The
Battle of Glen Shiel (
Scottish Gaelic:
Blàr Ghleann Sheile) was a battle in
Glen Shiel, in the West
Highlands of Scotland on 10 June 1719, between British government troops and an alliance of
Jacobites and
Spaniards, resulting in a victory for the government forces. It was the last close engagement of British and foreign troops on mainland
Great Britain. The Battle of Glen Shiel is sometimes considered an extension of the 1715 rising, but is more correctly a separate rebellion and was the only rising to be extinguished by a single military action. It is sometimes known as
the Nineteen.
Build up and previous events
After the
Treaty of Utrecht,
Philip V was accepted as
King of Spain in exchange for several concessions. Great Britain received control over Spanish possessions, such as
Menorca and
Gibraltar, which it could defend, as Britain possessed by far the largest navy in the world at that time.
Philip's plans to restore Spanish power would lead to a violent clash with Britain. Philip and his Italian counsellor, Cardinal
Giulio Alberoni, carried out a campaign in the western
Mediterranean. In 1717, 8500 infantry men and 500 cavalry men sailed from
Barcelona and occupied
Sardinia without difficulty. The next year, 38,000 troops did the same with
Sicily.
The Government responded on 11 August; declaring a violation of Utrecht, the Royal Navy...
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