| Conflict: | Battle of Rio de Janeiro |
| Partof: | the War of the Spanish Succession |
| Date: | 19 September 1710 |
| Place: | Rio de Janeiro, State of Brazil |
| Result: | Portuguese victory |
| Combatant1: | |
| Commander1: | Francisco de Castro |
| Commander2: | Jean Duclerc |
| Strength1: | 15,000 troops and militia |
| Strength2: | 6 ships 1,500 men |
| Casualties2: | 600 killed 600 captured |
| Casualties1: | 270 killed and wounded |
The 1710 Battle of Rio de Janeiro was a failed raid by a French privateering fleet on the Portuguese colonial city of Rio de Janeiro in August 1710, during the War of the Spanish Succession. The raid was a complete failure; its commander, Jean-François Duclerc, and more than 600 men were captured. French anger over the Portuguese failure to properly hold, release, or exchange the prisoners contributed to a second, successful raid, the following year.
Duclerc was assassinated while in captivity in March 1711; his killers (and their reason for killing him) are unknown.[1]