Admiral Home Popham had helped take the Cape Colony with about 6,300 troops before supporting a River Plate expedition of only 1,300. That small force briefly seized Buenos Aires, but its ambitions grew beyond what its manpower could secure. Sickness, inadequate logistics, and the attempt to control both Buenos Aires and Montevideo weakened the expedition. Local militia expelled a force that had exposed colonial weakness but could not sustain an occupation. An apparently successful strike had outrun its garrison and supply capacity.
Chapter · 19:41-22:06
The first British expedition overreaches
A 1,300-man British force could seize Buenos Aires briefly, but sickness, weak logistics, and expanding objectives left it unable to hold the River Plate ports.