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... On the whole the people of the Crown of Castile had rallied to support Philip V, but in the autonomous Crown of Aragon there had arisen centres of discontent. In the Principality of Catalonia, as in other parts of the peninsula, the people had differing opinions about supporting the Duke of Anjou or Archduke Charles, but there was a strong anti-French feeling rooted in recent experience, especially the attack on Barcelona in 1697. In early June 1705 a small number of Catalans[104] – in return for men, weapons, and support for their own constitutional liberties, or Catalan constitutions – committed themselves to support Charles and the Allied cause. This new allegiance encouraged the English to prepare an expeditionary force to Spain's Mediterranean provinces, thereby opening a two front war in the peninsula: Das Minas, the Huguenot Earl of Galway (Schomberg's replacement), and Baron Fagel attacking from Portugal; and the Earl of Peterborough and Charles III campaigning in the north-east. The arrival of the Allied fleet off the Mediterranean coast not only influenced disaffected Catalans, however. In the Kingdom of Valencia there was strong anti-French feeling based on trade rivalry, but there was also repercussions of a recent peasant rebellion against the Valencian nobility, which was never fully extinguished and which the Allies were able to exploit. In the Kingdom of Aragon there was also strong Francophobia, based largely on commercial rivalry and proximity, but Philip V's attempts to raise taxes for the war effort without the approval of the Catalan Courts, to appoint a Castilian viceroy, and to move and quarter French and Castilian troops within the kingdom, were also causes of friction, which went against the spirit of their own Constitutions.[105]

The internal divisions in the Crown of Aragon prepared the way for early Allied victories in the region in 1705, culminating with Peterborough taking Barcelona on 9 October, and Juan Bautista Basset y Ramos capturing the city of Valencia on 16 December.[106] The defeats in the north-east provinces were a major set-back to the Bourbon cause; a problem exacerbated when Philip V and Tessé failed to retake Barcelona in May 1706. Moreover, the concentration of French forces in the north-east had enabled the Allies under Das Minas and Galway to make progress on the Portuguese front, where they quickly captured several towns. Berwick could not halt a mainly Portuguese-allied army advance led by Das Minas, and on 25 June, Portuguese, Dutch, and British forward elements entered Madrid; by the time they took Saragossa on the 29th, they controlled the four chief cities of Spain. But the gains were illusory. Although several nobles joined the Habsburg cause the majority of Castile remained loyal to Philip V, and the Allied army, far from its supply ports, could not maintain their position so deep within the country. When Charles III and Peterborough moved to join Das Minas and Galway they failed to take decisive action, and after Berwick received French reinforcements the Allies retreated to Valencia, allowing Philip V to re-enter Madrid in early October. Although the Allies captured the key Valencian town of Alicante, and Leake took the islands of Ibiza and Majorca in September, the Allied retreat from Castile brought forth the reversal of Philip V's fortunes in the peninsula, and softened the blows of Ramillies and Turin. By the time Cartagena fell to Franco-Spanish forces in November, the territories of Castile, Murcia, and the southern tip of Valencia had returned to Bourbon obedience.[107]

In an attempt to regain the initiative in 1707, Galway and Das Minas led the main Allied army of 15,500 Portuguese, English, and Dutch troops into Murcia, prior to advancing once again on Madrid. Opposing them stood Berwick who, reinforced with troops released from the Italian front, now commanded 25,000 men. When Berwick advanced towards the Allies on 25 April Galway accepted the challenge. The result was the Battle of Almansa and complete defeat for the main Allied army.[108] With the Allies in full retreat the Duke of Orléans, newly arrived from Italy to take command in Spain, now joined with Berwick to retake much of what had been lost in the earlier campaigns: Valencia city and Saragossa fell in May, d'Asfeld reduced Xátiva in June, and Lleida fell in November. Most of Aragon and Valencia returned to the obedience of Philip V, and the Allies were pushed back to Catalonia and beyond the line of the Segre and the Ebro.[109] The Bourbons also made gains on the Portuguese front, notably the Marquis of Bay's recovery of Ciudad Rodrigo on 4 October. Young King John V had been on the throne in Portugal for less than a year following the death of Peter II, but his country was exhausted and in danger of defeat if the Allies could not make progress in the Crown of Aragon.[110]

Following the Habsburg victory in Italy the Emperor could at last send Charles III assistance in early 1708. Joseph I's resources remained limited and he was still unwilling to assign a high priority to the war in Iberia. Nevertheless, the Austrians agreed to send reinforcements, as well as Guido Starhemberg to assume supreme Allied command in the peninsula. James Stanhope – the English envoy to Charles III – became the new British commander in Spain, and in September he and Admiral Leake captured Menorca and the key harbour, Mahón. This success followed hard on Leake's capture of Sardinia in the name of Charles III in August. However, Philip V's generals on the Spanish mainland continued their advance on Charles III in Barcelona. Orléans took Tortosa in mid-July, while on the Valencian coast d'Asfeld re-captured Dénia in mid-November, and Alicante (though not its citadel) in early December.[111]...