In 1808, the Spanish army inAndalusia defeated the French at theBattle of Bailén, considered the first open-field defeat of the Napoleonic army on a European battlefield.Besieged by 70,000 French troops, a reconstituted national government, theCortes—in effect agovernment-in-exile—fortified itself in the secure port ofCádiz in 1810. The British army, underArthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, guarded Portugal and campaigned against the French alongside the reformedPortuguese Army and provided whatever supplies they could get to the Spanish, while theSpanish armies andguerrillas tied down vast numbers of Napoleon's troops.[f] In 1812, when Napoleon set out with a massive army on what proved to be a disastrousFrench invasion of Russia, a combined allied army defeated the French atSalamanca and took the capitalMadrid. In the following year the Coalition scored a victory over KingJoseph Bonaparte's army at theBattle of Vitoria paving the way for victory in the war in the Iberian Peninsula.
Pursued by the armies of Britain, Spain and Portugal, MarshalJean-de-Dieu Soult, no longer getting sufficient support from a depleted France, led the exhausted and demoralized French forces in a fighting withdrawal across thePyrenees during the winter of 1813–1814. The years of fighting in Spain were a heavy burden on France'sGrande Armée. While the French enjoyed several victories in battle, they were eventually defeated, as their communications and supplies were severely tested and their units were frequently isolated, harassed or overwhelmed by Spanishpartisans fighting an intense guerrilla war of raids and ambushes. The Spanish armies were repeatedly beaten and driven to the peripheries, but they would regroup and relentlessly hound and demoralize the French troops. This drain on French resources led Napoleon, who had unwittingly provoked atotal war, to call the conflict the "Spanish Ulcer".[12][13]
War and revolution against Napoleon's occupation led to theSpanish Constitution of 1812, promulgated by theCortes of Cádiz, later a cornerstone ofEuropean liberalism.[14] Though victorious in war, the burden of war destroyed the social and economic fabric of both Portugal and Spain; and the following civil wars betweenliberal andabsolutist factions ushered inrevolts in Spanish America and the beginning of an era of social turbulence, increased political instability, and economic stagnation.
Events moved rapidly. The Emperor sent orders on 19 July 1807 to his Foreign Minister,Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, to order Portugal to declare war on Britain, close its ports to British ships, detain British subjects on a provisional basis and sequester their goods. After a few days, a large force started concentrating atBayonne.[17] Meanwhile, the Portuguese government's resolve was stiffening, and shortly afterward Napoleon was once again told that Portugal would not go beyond its original agreements. Napoleon now had all the pretext that he needed, while his force, the First Corps of Observation of the Gironde withdivisional generalJean-Andoche Junot in command, was prepared to march on Lisbon. After he received the Portuguese answer, he ordered Junot's corps to cross the frontier into theSpanish Empire.[18]
While all this was going on, the secretTreaty of Fontainebleau had been signed between France and Spain. The document was drawn up by Napoleon's marshal of the palaceGéraud Duroc and Eugenio Izquierdo, an agent forManuel Godoy.[19] The treaty proposed to carve up Portugal into three entities.Porto and the northern part was to become theKingdom of Northern Lusitania, underCharles II, Duke of Parma. The southern portion, as the Principality of the Algarves, would fall to Godoy. The rump of the country, centered on Lisbon, was to be administered by the French.[20] According to the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Junot's invasion force was to be supported by 25,500 Spanish troops.[21] On 12 October, Junot's corps began crossing theBidasoa River into Spain atIrun.[18] Junot was selected because he had served as ambassador to Portugal in 1805. He was known as a good fighter and an active officer, although he had never exercised independent command.[19]
By 1800, Spain was in a state of social unrest. Townsfolk and peasants all over the country, who had been forced to bury family members in new municipal cemeteries rather than churches or other consecrated ground, took back their bodies at night and tried to restore them to their old resting-places. InMadrid, the growing numbers ofafrancesados (Francophiles) at court were opposed by themajos: shopkeepers, artisans, tavern keepers, and laborers who dressed in traditional style, and took pleasure in picking fights withpetimetres, the young who styled themselves with French fashion and manners.[22]
Spain was an ally of Napoleon's First French Empire; however, defeat in the navalBattle of Trafalgar in October 1805, which had decimated Spain's navy, had removed the reason for alliance with France. Manuel Godoy, the favorite of KingCharles IV of Spain, began to seek some form of escape. At the start of theWar of the Fourth Coalition, which pitted the Kingdom of Prussia against Napoleon, Godoy issued a proclamation that was obviously aimed at France, even though it did not specify an enemy. After Napoleon's decisive victory at theBattle of Jena–Auerstedt, Godoy quickly withdrew the proclamation. However, it was too late to avert Napoleon's suspicions. Napoleon planned from that moment to deal with his inconstant ally at some future time. In the meantime, the Emperor forced Godoy and Charles IV into providing a division of Spanish troops to serve in northern Europe.[23] TheDivision of the North spent the winter of 1807–1808 inSwedish Pomerania,Mecklenburg, and towns of the oldHanseatic League and Spanish troops marched intoDenmark in early 1808.[24]
Napoleon instructed Junot, with the cooperation of Spanish military troops, to invade Portugal, moving west fromAlcántara along theTagus valley to Portugal, a distance of only 120 miles (193 km).[25] On 19 November 1807, the French troops under Junot set out for Lisbon and occupied it on 30 November.[26]
The Prince Regent John escaped, loading his family, courtiers, state papers and treasure aboard the fleet, protected by the British, and fled to Brazil. He was joined in flight by many nobles, merchants and others. With 15 warships and more than 20 transports, the fleet of refugees weighed anchor on 29 November andset sail for the colony of Brazil.[27] The flight had been so chaotic that 14 carts loaded with treasure were left behind on the docks.[28]
