Capture of Havana
Britain captured Havana in August 1762 after a siege of two months, and handed it back a year later in exchange for Florida. Spain had stayed out of the Seven Years' War until 1761, when Charles III signed a family compact with France on the reasonable expectation that a total French defeat would leave the Spanish empire exposed. Britain declared war in January 1762 and moved immediately at the two hinges of Spanish trade, Havana and Manila. Havana was the assembly point for the treasure fleets and one of the most heavily fortified places in the Americas, with a harbour mouth commanded by the Morro castle. The British landed east of the city and attacked the Morro from the landward side across bare rock, which meant sapping forward without earth to dig in, in the Caribbean summer. Disease did most of the killing. Something like 5,000 of the besiegers died of yellow fever and dysentery, against a few hundred in combat, and reinforcements from North America arrived in time to be infected in turn. A mine finally breached the Morro on 30 July, and the city surrendered on 13 August. The plunder was enormous — a quarter of the Spanish navy taken in the harbour, and prize money that made the commanders rich and gave the ordinary soldier a few pounds. The Treaty of Paris returned Havana for Florida, and Manila for nothing much. Spain spent the following decades rebuilding its colonial defences and reforming its American administration, which produced grievances of its own.
- Year: 1762 CE
- Category: Military
