| War of the Quadruple Alliance | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Anglo-Spanish Wars and Franco-Spanish Wars | |||||||||
 The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718, Richard Paton | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
Quadruple Alliance  Great Britain France Austria Dutch Republic |
 Spain | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Richard Temple George Byng Duke of Berwick Claude de Mercy |
Jean de Bette José de Albornoz Antonio Gaztañeta George Camocke | ||||||||
The War of the Quadruple Alliance [a] was fought from 1718 to 1720 by Spain, and the Quadruple Alliance, a coalition between Britain, France, Austria, and the Dutch Republic.[b] Caused by Spanish attempts to recover territories in Italy ceded in the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, most of the fighting took place in Sicily and Spain, with minor engagements in North America and Northern Europe. Spain also supported the Jacobite rising of 1719 in Scotland in an effort to divert British naval resources.
Spain recaptured Sardinia in 1717 from Habsburg Austria, followed by a landing in Sicily in July 1718. On 2 August, the Quadruple Alliance was formed and on 11th, the Royal Navy defeated a Spanish fleet at Cape Passaro. This meant their troops in Sicily could not be resupplied or reinforced, and Austrian land forces eventually retook the island. In October 1719, a British naval force sacked the Spanish port of Vigo.
The 1720 Treaty of The Hague restored the position prior to 1717, with Savoy and Austria exchanging Sardinia and Sicily.
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