page_title: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War
section_title: Cuba
hierarchical_section_title: Great Britain in the Seven Years' War / War with Spain (1762) / Cuba
caption_attribution_description: English: El Morro castle in La Habana
context_page_description: Great Britain was one of the major participants in the Seven Years' War which lasted between 1754 and 1763, although warfare in the European Theatre involving countries other than Britain and France only commenced in 1756. Britain emerged from the war as the world's leading colonial power, having gained a number of new territories at the Treaty of Paris in 1763 and established itself as the world's pre-eminent naval power.
  The war started poorly for Britain, which suffered many deaths from the plague and scurvy, and at the hands of France in North America during 1754–55; and in the loss of Menorca in 1756. The same year Britain's major ally Austria switched sides and aligned itself with France; and Britain was hastily forced to conclude a new alliance with Frederick the Great's Prussia. For the next seven years these two nations were ranged against a growing number of enemy powers led by France. After a period of political instability, the rise of a government headed by the Duke of Newcastle and William Pitt the elder provided Britain with firmer leadership, enabling it to consolidate and achieve its war aims.
context_section_description: In June 1762 British forces from the West Indies landed on the island of Cuba and laid siege to Havana. Although they arrived at the height of the fever season, and previous expeditions against tropical Spanish fortresses failed due, in no small part, to tropical disease, the British government was optimistic of victory—if the troops could catch the Spanish off-guard before they had time to respond. The British commander Albermale ordered a tunnel to be dug by his sappers so a mine could be planted under the walls of the city's fortress. British troops began to fall from disease at an alarming rate, but they were boosted by the arrival of 4,000 reinforcements from America. On 30 July Albermale ordered the mine to be detonated, and his troops stormed the fortress.
  With Havana now in their hands, the British lay poised to strike at other targets in the Spanish Main should the war continue for another year. However, they had suffered 1,800 deaths and more than 4,000 casualties during the siege—almost entirely from disease—and for the moment set about consolidating their hold on the countryside around Havana. During the year of British occupation, commerce in Havana boomed, as the port was opened up to trade with the British Empire rather than the restricted monopoly with Cadiz that had existed before.
caption: El Morro fortress in Havana, stormed by the British in July 1762
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