As one of Junot's first acts, the property of those who had fled to Brazil was sequestered[29] and a 100-million-franc indemnity imposed.[30] The army formed into aPortuguese Legion, and went to northern Germany to perform garrison duty.[29] Junot did his best to calm the situation by trying to keep his troops under control. While the Portuguese authorities were generally subservient toward their French occupiers, the ordinary Portuguese were angry,[29] and the harsh taxes caused bitter resentment among the population. By January 1808, there were executions of persons who resisted the exactions of the French. The situation was dangerous, but it would need a trigger from outside to transform unrest into revolt.[30]
Between 9 and 12 February, the French divisions of the eastern and western Pyrenees crossed the border and occupiedNavarre andCatalonia, including the citadels ofPamplona andBarcelona. The Spanish government demanded explanations from their French allies, but these did not satisfy and in response Godoy pulled Spanish troops out of Portugal.[31] Since Spanish fortress commanders had not received instructions from the central government, they were unsure how to treat the French troops, who marched openly as allies with flags flying and bands announcing their arrival. Some commanders opened their fortresses to them, while others resisted. GeneralGuillaume Philibert Duhesme, who occupied Barcelona with 12,000 troops, soon found himself besieged in the citadel; he was not relieved until January 1809.[32]
On 20 February,Joachim Murat was appointed lieutenant of the emperor and commander of all French troops in Spain, which now numbered 60,000[31]–100,000.[32] On 24 February, Napoleon declared that he no longer considered himself bound by the Treaty of Fontainebleau.[31] In early March, Murat established his headquarters inVitoria and received 6,000 reinforcements from theImperial Guard.[31]
On 19 March 1808, Godoy fell from power in theMutiny of Aranjuez and Charles IV was forced to abdicate in favour of his son,Ferdinand VII.[33] In the aftermath of the abdication, attacks ongodoyistas were frequent.[34] On 23 March, Murat entered Madrid with pomp. Ferdinand VII arrived on 27 March and asked Murat to get Napoleon's confirmation of his accession.[32] Charles IV, however, was persuaded to protest his abdication to Napoleon, who summoned the royal family, both kings included, toBayonne in France. There on 5 May, under French pressure, the two kings bothabdicated their claims to Napoleon.[33] Napoleon then had the Junta de Gobierno—the council of regency in Madrid—formally ask him to appoint his brother Joseph as King of Spain. The abdication of Ferdinand was only publicised on 20 May.[35]
On 2 May, the citizens of Madridrebelled against the French occupation; the uprising was put down by Joachim Murat's elite Imperial Guard andMamluk cavalry, which crashed into the city and trampled the rioters.[36] In addition, theMamelukes of the Imperial Guard of Napoleon fought residents of Madrid, wearing turbans and using curved scimitars, thus provoking memories ofMuslim Spain.[37] The next day, as immortalized byFrancisco Goya in his paintingThe Third of May 1808, the French army shot hundreds of Madrid's citizens. Similar reprisals occurred in other cities and continued for days. Bloody, spontaneous fighting known asguerrilla (literally "little war") broke out in much of Spain against the French as well as theAncien Régime's officials. Although the Spanish government, including theCouncil of Castile, had accepted Napoleon's decision to grant the Spanish crown to his brother,Joseph Bonaparte, the Spanish population rejected Napoleon's plans.[38] The first wave of uprisings were inCartagena andValencia on 23 May;Zaragoza andMurcia on 24 May; and the province ofAsturias, which cast out its French governor on 25 May and declared war on Napoleon. Within weeks, all the Spanish provinces followed suit.[39] After hearing of the Spanish uprising, Portugal erupted in revolt in June. A French detachment underLouis Henri Loison crushed the rebels atÉvora on 29 July and massacred the town's population.
The deteriorating strategic situation led France to increase its military commitments. By 1 June, over 65,000 troops were rushing into the country to control the crisis.[40] The main French army of 80,000 held a narrow strip of central Spain fromPamplona andSan Sebastián in the north to Madrid andToledo in the centre. The French in Madrid sheltered behind an additional 30,000 troops under MarshalBon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey.Jean-Andoche Junot's corps in Portugal was cut off by 300 miles (480 km) of hostile territory, but within days of the outbreak of revolt, French columns in Old Castile,New Castile, Aragon andCatalonia were searching for the insurgent forces.
At the two successiveCombats of El Bruc outsideBarcelona, localCatalan militia, theMiquelets (also known assometents), defeatedFrançois Xavier de Schwarz's 4,000 troops.Guillaume Philibert Duhesme's Franco-Italian division of almost 6,000 troops failed to stormGirona and was forced to return to Barcelona.[43] Six thousand French troops underCharles Lefebvre-Desnouettes attackedZaragoza and were beaten off byJosé de Palafox y Melci's militia.[44] Moncey's push to take Valencia ended in failure, with 1,000 French recruits dying in an attempt tostorm the city. After defeating Spanish counterattacks, Moncey retreated.[45] At theBattle of Medina de Rioseco on 14 July, Bessières defeated Cuesta and Old Castile returned to French control. Blake escaped, but the Spaniards lost 2,200 men and thirteen guns. French losses were minimal at 400 men.[46] Bessières's victory salvaged the French army's strategic position in northern Spain. Joseph entered Madrid on 20 July;[46] and on 25 July he was crowned King of Spain.[47] On 10 June, five Frenchships of the line anchored at Cádiz wereseized by the Spanish.[48] Dupont was disturbed enough to curtail his march at Cordoba, and then on 16 June to fall back toAndújar.[49] Cowed by the mass hostility of the Andalusians, he broke off his offensive and was then defeated atBailén, where he surrendered his entireArmy Corps toCastaños.
