Battle of Rio de Janeiro (1710)

The 1710 Battle of Rio de Janeiro was a failed raid by a French privateering fleet on the Portuguese colonial city of Rio de Janeiro in August 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession. The raid was a complete failure; its commander, Jean-François Duclerc, and more than 600 men were captured. French anger over the Portuguese failure to properly hold, release, or exchange the prisoners contributed to a second, successful raid, the following year.

Battle of Rio de Janeiro
Part of the War of the Spanish Succession
Date 19 September 1710 Location Rio de Janeiro, Colony of Brazil Result Portuguese victory
Belligerents
Portuguese Empire Colonial Brazil	France
Commanders and leaders
Francisco de Moraes de Castro	Jean-François Duclerc (POW)
Strength
15,000 troops and militia	6 ships 1,500 men
Casualties and losses
270 killed and wounded	600 killed 600 taken prisoner

Duclerc was assassinated while in captivity in March 1711; his killers (and their reason for killing him) are unknown.[1]

References

1. Boxer, p. 91

• Boxer, Charles Ralph. The golden age of Brazil, 1695-1750: growing pains of a colonial society