Battle of Toulon (1707)

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The Battle of Toulon was fought from 1707-07-29 to 1707-08-21 at Toulon, France during the War of the Spanish Succession. The forces of Austria, the Dutch Republic and Great Britain fought with the French, Spanish and Savoy forces. The French side won.

In 1707 Prince Eugene tried to take the French naval port of Toulon. Eugene had crossed the Var on July 11, and, although hampered by the negligence and inefficiency of Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, had reached Frejus, and was in touch with Shovell and the British fleet, by the 16th. But the Duke's procrastination caused further delays, and gave time for the troops which Berwick was sending home from Spain to reinforce Marshal Tessé at Toulon before the arrival of the Allies (July 26).

On August 14, Tessé retook the crucial heights of Santa Catarina, which the Allies had stormed a week earlier; and Eugene, finding his retreat menaced and little chance of taking Toulon, had to abandon his attempt (August 22), and fall back across the Var, having lost 10,000 men in this ill-fated enterprise.

The campaign's only fruit was that, in order to prevent their ships falling into the enemy's hands, the French had sunk their whole squadron of more than 50 sail in the harbour, and thereby put it quite out of their power to contest the English control of the Mediterranean.