The catastrophe was total. With the loss of 24,000 troops, Napoleon's military machine in Spain collapsed. Stunned by the defeat, on 1 August Joseph evacuated the capital for Old Castile, while ordering Verdier to abandon the siege of Zaragoza and Bessières to retire from Leon; the entire French army sheltered behind the Ebro.[50] By this time, Girona had resisted aSecond Siege. Europe welcomed this first check to the hitherto unbeatable Imperial armies—a Bonaparte had been chased from his throne; tales of Spanish heroism inspired Austria and showed the force of national resistance. Bailén set in motion the rise of theFifth Coalition.[51]
Portuguese and British troops fighting the French atVimeiro
Britain's involvement in the Peninsular War was the start of a prolonged campaign in Europe to increase British military power on land and liberate the Iberian peninsula from the French.[52] In August 1808, 15,000 British troops—including theKing's German Legion—landed in Portugal under the command ofLieutenant-GeneralSir Arthur Wellesley, who drove backHenri François Delaborde's 4,000-strong detachment atRoliça on 17 August and smashed Junot's main force of 14,000 men atVimeiro. Wellesley was replaced at first bySir Harry Burrard and thenSir Hew Dalrymple. Dalrymple granted Junot an unmolested evacuation from Portugal by the Royal Navy in the controversialConvention of Cintra in August. In early October 1808, following the scandal in Britain over the Convention of Cintra and the recall of the generals Dalrymple, Burrard and Wellesley,Sir John Moore took command of the 30,000-man British force in Portugal.[53] In addition,Sir David Baird, in command of an expedition of reinforcements out ofFalmouth consisting of 150 transports carrying between 12,000 and 13,000 men, convoyed by HMSLouie,HMSAmelia andHMSChampion, entered Corunna Harbour on 13 October.[54] Logistical and administrative problems prevented any immediate British offensive.[55]
Meanwhile, the British had made a substantial contribution to the Spanish cause by helping to evacuate some 9,000 men ofLa Romana'sDivision of the North from Denmark.[56] In August 1808, the British Baltic fleet helpedtransport the Spanish division, except three regiments that failed to escape, back to Spain by way ofGothenburg in Sweden. The division arrived in Santander in October 1808.[57]
After the surrender of a French army corps at Bailén and the loss of Portugal, Napoleon was convinced of the peril he faced in Spain. With hisArmée d'Espagne of 278,670 men drawn up on the Ebro, facing 80,000 raw, disorganized Spanish troops,[58] Napoleon and hismarshals carried out a massivedouble envelopment of the Spanish lines in November 1808.[59] Napoleon struck with overwhelming strength and the Spanish defense evaporated atBurgos,Tudela,Espinosa andSomosierra. The Junta was forced to abandon Madrid in November 1808, and resided in theAlcázar of Seville from 16 December 1808 until 23 January 1810.[60] Madrid surrendered on 1 December and Joseph Bonaparte was restored to his throne. InCatalonia,Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr's 17,000-strongVII Corps besieged and capturedRoses from an Anglo-Spanish garrison, destroyed part ofJuan Miguel de Vives y Feliu's Spanish army atCardedeu near Barcelona on 16 December and routed the Spaniards underConde de Caldagues andTheodor von Reding atMolins de Rei.
By November 1808, the British army led by Moore was advancing into Spain with orders to assist the Spanish armies' fight against Napoleon's forces.[61] Moore decided to attack Soult's scattered and isolated 16,000-man corps' atCarrión, opening his attack with a successful raid by Lieutenant-GeneralPaget's cavalry on the Frenchpicquets atSahagún on 21 December.[62][63]
Abandoning plans to immediately conquer Seville and Portugal, Napoleon rapidly amassed 80,000 troops anddebouched from theSierra de Guadarrama into the plains of Old Castile to encircle the British Army. Moore retreated for the safety of the British fleet at La Coruna and Soult failed to intercept him.[64][65] The rearguard ofLa Romana's retreating force was overrun atMansilla on 30 December by Soult, who capturedLeón the next day. Moore's retreat was marked by a breakdown of discipline in many regiments and punctuated by stubborn rearguard actions atBenavente andCacabelos.[66] The British troops escaped to the sea after fending off a strong French attack atCorunna, in which Moore was killed. Some 26,000 troops reached Britain, with 7,000 men lost over the course of the expedition.[67] The French occupied the most populated region in Spain, including the important towns of Lugo and La Corunna.[68] The Spanish were shocked by the British retreat.[69] Napoleon returned to France on 19 January 1809 to prepare for war with Austria, giving the Spanish command back to his marshals.
