and "barbarous" (an attitude that reflects his enlightenment-era, rationalist sensibilities).

He presides over the construction of canals for bringing crops to market, and introduces new crops, especially the potato and the turnip, to the country.

For this, he is sometimes called Der Kartoffelkönig (the Potato King).

An advance guard under De Carnall at Neukalen defeats the Prussians, who are trying to block the road, on January 2, 1762, and Ehrensvard marches into Malchin.

However, he then immediately returns to Swedish Pomerania and on April 7 comes to a truce on his own initiative—this truce of Ribnitz will last until the peace.

The 1762 Franco-Spanish Invasion of Portugal – A War on Two Continents

Following the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, Prime Minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal, focused almost entirely on the reconstruction of Portugal, neglecting the country’s armed forces, which he saw as secondary to economic and administrative reform. This left Portugal militarily unprepared for the conflicts to come.

Spain and France Nullify the Treaty of Madrid (1761)

By 1761, diplomatic tensions between Spain and Portugal escalated. The Treaty of Madrid (1750), which had sought to define colonial boundaries in South America, was rendered void by the Treaty of El Pardo (1761). Spain, seeking to expand its influence in the Americas, now viewed Portugal’s close economic ties to Britain as a threat.

Encouraged by France, Spain agreed to invade Portugal, hoping that by opening a new front, Britain would be forced to divert military resources away from its war with France. The invasion of Portugal would take place in two theaters:

1. The European Front (Portugal) – The Main Theater

   • On May 5, 1762, a triple Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal was launched.
   • The campaign ended in humiliating defeat for the Bourbon forces.

2. The South American Front – A Secondary Theater

   • Spanish forces invaded Portuguese-controlled Brazil and Uruguay.
   • The conflict resulted in a stalemate, with Portuguese victories in Northern and Western Brazil, but Spanish victories in Southern Brazil and Uruguay.

The European Campaign: A Spanish Disaster

Despite Portugal’s military weakness, the European invasion quickly fell apart due to:

• Portuguese resilience and British military assistance
• Spanish overconfidence and logistical failures
• Harsh terrain and disease

Spain and France failed to capture key Portuguese cities, while the British-Portuguese counteroffensive dealt them a humiliating defeat, forcing a retreat by the end of the year.

The South American Theater: A Stalemate

While Spain failed in Europe, the colonial war in South America was more evenly matched:

• Portuguese forces triumphed in Northern and Western Brazil, successfully defending their territories.
• However, Spain managed to secure victories in Southern Brazil and Uruguay, expanding its influence in the Río de la Plata region.

Consequences of the 1762 War

• The European defeat shattered Spain’s hope of removing Portugal from the war.
• In South America, the war altered colonial boundaries but did not deliver a decisive victory to either side.
• For Portugal, the war highlighted the vulnerability of its military, reinforcing its dependence on British protection.
• For Pombal, it marked a turning point, forcing him to reassess military policy after years of neglect.

Ultimately, the 1762 war reaffirmed Portugal’s survival as an independent power, while the colonial conflict laid the groundwork for future territorial disputes between Spain and Portugal in South America.

The 1762 Franco-Spanish Invasion of Portugal – A War on Two Continents

Following the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, Prime Minister Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Marquis of Pombal, focused almost entirely on the reconstruction of Portugal, neglecting the country’s armed forces, which he saw as secondary to economic and administrative reform. This left Portugal militarily unprepared for the conflicts to come.

Spain and France Nullify the Treaty of Madrid (1761)

By 1761, diplomatic tensions between Spain and Portugal escalated. The Treaty of Madrid (1750), which had sought to define colonial boundaries in South America, was rendered void by the Treaty of El Pardo (1761). Spain, seeking to expand its influence in the Americas, now viewed Portugal’s close economic ties to Britain as a threat.

Encouraged by France, Spain agreed to invade Portugal, hoping that by opening a new front, Britain would be forced to divert military resources away from its war with France. The invasion of Portugal would take place in two theaters:

1. The European Front (Portugal) – The Main Theater

   • On May 5, 1762, a triple Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal was launched.
   • The campaign ended in humiliating defeat for the Bourbon forces.

2. The South American Front – A Secondary Theater

   • Spanish forces invaded Portuguese-controlled Brazil and Uruguay.
   • The conflict resulted in a stalemate, with Portuguese victories in Northern and Western Brazil, but Spanish victories in Southern Brazil and Uruguay.

The European Campaign: A Spanish Disaster

Despite Portugal’s military weakness, the European invasion quickly fell apart due to:

• Portuguese resilience and British military assistance
• Spanish overconfidence and logistical failures
• Harsh terrain and disease

Spain and France failed to capture key Portuguese cities, while the British-Portuguese counteroffensive dealt them a humiliating defeat, forcing a retreat by the end of the year.

The South American Theater: A Stalemate

While Spain failed in Europe, the colonial war in South America was more evenly matched:

• Portuguese forces triumphed in Northern and Western Brazil, successfully defending their territories.
• However, Spain managed to secure victories in Southern Brazil and Uruguay, expanding its influence in the Río de la Plata region.

Consequences of the 1762 War

• The European defeat shattered Spain’s hope of removing Portugal from the war.
• In South America, the war altered colonial boundaries but did not deliver a decisive victory to either side.
• For Portugal, the war highlighted the vulnerability of its military, reinforcing its dependence on British protection.
• For Pombal, it marked a turning point, forcing him to reassess military policy after years of neglect.

Ultimately, the 1762 war reaffirmed Portugal’s survival as an independent power, while the colonial conflict laid the groundwork for future territorial disputes between Spain and Portugal in South America.

James Stuart was born in 1713 in Creed Lane, Ludgate Street, London, to a Scottish sailor who died when he was young.

Proving a talented artist while his family was in poverty, he was apprenticed to a fan painter to support the family financially.

However, in around 1742, he had been able to travel to Italy (albeit on foot) for his artistic improvement, working there as a cicerone and a painter, learning Latin, Italian and Greek, and studying Italian and Roman art and architecture.

There he produced his first major work, his illustrated treatise on the Egyptian obelisk of Psammetichus II within A. M. Bandini's De obelisco Caesaris Augusti, and met Nicholas Revett, a young East Anglian nobleman and amateur architect on his Grand Tour.
 
In 1748 Stuart joined Revett, Gavin Hamilton and the architect Matthew Brettingham the younger on a trip to Naples to study the ancient ruins and, from there,they traveled through the Balkans (stopping at Pula) to Greece.

Visiting Salonica, Athens, and an Ionic temple on the River Ilissus among others, they made accurate measurements and drawings of the ancient ruins.

Stuart and Revett returned to London in 1755 and publish  their work, The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece, in 1762.

There are more than five hundred subscribers to its first volume and, although few of the subscribers are architects or builders, thus limiting its impact as a design sourcebook, it will later help fuel the Greek Revival in European architecture.

Its illustrations are among the first of their kind and the work is welcomed by antiquaries, scholars, and gentleman amateurs.

William Hogarth satirises its fastidious depiction of architectural detail in his 1761 engraving Five Orders of Periwigs.