Siege of Badajoz (1658) 1658
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1658 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Spain | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Portuguese Restoration War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Hispanic Monarchy, Kingdom of Portugal | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.8790, -6.9670 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The fourth siege of Badajoz took place from July to October 1658 during the Portuguese Restoration War. It was an attempt by a huge Portuguese army under the command of Joanne Mendes de Vasconcelos, governor of Alentejo, to capture the Spanish city of Badajoz, which was the headquarters of the Spanish Army of Extremadura. The fortifications of Badajoz were essentially medieval and considered vulnerable by the Portuguese, and had already been attacked by them three times during this war.
So in 1658, Mendes de Vasconcelos gathered an army at Elvas and advanced on Badajoz. The city was poorly defended and the Spanish troops under the command of Francisco de Tuttavilla, Duke of San Germán, looked principally to their own survival until a Spanish relief expedition could be mounted. The Portuguese forces launched a direct assault on the town, hoping initially to capture a key fort, San Cristóbal, but after 22 days of unsuccessful attack, the Portuguese abandoned this plan and began to build a circumvallation wall around Badajoz instead, to try to isolate the city. These plans received a boost when they captured a large Spanish defensive installation outside Badajoz, the Fort of San Miguel, but were unable to use this platform successfully against Badajoz itself.
The siege lasted for four months, during which time one-third of the Portuguese troops either died (mainly from the plague) or deserted.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Badajoz (1658) (revision 1374065906), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Badajoz (1812) 1812 · 0 km
- Second siege of Badajoz (1811) 1811 · 0 km
- First siege of Badajoz (1811) 1811 · 1 km
- Siege of Badajoz (1705) 1705 · 1 km
- Battle of Badajoz (1936) 1936 · 1 km
- Battle of the Gebora 1811 · 2 km
Other battles of the Portuguese Restoration War
- Battle of Mbororé 1641
- Siege of São Filipe 1641
- Battle of Montijo 1644
- Battle of Vilanova 1658
- Battle of the Lines of Elvas 1659
- Battle of Ameixial 1663
- Battle of Castelo Rodrigo 1664
- Battle of Montes Claros 1665
- Battle of the Berlengas (1666) 1666
All 10 battles of the Portuguese Restoration War →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Europe · Early modern battles