Zaragoza, already scarred fromLefebvre's bombardments that summer, wasunder a second siege that had commenced on 20 December. Lannes and Moncey committed two army corps of 45,000 men and considerable artillery firepower. Palafox's second defence brought the city enduring national and international fame.[70] The Spaniards fought with determination, endured disease and starvation, entrenching themselves in convents and burning their own homes. The garrison of 44,000 was left with 8,000 survivors—1,500 of them ill—[67] but theGrande Armée did not advance beyond theEbro. On 20 February 1809, the garrison capitulated, leaving behind burnt-out ruins filled with 64,000 corpses, of which 10,000 were French.[70][71]
The Junta took over direction of the Spanish war effort and established war taxes, organized an Army of La Mancha, signed a treaty of alliance with Britain on 14 January 1809 and issued a royal decree on 22 May to convene at Cortes. An attempt by the Spain's Army of the Centre to recapture Madrid ended with the complete destruction of the Spanish forces atUclés on 13 January by Victor'sI Corps. The French lost 200 men while their Spanish opponents lost 6,887. King Joseph made a triumphant entry into Madrid after the battle.Sébastiani defeatedCartaojal's army atCiudad Real on 27 March, inflicting 2,000 casualties and suffering negligible losses. Victor invaded southern Spain and routedGregorio de la Cuesta's army atMedellín near Badajoz on 28 March,[72] where Cuesta lost 10,000 men in a staggering defeat, while the French lost only 1,000.[73]
On 27 March, Spanish forces defeated the French atVigo, recaptured most of the cities in the province ofPontevedra and forced the French to retreat toSantiago de Compostela. On 7 June, the French army of MarshalMichel Ney was defeated in theBattle of Puente Sanpayo in Pontevedra by Spanish forces under the command of ColonelPablo Morillo, and Ney and his forces retreated toLugo on 9 June while being harassed by Spanish guerrillas. Ney's troops joined up with those of Soult and these forces withdrew for the last time fromGalicia in July 1809.[citation needed]
In Catalonia, Saint-Cyr defeated Reding again atValls on 25 February. Reding was killed and his army lost 3,000 men for French losses of 1,000. Saint-Cyr began thethird siege of Girona on 6 May and the city finally fell on 12 December.[74]Louis-Gabriel Suchet's III Corps was defeated atAlcañiz by Blake on 23 May, losing 2,000 men. Suchet retaliated atMaría on 15 June, crushing Blake's right wing and inflicting 5,000 casualties. Three days later, Blake lost 2,000 more men to Suchet atBelchite. Saint-Cyr was relieved of his command in September for deserting his troops.[citation needed]
After Corunna, Soult turned his attention to the invasion of Portugal. Discounting garrisons and the sick, Soult'sII Corps had 20,000 men for the operation. He stormed the Spanish naval base atFerrol on 26 January 1809, capturing eight ships of the line, threefrigates, several thousand prisoners and 20,000Brown Bess muskets, which were used to re-equip the French infantry.[75] In March 1809, Soult invaded Portugal through the northern corridor, withFrancisco da Silveira's 12,000 Portuguese troops unraveling amid riot and disorder, and within two days of crossing the border atMonterrey, Soult had taken the fortress ofChaves.[76] Swinging west, 16,000 of Soult's professional troops attacked and killed 4,000 of 25,000 unprepared and undisciplined Portuguese atBraga at the cost of 200 Frenchmen. At theFirst Battle of Porto on 29 March, the Portuguese defenders panicked, many attempting to flee alongside the city's residents south over the river Douro, to die in thePorto Boat Bridge disaster. Between 6,000 and 20,000 Portuguese soldiers were dead, wounded or captured. Suffering fewer than 500 casualties, Soult had secured Portugal's second city and, with its valuable dockyards and arsenals intact, captured immense quantities of supplies.[77][78] Soult halted at Porto to refit his army before advancing on Lisbon.[79]
Wellesley returned to Portugal in April 1809 to command the British army, reinforced with Portuguese regiments trained byGeneral Beresford. These new forces turned Soult out of Portugal at theBattle of Grijó (10–11 May) and theSecond Battle of Porto (12 May), and the other northern cities were recaptured by General Silveira. Soult escaped without his heavy equipment by marching through the mountains to Orense.[80]
With Portugal secured, Wellesley advanced into Spain to unite with Cuesta's forces. Victor'sI Corps retreated before them from Talavera.[81] Cuesta's pursuing forces fell back after Victor's reinforced army, now commanded by MarshalJean-Baptiste Jourdan, drove upon them. Two British divisions advanced to help the Spanish.[82] On 27 July at theBattle of Talavera, the French advanced in three columns and were repulsed several times, but at a heavy cost to the Anglo-Allied force, which lost 7,500 men for French losses of 7,400. Wellesley withdrew from Talavera on 4 August to avoid being cut off by Soult's converging army, which defeated a Spanish blocking force in an assault crossing at the River Tagus nearPuente del Arzobispo. Lack of supplies and the threat of French reinforcement in the spring led Wellington to retreat into Portugal. A Spanish attempt to capture Madrid after Talavera failed atAlmonacid, whereSébastiani'sIV Corps inflicted 5,500 casualties on the Spanish, forcing them to retreat at the cost of 2,400 French losses.
Aréizaga's army was destroyed by Soult at theBattle of Ocaña on 19 November. The Spanish lost 19,000 men compared to French losses of 2,000. Albuquerque soon abandoned his efforts near Talavera. Del Parque moved on Salamanca again, hustling one of the VI Corps brigades out ofAlba de Tormes and occupying Salamanca on 20 November.[89][90] Hoping to get between Kellermann and Madrid, Del Parque advanced towardsMedina del Campo. Kellermann counterattacked and was repulsed at theBattle of Carpio on 23 November.[91] The next day, Del Parque received news of the Ocaña disaster and fled south, intending to shelter in the mountains of central Spain.[92][93] On the afternoon of 28 November, Kellermann attacked Del Parque atAlba de Tormes and routed him after inflicting losses of 3,000 men.[92] Del Parque's army fled into the mountains, its strength greatly reduced through combat and non-combat causes by mid-January.[94]
Joseph contented himself with working within the apparatus extant under the old regime, while placing responsibility for local government in many provinces in the hands of royal commissioners. After much preparation and debate, on 2 July 1809 Spain was divided into 38 new provinces, each headed by anIntendant appointed by King Joseph, and on 17 April 1810 these provinces were converted into French-styleprefectures andsub-prefectures.
