[3] Since the beginning of the war the Alliance had been looking for a harbour in the Iberian Peninsula to control the Strait of Gibraltar and facilitate naval operations against the French fleet in the western Mediterranean Sea.

In order to compensate for their lack of success the Alliance commanders resolved to capture Gibraltar, a small town on the southern Spanish coast.

The Grand Alliance failed in its objective of replacing Philip V with Charles III as King of Spain, but in the peace negotiations Gibraltar was ceded to Britain.

Having now the ability to cut off Portugal's food supplies and trade (particularly gold from Brazil) it was not hard for the Allied diplomats to induce King Peter II to sign the Methuen Treaties of May 1703 and join the Alliance.

[8] Known to his supporters as Charles III of Spain, the young pretender arrived in Lisbon – via London – with George Rooke's fleet on 7 March 1704, amid great celebrations.

[9] Apart from the failed Grand Alliance attempt to take Cádiz in 1702, and the subsequent attack on the Spanish treasure fleet in Vigo Bay, the war had thus far been limited to the Low Countries and Italy.

[10] But without supply for their forces, the coming summer heat made it impossible for them to continue with the campaign, and Philip V returned to Madrid on 16 July to a hero's welcome.

After seeing the Levant trading fleet safely through the Strait of Gibraltar Rooke headed towards Nice to put himself in touch with Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy.

The Prince was the great exponent of the Barcelona plan; he had been in touch with the dissidents within Catalonia and counted on the appearance of the fleet to encourage a rising in favour of 'Charles III'.

[13] On 30 May, under cover of the ships' guns, Prince George landed with 1,200 English and 400 Dutch marines; but the governor of Barcelona, Don Francisco de Velasco, had managed to keep the city's disaffected elements quiet and Philip V's partisans on the alert.

[17] Methuen believed the place to be ungarrisoned and easy to take, but the admirals in the fleet remained sceptical,[18] especially when considering that they were not on this occasion carrying a force comparable to the failed attempt there two years earlier.

As the Alliance fleet lay off Tetuan on the Barbary Coast, a council of war aboard Rooke's flagship discussed the need to please the two kings and save their own reputations.

[22] The Grand Alliance fleet crossed from Tetuan on 30 July; by 1 August Rooke, flying his flag in the Second Rate Royal Katherine, stood at the entrance to the bay while Admiral George Byng's squadron (16 English under Byng and six Dutch ships under Rear Admiral Paulus van der Dussen) anchored inside, ranging themselves within the line of defences from the Old to the New Mole.

He refused, and the garrison pledged its allegiance to Philip V. Although the governor was determined to resist he knew he did not have the means to do so: his earlier requests for reinforcements and military stores had always been in vain.

[5] By his own account, Don Diego had 'no more than fifty-six men of whom there were not thirty in service' and could count on a few hundred civilian militia 'of such bad quality that before they [the Allied fleet] arrived they began to run away.'

[5] Byng's squadron warped themselves in along the sea front as close as the depth permitted and Captain Jumper brought the Lenox within actual musket range of the New Mole.

At midnight Captain Edward Whitaker of the Dorsetshire led a party against a French privateer anchored at the Old Mole which had been firing at the marines on the isthmus.

[25] As the Grand Alliance prepared for their assault the priests, women, and children who had taken refuge at the chapel of Europa Point at southern end of the peninsula, began to return to their homes in the town.

[30] Under the capitulation French subjects were taken prisoner, while any Spaniard who would take an oath of allegiance to 'Charles III' as King of Spain could remain in the town with religion and property guaranteed.

[34] Angered Spanish inhabitants undertook violent reprisals, with soldier and sailors being attacked and killed in the streets, and their bodies thrown into wells or cesspits.

[35] After order was restored, despite the surrender agreement promising property and religious rights, most of the population left with the garrison on 7 August citing their loyalty to Philip.

[36][37][38][39] Several factors influenced the decision including the expectation of a counterattack[40] and the violence[41] during the capture, which ultimately proved disastrous for the Habsburg cause.