Qualla: Battle of Minorca (1756) https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Thu, 20 Aug 2026 16:39:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Minorca (1756) https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756 Battle of Minorca (1756): Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756/ Photo credit Unknown engraver, Public domain. Voltaire gave the affair its epitaph before most of Europe had finished arguing about it. In Candide, watching an English admiral shot on his own quarterdeck, the narrator is told that in this country it is thought wise to kill an admiral from time to time "to encourage the others." The admiral was John Byng, and the country's failure had a location: the blue water east of Port Mahon, where on 20 May 1756 two fleets met in the first sea battle of the Seven Years' War. Menorca would change hands over it. Byng would lose his life.

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Image: Unknown engraver | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/sp54-battle-of-minorca-1756-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Minorca (1756): A Fleet Sent Too Late https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756/ Photo credit Depalmeus Pat, Public domain. Britain had held Menorca since 1708, seized during the War of the Spanish Succession and prized for the deep, sheltered harbour at Mahon. By 1756 the empire was stretched thin, already at war with France in the North American colonies and nervous about invasion closer to home. Wh...

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Image: Depalmeus Pat | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/sp54-battle-of-minorca-1756-a-fleet-sent-too-late.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Minorca (1756): The Line That Never Closed https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756/ Photo credit Artiste inconnu, entre 1756 et 1789., Public domain. Byng reached Menorca on 19 May to find the island already overrun, only the garrison of St. Philip's Castle still holding out above the harbour mouth. A French squadron of twelve ships of the line and five frigates stood between him and the shore. The next morning he formed his t...

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Image: Artiste inconnu, entre 1756 et 1789. | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/sp54-battle-of-minorca-1756-the-line-that-never-closed.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Minorca (1756): The Council and the Retreat https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756/ Photo credit Nicolas Ozanne, Public domain. That evening Byng convened a Council of War. Every senior officer present agreed: the fleet could neither cripple the French nor break through to the garrison. Byng ordered a return to Gibraltar. It was a defensible decision by a cautious commander who had done what his damaged s...

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Image: Nicolas Ozanne | Public domain

]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/sp54-battle-of-minorca-1756-the-council-and-the-retreat.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Minorca (1756): To Encourage the Others https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756/ Photo credit Nicolas Ozanne, Public domain. The Admiralty, arguably keen to bury its own unpreparedness, charged Byng under the Articles of War with failing to do his utmost to relieve the garrison. He was court-martialled and found guilty. The sentence was death. Pleas for clemency came from many quarters, but they went u...

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]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/sp54-battle-of-minorca-1756-to-encourage-the-others.mp3 0:06 5 full Battle of Minorca (1756): A Pawn Traded Back https://qualla.com/battle-of-minorca-1756/ Photo credit Nicolas Ozanne, Public domain. For all William Pitt's eagerness to reclaim the island, no British expedition was sent to retake Menorca for the rest of the war. It came back to Britain not by force but by ledger, returned under the 1763 Treaty of Paris in exchange for the French West Indies and Belle-Île. Meno...

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]]> Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/p/5/4/battle-of-minorca-1756-wp/sp54-battle-of-minorca-1756-a-pawn-traded-back.mp3 0:06 6 full