The French obtained a measure of acquiescence among the propertied classes.Francisco de Goya, who remained in Madrid throughout the French occupation, painted Joseph's picture and documented the war in a series of 82 prints calledLos Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War). For many imperial officers, life could be comfortable.[95] Among the liberal, republican and radical segments of the Spanish and Portuguese populations there was much support for a potential French invasion. The termafrancesado ("turned French") was used to denote those who supported theEnlightenment,secular ideals, and theFrench Revolution.[96] Napoleon relied on support from theseafrancesados both in the conduct of the war and administration of the country. Napoleon removed all feudal and clerical privileges but most Spanish liberals soon came to oppose the occupation because of the violence and brutality it brought.[96] Marxians wrote that there was a positive identification on the part of the people with the Napoleonic revolution, but this is probably impossible to substantiate by the reasons for collaboration being practical rather than ideological.[97]
The Peninsular War is regarded as one of the first people's wars, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare. It is from this conflict that the English language borrowed the word.[98] The guerrillas troubled the French troops, but they also frightened their own countrymen with forced conscription and looting.[99] Many of the partisans were either fleeing the law or trying to get rich.[99] Later in the war the authorities tried to make the guerrillas reliable, and many of them formed regular army units such asEspoz y Mina's "Cazadores de Navarra". The French believed thatenlightened absolutism had made less progress in Spain and Portugal than elsewhere, and that resistance was the product of a century's worth of what the French perceived as backwardness in knowledge and social habits, Catholicobscurantism, superstition and counter-revolution.[100]
The guerrilla style of fighting was the Spanish military's single most effective tactic. Most organized attempts by regular Spanish forces to take on the French ended in defeat. Once a battle was lost and the soldiers reverted to their guerrilla roles, they tied down large numbers of French troops over a wide area with a much lower expenditure of men, energy, and supplies[citation needed][99] and facilitated the conventional victories of Wellington and his Anglo-Portuguese army and the subsequent liberation of Portugal and Spain.[101] Mass resistance by the people of Spain inspired the war efforts of Austria, Russia and Prussia against Napoleon.[102]
Hatred of the French and devotion toGod, King and Fatherland were not the only reason to join the Partisans.[103] The French imposed restrictions on movement and on many traditional aspects of street life, so opportunities to find alternative sources of income were limited—industry was at a standstill and manyseñores were unable to pay their existing retainers and domestic servants, and could not take on new staff. Hunger and despair reigned on all sides.[104] Because the military record was so dismal, many Spanish politicians and publicists exaggerated the activities of the guerrillas.[105]
The French invaded Andalusia on 19 January 1810. 60,000 French troops—the corps of Victor, Mortier and Sebastiani together with other formations—advanced southwards to assault the Spanish positions. Overwhelmed at every point,Aréizaga's men fled eastwards and southwards, leaving town after town to fall into the hands of the enemy. The result was revolution. On 23 January the Junta Central at Seville decided to flee to the safety of Cádiz.[106] It then dissolved itself on 29 January 1810 and set up a five-person Regency Council of Spain and the Indies, charged with convening the Cortes.[60] Soult cleared all of southern Spain except Cádiz, which he left Victor to blockade.[107] The system of juntas was replaced by a regency and theCortes of Cádiz, which established a permanent government under theConstitution of 1812.
Cádiz was heavily fortified, while the harbour was full of British and Spanish warships.Alburquerque's army and the Voluntarios Distinguidos had been reinforced by 3,000 soldiers who had fled Seville, and a strong Anglo-Portuguese brigade commanded by General William Stewart. Shaken by their experiences, the Spaniards had abandoned their earlier scruples about a British garrison.[108] Victor's French troops camped at the shoreline and tried to bombard the city into surrender. Thanks to British naval supremacy, a naval blockade of the city was impossible. The French bombardment was ineffectual and the confidence of thegaditanos grew and persuaded them that they were heroes. With food abundant and falling in price, the bombardment was hopeless despite both hurricane and epidemic—a storm destroyed many ships in the spring of 1810 and the city was ravaged by yellow fever.[109]
Once Cádiz was secured, attention turned to the political situation. The Junta Central announced that thecortes would open on 1 March 1810. Suffrage was to be extended to all male householders over 25. After public voting, representatives from district-level assemblies would choose deputies to send to the provincial meetings that would be the bodies from which the members of thecortes would emerge.[110] From 1 February 1810, the implementation of these decrees had been in the hands of the new regency council selected by the Junta Central.[111] The viceroyalties and independent captaincies general of the overseas territories would each send one representative. This scheme was resented in America for providing unequal representation to the overseas territories. Unrest erupted inQuito andCharcas, which saw themselves as the capitals of kingdoms and resented being subsumed in the larger "kingdom" ofPeru. The revolts were suppressed (SeeLuz de América andBolivian War of Independence). Throughout early 1809 the governments of the capitals of the viceroyalties and captaincies general elected representatives to the Junta, but none arrived in time to serve on it.
Convinced by intelligence that a new French assault on Portugal was imminent, Wellington created a powerful defensive position near Lisbon, to which he could fall back if necessary.[112][113][full citation needed] To protect the city, he ordered the construction of theLines of Torres Vedras—three strong lines of mutually supporting forts,blockhouses,redoubts, andravelins with fortified artillery positions—under the supervision ofSir Richard Fletcher. The various parts of the lines communicated with each other bysemaphore, allowing immediate response to any threat. The work began in the autumn of 1809 and the main defences were finished just in time one year later. To further hamper the enemy, the areas in front of the lines were subjected to ascorched earth policy: they were denuded of food, forage and shelter. 200,000 inhabitants of neighbouring districts were relocated inside the lines. Wellington exploited the facts that the French could conquer Portugal only by conquering Lisbon, and that they could in practice reach Lisbon only from the north. Until these changes occurred the Portuguese administration was free to resist British influence,Beresford's position being rendered tolerable by the firm support of theMinister of War,Miguel de Pereira Forjaz.[114]
