Key Facts
- Duration
- 29 July – 21 August 1707 (24 days)
- Allied casualties
- ~13,000 (mostly from disease)
- French ships of the line scuttled
- 46
- Part of
- War of the Spanish Succession
Strategic Narrative Overview
The Allied force, arriving in late July 1707, lacked the manpower to mount a formal siege and found itself outnumbered by French land forces defending the port. Despite British naval support, the attackers could not press the assault. French commanders scuttled their own fleet of 46 ships of the line in the harbour to deny them to the enemy, and Allied losses of around 13,000 men—primarily through disease—forced a withdrawal to Piedmont by 21 August.
01 / The Origins
During the War of the Spanish Succession, the Grand Alliance sought to strike at France through its relatively exposed southern coastline. A combined Savoyard-Imperial army, backed by British naval power, was assembled to attack the key French Mediterranean base at Toulon in 1707, hoping to open a new front and relieve pressure from operations on France's heavily fortified northern frontier.
03 / The Outcome
The Allied retreat ended any realistic prospect of invading France from the south, compelling the coalition to focus on the costly war of attrition along the northern frontier. The sunken French fleet remained submerged until after the war, leaving Britain dominant in the western Mediterranean. The siege's failure also effectively concluded large-scale Allied military operations on the Italian peninsula.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
3 belligerents
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.