The South Asian Theatre

The South Asian Theatre is the name given to a series of conflicts between the coalition of Britain, the Dutch Republic, and France against Spain and Portugal during the height of the First Anglo-Spanish War. As the name suggests, these conflicts took place primarily in Southern Asia, with significant battles and skirmishes on the Malay Peninsula, the Spanish Philippines, Indochina, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, and to a lesser extent, the Indian subcontinent. The South Asian Theatre was centred around the Spanish's attempts to capture the British Straits Settlements, most notably Singapore.
Though it is difficult to pinpoint exact dates as to when the South Asian Theatre began, the conflicts most likely began in mid June of 1744, and lasted until the war itself concluded, in November of 1744.
==Background==
In the Council of Liria (June 1, 1744) Jeremiah Garland, then an executive officer of the British East India Company, was granted full governorship of the fledgling British Far East colony of Singapore, by King George II himself. Also as a result of the Council of Liria, it was imminent that war between Britain and Spain was on the rise, and less than two weeks after the council, King Philip V of Spain declared war on Great Britan and their allies. Garland, along with a fellow company officer, a young Irish marine named Jonathan O'Reilly, were granted permission by the British War Department to charter a new military organisation, as an integral part of the East India Company, called the EITC First Division.
As the First Anglo-Spanish War waged on in the Caribbean waters, growing concerns focused on Spanish and Portuguese colonies in southern Asia, and the possibilities of an attack on British colonies. The EITC First Division, led by Garland and O'Reilly, was immediately reassigned to Singapore, of which Garland had just been declared the governor.
Once there, Garland and O'Reilly had discovered that combined Spanish and Portuguese forces, primarily under the command of Spanish General León Andrés de Saravia, had engaged in subtle conflicts with Britain's allies, namely the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of France. However, Spanish and Portuguese attentions soon turned to the British, and their primary port of Singapore, as well as several other settlements in Malacca and the Malay Peninsula.
==Spanish Offensive (June 11 - August 9)==
===Battle of Makassar===
Prior to the British's "official" entrance into the theatre, the Spanish colonial armada (comprised of roughly forty ships) stationed in Manila, the capital of the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines) begun its campaign against the Dutch: their long-time colonial rivals who had dominated the Southeast Asian colonies. As word reached Manila that Spain had declared war on Britain and its allies (including the Dutch Republic), the Spanish armada anchored in Manila saw this as a green sign for attack. The same day war was declared - June 11, 1744 - the fleet immediately disembarked for the Dutch East Indies.
First targeting Sulawesi, the first major island of the Dutch East Indies closest to the Spanish East Indies, the Spanish fleet made a run down the west side of the island - the Strait of Makassar - before coming to the city of Makassar itself, the provincial capital of Dutch Sulawesi. Little resistance was met for the Spanish fleet, led by Fleet Admiral León Andrés de Saravia. A lone Dutch galleon, the HMRS Vrijheid, was quickly overpowered by the Spanish fleet, without a shot being fired.
Word of the Spanish invasion soon reached the Dutch militia in Makassar, which was composed of roughly 2,500 men (Dutchmen and native Sulawesians alike). Makassar's primary defense, Fort Rotterdam, was immediately garrisoned and preparations were made for the oncoming battle. The Spanish force, which comprised of three Spanish galleons, one gunboat, two ship-of-the-lines, and roughly 7,200 Spanish marines, clearly outnumbering the Dutch garrison, began a steady bombardment of the town and Fort Rotterdam. The Dutch militia answered with a steady shelling from the fort, eventually crippling one of the Spanish galleons, the San Luís. Dutch casualties (both military and some civilian) numbered in the dozens, and after a major Dutch cannon encampment in Fort Rotterdam was detained by Spanish pounders, a massive force of roughly 1,000 Spanish marines reached the beachhead of Makassar via rowboats. The Dutch garrison, by now joined by several dozen citizen volunteers, quickly constructed makeshift barricades in Makassar's primary streets and, under the command of their militia commander, Captain Ian de Ruyter (coincidentally a distant grand-nephew of Michiel de Ruyter), began forming musket lines and firing at the Spanish invaders. Initially, the Dutch saw success in repelling the better-armed, better-trained, Spanish force, but as more marine reinforcements arrived from the Spanish armada, the Dutch garrison was eventually overwhelmed and fell back to Fort Rotterdam.
Facing little further resistance, the Spanish marines easily captured the town, and Fort Rotterdam fell a number of hours later when the remaining Dutch garrison surrendered. All in all, 216 Dutch militiamen were killed, and roughly 300 others wounded. 56 Spanish marines were killed, about 120 others wounded, and one Spanish galleon received minour damage. The town of Makassar fell to Spain within roughly five hours of their initial bombardment, and the island of Sulawesi in its entirity was ergo claimed for the Spanish crown. Word reached Manila of the town's capture, and a much larger Spanish force was immediately sent to the port, to be used as a launching port on their next target: the Dutch East Indies capital.
===Siege of Batavia===
On June 14, a massive force of eighteen Spanish ships, and over 22,000 Spanish soldiers, arrived at Makassar from Manila, in preparation for the large-scale attack on the Dutch trading mecca of Batavia, which lie across the Java Sea from Sulawesi. The new Spanish force, combined with the regiment that took Makassar, was put under the force of Spanish admiral Saravia, who had at that moment been promoted to general and put in charge of the Spanish campaign against the Dutch East Indies. The next day, June 15, Saravia ordered the Spanish armada to set sail for Batavia.
Having heard the news of Makassar falling to the Spanish just days prior, the provincial colonial Dutch government in Batavia expected themselves to be Spain's next target, and thus prepared heavy defenses. Twelve Dutch warships had already been anchored in Batavia's harbours, but an additional five had been mustered from surrounding ports, including Cirebon and Samarang. This sizable defense fleet was supported by the Royal Dutch East Indies Army (KNIL) headquartered in Batavia, numbering approximately 18,000 soldiers, as well as various militia groups and sub-armies made up of willing Javanese natives. The KNIL had recently been placed under the command of General Jaerdsoon von Oranje, who was also the crowned-prince of the Dutch Republic (after the South Asian Theatre, he would later find military fame fighting Spain in the Caribbean, before becoming King of the Netherlands in 1745).
The Spanish armada arrived in Batavia Harbour early in the morning of June 16. The first shots exchanged was cannonfire between the Spanish galleon Guipúzcoa and the Dutch flagship, the HMRS Hardenbroek.
===Borneo Campaigns===
===Battle of Johor===
===1st Siege of Singapore===
===1st Battle of Ambon===
===2nd Siege of Singapore===
===Capture of Fort Béhaine===
===Spanish Malay Campaigns===
===Battle of Malacca===
===3rd Siege of Singapore===
==Portuguese Offensive (June 13 - June 30)==
===Madras Rebellion===
===Siege of Malabar===
===Battle of Madras===
===Battle of Batticaloa Lagoon===
===Capture of Port Blair===
==British - Dutch Offensive (August 10 - November 18)==
===Battle for Batavia===
===2nd Battle of Ambon===
===British Malay Campaigns===
===Capture of Bangkok===
===1st Battle of Tamsui===
===Battle of Ca Mau===
===Retaking Molucca Islands===
===Philippine Campaigns===
===Battle for Luzon===
===Siege of Manila===
===2nd Battle of Tamsui===
===Treaty of Manila===
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