As a prelude to invasion, Ney took the Spanish fortified town ofCiudad Rodrigo after a siege lasting from 26 April to 9 July 1810. The French re-invaded Portugal with an army of around 65,000, led byMarshal Masséna, and forced Wellington back through Almeida to Busaco.[115] At theBattle of the Côa the French drove backRobert Crauford'sLight Division after which Masséna moved to attack the held British position on the heights ofBussaco—a 10-mile (16 km)-long ridge—resulting in theBattle of Buçaco on 27 September. Suffering heavy casualties, the French failed to dislodge the Anglo-Portuguese army. Masséna outmaneuvered Wellington after the battle, who steadily fell back to the prepared positions in the Lines.[116] Wellington manned the fortifications with "secondary troops"—25,000 Portuguese militia, 8,000 Spaniards and 2,500 BritishRoyal Marines andRoyal Artillerymen—keeping his main field army of British and Portuguese regulars dispersed to meet a French assault on any point of the Lines.[117]
Masséna's Army of Portugal concentrated aroundSobral in preparation to attack. After a fierce skirmish on 14 October in which the strength of the Lines became apparent, the French dug themselves in rather than launch a full-scale assault and Masséna's men began to suffer from the acute shortages in the region.[118] In late October, after holding his starving army before Lisbon for a month, Masséna fell back to a position betweenSantarém andRio Maior.[119]
During 1811, Victor's force was diminished because of requests for reinforcement from Soult to aid his siege ofBadajoz.[120] This brought the French numbers down to between 20,000 and 15,000 and encouraged the defenders of Cádiz to attempt a breakout,[120] in conjunction with the arrival of an Anglo-Spanish relief army of around 12,000 infantry and 800 cavalry under the overall command of Spanish GeneralManuel La Peña, with the British contingent being led by Lieutenant-GeneralSir Thomas Graham.[121] Marching towards Cádiz on 28 February, this force defeated two French divisions under Victor atBarrosa. However, the Allies failed to exploit their success and Victor soon renewed the blockade.[122] From January through March 1811, Soult with 20,000 men besieged and captured the fortress towns ofBadajoz andOlivenza inExtremadura, capturing 16,000 prisoners, before returning to Andalusia with most of his army. Soult was relieved at the operation's speedy conclusion, for intelligence received on 8 March told him thatFrancisco Ballesteros' Spanish army was menacing Seville, that Victor had been defeated at Barrosa and that Masséna had retreated from Portugal. Soult redeployed his forces to deal with these threats.[123]
In March 1811, with supplies exhausted, Masséna retreated from Portugal to Salamanca. Wellington went over to the offensive later that month. An Anglo-Portuguese army led by the British generalWilliam Beresford and a Spanish army led by the Spanish generalsJoaquín Blake andFrancisco Castaños, attempted to retake Badajoz by layingsiege to the French garrison Soult had left behind. Soult regathered his army and marched to relieve the siege. Beresford lifted the siege and his army intercepted the marching French. At theBattle of Albuera, Soult outmaneuvered Beresford but could not win the battle. He retired his army to Seville.[124]
In April, Wellington besiegedAlmeida. Masséna advanced to its relief, attacking Wellington atFuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May). Both sides claimed victory but the British maintained the blockade and the French retired without being attacked. After this battle, the Almeida garrison escaped through the British lines in a night march.[125] Masséna was forced to withdraw, having lost a total of 25,000 men in Portugal, and was replaced byAuguste Marmont. Wellington joined Beresford and renewed the siege of Badajoz. Marmont joined Soult with strong reinforcements and Wellington retired.[126]
Wellington soon appeared before Ciudad Rodrigo. In September, Marmont repelled him and re-provisioned the fortress.[127] Sorties continued to be made out of Cádiz from April to August 1811,[128] and British naval gunboats destroyed French positions at St. Mary's.[129] An attempt by Victor to crush the small Anglo-Spanish garrison atTarifa over the winter of 1811–1812 was frustrated by torrential rains and an obstinate defence, marking an end to French operations against the city's outer works.
TheBattle of Chiclana, 5th March 1811 (1824) captures the fight between British redcoats and the French troops for Barrosa Ridge.[12]
Marshal Beresford disarming a Polish officer at La Albuera (16 May 1811)
The Spanish commanderFrancesc Rovira captured in a coup-de-main the key fortress ofSant Ferran Castle atFigueres with 2,000miquelets on 10 April. The FrenchArmy of Catalonia under MacDonaldblockaded the city to starve the defenders into surrender. With the help of a relief operation on 3 May, the fortress held out until 17 August, when lack of food prompted a surrender after a last-ditch breakout attempt failed.[130]
On 5 May, Suchet besieged the vital city ofTarragona, which functioned as a port, a fortress, and a resource base that sustained the Spanish field forces in Catalonia. Suchet was given a third of the Army of Catalonia and the city fell to a surprise attack on 29 June.[131] Suchet's troops massacred 2,000 civilians. Napoleon rewarded Suchet with a Marshal's baton. On 25 July, Suchetdrove the Spanish out of their positions on theMontserrat mountain range. In October, the Spanish launched acounterattack that recaptured Montserrat and took 1,000 prisoners from scattered French garrisons in the area. In September, Suchet launched an invasion of the province of Valencia. He besieged the castle ofSagunto anddefeated Blake's relief attempt. The Spanish defenders capitulated on 25 October. Suchettrapped Blake's entire army of 28,044 men in the city of Valencia on 26 December and forced it to surrender on 9 January 1812 after a brief siege. Blake lost 20,281 men dead or captured. Suchet advanced south, capturing the port town ofDénia. The redeployment of a substantial part of his troops for the invasion of Russia ground Suchet's operations to a halt. The victorious Marshal had established a secure base in Aragon and was ennobled by Napoleon as the Duke of Albufera, after alagoon south of Valencia.
The war now fell into a temporary lull, with the superior French unable to find an advantage and coming under increasing pressure from Spanish guerrillas. The French had over 350,000 soldiers inL'Armée de l'Espagne, but over 200,000 were deployed to protect the French lines of supply, rather than as substantial fighting units.
