The battle for Río San Juan de Nicaragua was one of several battles that took place during the Anglo-Spanish War, a subconflict of the Seven Years' War, which lasted from December 1761 until February 1763. The conflict, which took place in July–August 1762, began when William Lyttelton, the British governor and commander-in-chief of Jamaica, sent a naval expedition to Nicaragua with the primary objective of capturing the town of Granada.

The Anglo–Spanish War was a military conflict fought between Britain and Spain as part of the Seven Years' War. It lasted from January 1762 until February 1763, when the Treaty of Paris brought it to an end.