Battle of Milazzo (1718)

Frustrated by the loss of his Italian possessions after the War of the Spanish Succession, King Philip V of Spain had invaded Sardinia, now in Austrian possession in August 1717 and Sicily, which had been awarded to the Duke of Savoy, in July 1718.

He was taking advantage of the power vacuum in France after the death of Louis XIV, and the fact that Austria was tied up in the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18. But on 21 July 1718 the Treaty of Passarowitz ended the war with Turkey and on 2 August this led to the formation of the Quadruple Alliance against Spain, between Austria, Britain, the Dutch Republic, and France.

Meanwhile, the Spanish, with 30,000 men under command of the Marquis of Lede, had taken the whole island, with the exception of the area around Messina, which was besieged since 18 July.

On 11 August, at the Battle of Cape Passaro, a British fleet, led by Sir George Byng, attacked and destroyed the Spanish fleet. On 13 October this British fleet landed an Austrian army, assembled in Naples by the Austrian Viceroy Count Wirich Philipp von Daun near Milazzo, to lift the siege by the Spanish forces. This led to the battle on 15 October.