Wellington renewed the allied advance into Spain in early 1812, besieging and capturing the border fortress town ofCiudad Rodrigo by assault on 19 January and opening up the northern invasion corridor from Portugal into Spain. This also allowed Wellington to proceed to move to capture the southern fortress town ofBadajoz, which would prove to be one of the bloodiest siege assaults of theNapoleonic Wars.[132] The town was stormed on 6 April, after a constant artillery barrage had breached the curtain wall in three places. Tenaciously defended, the final assault and the earlier skirmishes left the allies with some 4,800 casualties. These losses appalled Wellington who said of his troops in a letter, "I greatly hope that I shall never again be the instrument of putting them to such a test as that to which they were put last night."[133] The victorious troops massacred 200–300 Spanish civilians.[134]
The allied army subsequently took Salamanca on 17 June, just as Marshal Marmont approached. The two forces met on 22 July, after weeks of manoeuvre, when Wellington soundly defeated the French at theBattle of Salamanca, during which Marmont was wounded. The battle established Wellington as an offensive general and it was said that he "defeated an army of 40,000 men in 40 minutes."[135] The Battle of Salamanca was a damaging defeat for the French in Spain, and while they regrouped, Anglo-Portuguese forces moved on Madrid, which surrendered on 14August; 20,000 muskets, 180 cannon and twoFrench Imperial Eagles were captured.[136]
British infantry attempt to scale the walls ofBadajoz, 1812
After the allied victory at Salamanca on 22 July 1812, King Joseph Bonaparte abandoned Madrid on 11 August.[137] Because Suchet had a secure base at Valencia, Joseph and MarshalJean-Baptiste Jourdan retreated there. Soult, realising he would soon be cut off from his supplies, ordered a retreat from Cádiz set for 24 August; the French were forced to end the two-and-a-half-year-long siege.[12] After a long artillery barrage, the French placed together the muzzles of over 600 cannons to render them unusable to the Spanish and British. Although the cannons were useless, the Allied forces captured 30 gunboats and a large quantity of stores.[138] The French were forced to abandon Andalusia for fear of being cut off by the allied armies. Marshals Suchet and Soult joined Joseph and Jourdan at Valencia. Spanish armies defeated the French garrisons atAstorga andGuadalajara.
As the French regrouped, the allies advanced towards Burgos. Wellington besieged Burgos between 19 September and 21 October, but failed to capture it. Together, Joseph and the three marshals planned to recapture Madrid and drive Wellington from central Spain. The French counteroffensive caused Wellington to lift thesiege of Burgos and retreat to Portugal in the autumn of 1812,[139] pursued by the French and losing several thousand men.[140][141] Napier wrote that about 1,000 allied troops were killed, wounded and missing in action, and that Hill lost 400 between the Tagus and the Tormes, and another 100 in the defence of Alba de Tormes. 300 were killed and wounded at the Huebra where many stragglers died in woodland, and 3,520 allied prisoners were taken to Salamanca up to 20 November. Napier estimated that the double retreat cost the allies around 9,000, including the loss in the siege, and said French writers said 10,000 were taken between the Tormes and the Agueda. But Joseph's dispatches said the whole loss was 12,000, including the garrison of Chinchilla, whereas English authors mostly reduced the British loss to hundreds.[142] As a consequence of the Salamanca campaign, the French were forced to evacuate the provinces of Andalusia and Asturias.
By the end of 1812, the large army that had invaded theRussian Empire, theGrande Armée, had ceased to exist. Unable to resist the oncoming Russians, the French had to evacuateEast Prussia and theGrand Duchy of Warsaw. With both theAustrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia joining his opponents, Napoleon withdrew more troops from Spain,[143] including some foreign units and three battalions of sailors sent to assist with the siege of Cádiz. In total, 20,000 men were withdrawn; the numbers were not overwhelming, but the occupying forces were left in a difficult position. In much of the area under French control—theBasque provinces,Navarre, Aragon, Old Castile,La Mancha, theLevante, and parts ofCatalonia andLeón—the remaining presence was a few scattered garrisons. Trying to hold a front line in an arc fromBilbao to Valencia, they were still vulnerable to assault, and had abandoned hopes of victory. According to Esdaile, the best policy would have been to have fallen back to the Ebro, but the political situation in 1813 made this impossible; Napoleon wanted to avoid being seen as weak by the German princes, who were watching the advancing Russians and wondering whether they should change sides.[144] French prestige suffered another blow when on 17 Marchel rey intruso (theIntruder King, a nickname many Spanish had for King Joseph) left Madrid in the company of another vast caravan of refugees.[144]
In 1813, Wellington marched 121,000 troops (53,749 British, 39,608 Spanish, and 27,569 Portuguese)[7] from northern Portugal across the mountains of northern Spain and the Esla River, skirting Jourdan's army of 68,000 strung out between the Douro and the Tagus. Wellington shortened his communications by shifting his base of operations to the northern Spanish coast, and the Anglo-Portuguese forces swept northwards in late May and seized Burgos, outflanking the French army and forcing Joseph Bonaparte into the Zadorra valley.
At theBattle of Vitoria on 21 June, Joseph's 65,000-man army was defeated decisively by Wellington's army of 57,000 British, 16,000 Portuguese and 8,000 Spanish.[7] Wellington split his army into four attacking "columns" and attacked the French defensive position from south, west and north while the last column cut down across the French rear. The French were forced back from their prepared positions, and despite attempts to regroup and hold were driven into a rout. This led to the abandonment of all of the French artillery as well as King Joseph's extensive baggage train and personal belongings. The latter led to many Anglo-Allied soldiers abandoning the pursuit of the fleeing troops, to instead loot the wagons. This delay, along with the French managing to hold the east road out of Vitoria towards Salvatierra, allowed the French to partially recover. The Allies chased the retreating French, reaching the Pyrenees in early July, and began operations againstSan Sebastian andPamplona. On 11 July, Soult was given command of all French troops in Spain and in consequence Wellington decided to halt his army to regroup at the Pyrenees.
