The significance of the Battle of Havana (1762) has been greatly overlooked, in my opinion, when considering the forces that shaped the Americas. Spain’s dominance of the seas had been broken at the Battle of Gravelines during the Anglo-Spanish war at the end of the 16th century. However, their dominance over the waters around Central and South America remained unchecked until the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War; I call it the first world war, since it was fought over 5 continents (and the Pacific theater) between all of the major military powers of the Western world.

When the King of Spain saw the coming conflict with Great Britain, he knew that he had to take steps to hold onto Cuba. Cuba was the gateway to the Americas, the port through which Spanish fleets entered and exited the region. Plus, whoever controlled Cuba controlled not only the Caribbean but also the Gulf of Mexico.

Carlos III of Spain sent Juan de Prado as commander in chief of the forces in Havana. The priority for De Prado was to fortify the elevated area above the Morro castle; the Morro controlled all access to the Havana harbor. Due to negligence and the scourge of yellow fever, this work was never completed. That would prove to be the downfall of the Spanish forces in Cuba. When the British came, they were able to capture this high ground, bombard the castle, and eventually breach its walls.

Here’s the description of the aftermath, taken from Wikipedia:

On 14 August the British entered the city. They had obtained possession of the most important harbour in the Spanish West Indies along with military equipment, 1,828,116 Spanish pesos and merchandise valued around 1,000,000 Spanish pesos. Furthermore, they had seized 20% of the ships of the line of the Spanish Navy, namely Aquilón (74), Conquistador (74), Reina (70), San Antonio (64), Tigre (70), San Jenaro (60), África (70), América (60), Infante (74) and Soberano (74), together with 3 frigates, 9 smaller vessels and some armed vessels belonging to trading companies (Compañía de La Habana and Compañía de Caracas). Furthermore, two new almost-completed ships of the line were seized in the dockyards – San Carlos (80) and Santiago (60 or 80).

It’s hard to exaggerate what a blow this was to the Spanish interests in America. While the British returned Cuba (in exchange for Florida), the damage had been done. Besides the material damage, the demonstration that the Spanish forces could be defeated would embolden the independence movements in Central and South America. Over the next 60 years, Spain would lose all of their holdings in the Americas, except Cuba and Puerto Rico.

The Spanish dominance of the Americas ended with the Battle of Havana.