The war was not over. Although Bonapartist Spain had effectively collapsed, most of France's troops had retreated in order and fresh troops were soon gathering beyond the Pyrenees. By themselves, such forces were unlikely to score more than a few local victories, but French troop losses elsewhere in Europe could not be taken for granted. Napoleon might yet inflict defeats on Austria, Russia and Prussia, and with the divisions between the allies there was no guarantee that one power would not make a separate peace. It was a major victory and gave Britain more credibility on the continent, but the thought of Napoleon descending on the Pyrenees with theGrande Armée was not regarded with equanimity.[145]
In August 1813, British headquarters still had misgivings about the eastern powers moving into France. Austria had now joined the Allies, but the Allied armies had suffered a significant defeat at theBattle of Dresden. They had recovered somewhat, but the situation was still precarious. Wellington's brother-in-lawEdward Pakenham wrote, "I should think that much must depend upon proceedings in the north: I begin to apprehend ... that Boney may avail himself of the jealousy of the Allies to the material injury of the cause."[146] But the defeat or defection of Austria, Russia, and Prussia was not the only danger. It was also uncertain that Wellington could continue to count on Spanish support.[147]
The summer of 1813 in theBasque provinces andNavarre was a wet one, with the army drenched by incessant rain, and the decision to strip the men of their greatcoats was looking unwise. Sickness was widespread—at one point a third of Wellington's British troops werehors de combat—and fears about the army's discipline and general reliability grew. By 9 July, Wellington reported that 12,500 men were absent without leave, while plundering was rife. Major General SirFrederick Robinson wrote, "We paint the conduct of the French in this country in very ... harsh colours, but be assured we injure the people much more than they do ... Wherever we move devastation marks our steps."[148] With the army poised on the borders of France, desertion had become a problem. TheChasseurs Britanniques—recruited mainly from French deserters—lost 150 men in a single night. Wellington wrote, "The desertion is terrible, and is unaccountable among the British troops. I am not astonished that the foreigners should go ... but, unless they entice away the British soldiers, there is no accounting for their going away in such numbers as they do."[149] Spain's "ragged and ill-fed soldiers" were also suffering with the onset of winter. The fear that they would likely "fall on the populace with the utmost savagery"[150] in revenge attacks and looting was a growing concern to Wellington as the Allied forces pushed to the French border.
Marshal Soult began a counter-offensive (theBattle of the Pyrenees) and defeated the Allies at theBattle of Maya and theBattle of Roncesvalles (25 July). The Roncesvalles wing of Soult's army pushed on into Spain, and by 27 July was within ten miles of Pamplona. There its way was blocked by a substantial allied force posted on a high ridge in between the villages of Sorauren and Zabaldica. The French lost momentum and were repulsed by the Allies at theBattle of Sorauren (28 and 30 July)[151] Soult orderedGeneral of DivisionJean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon commanding one corps of 21,000 men to attack and secure the Maya Pass. General of DivisionHonoré Reille was ordered by Soult to attack and seize the Roncesvalles Pass with his corps and the corps of General of DivisionBertrand Clausel of 40,000 men. Reille's right wing suffered further losses at Yanzi (1 August); and Echallar and Ivantelly (2 August) during its retreat into France.[152][153][better source needed][154] Total losses during this counter-offensive were about 7,000 for the Allies and 10,000 for the French.[152]
With 18,000 British and Portuguese troops, Wellingtonbesieged the French-garrisoned city of San Sebastián under Brigadier-GeneralLouis Emmanuel Rey from 7 to 25 July. Wellington interrupted the siege during Soult's counter-offensive, but left sufficient forces underGraham to prevent sorties or any relief getting in. The siege was resumed on 22 August. On 31 August, the allies stormed the city with heavy losses. The attacking troops became drunk, and sacked and burned the entire city. Meanwhile, the French garrison retreated into the city's citadel. They held out until 8 September, and marched out the next day with full military honours.[155] on the day that San Sebastián fell, Soult attempted to relieve it, but in the battles ofVera andSan Marcial was repulsed[152] by the Spanish Army of Galicia under GeneralManuel Freire.[156] The losses in the entire siege were about 4,000 alles, and 20,000 French. Wellington next determined to throw his left across the riverBidassoa to strengthen his own position, and secure the port ofFuenterrabia.[152]
At daylight on 7 October 1813 Wellington crossed the Bidassoa in seven columns, and attacked the entire French position, which stretched in two heavily entrenched lines from north of theIrun–Bayonne road, along mountain spurs to theGreat Rhune, 2,800 feet (850 m) high.[157] The decisive movement was a passage in strength near Fuenterrabia to the astonishment of the French, who in view of the width of the river and the shifting sands, had thought the crossing impossible at that point. The French right was then rolled back, and Soult was unable to reinforce his right in time to retrieve the day. His works fell in succession after hard fighting, and he withdrew towards the riverNivelle.[158] The losses were about—Allies, 800; French, 1,600.[159] Thepassage of the Bidassoa "was a general's not a soldier's battle".[160][158]
On 31 OctoberPamplona surrendered, and Wellington was now anxious to drive Suchet from Catalonia before invading France. The British government, however, in the interests of the continental powers, urged an immediate advance over the northern Pyrenees into south-eastern France.[152] Napoleon had just suffered a major defeat at theBattle of Leipzig on 19 October and was in retreat,[citation needed] so Wellington left the clearance of Catalonia to others.[152]
In the northern Mediterranean region of Spain (Catalonia) Suchet had defeated Elio's Murcians atYecla andVillena (11 April 1813), but was subsequently routed by Lieutenant GeneralSir John Murray, Commander of a British expedition from the Mediterranean islands[158] at thebattle of Castalla (13 April), who thenbesieged Tarragona. The siege was abandoned after a time, but was later on renewed by Lieutenant GeneralLord William Bentinck. Suchet, after theBattle of Vitoria, evacuated Tarragona (17 August) but defeated Bentinck in thebattle of Ordal (13 September).[158]
The military historian SirCharles Oman wrote that because of "[Napoleon's] absurdly optimistic reliance on" theTreaty of Valençay (11 December 1813),[161] during the last month of 1813 and the early months of 1814 Suchet was ordered by the French War office to relinquish command of many of his infantry and cavalry regiments for use in thecampaign in north-east France where Napoleon was greatly outnumbered. This reduced Suchet's French Catalonian army from 87,000 to 60,000 of whom 10,000 were on garrison duty. By the end of January through redeployment and wastage (through disease and desertion) the number had fallen to 52,000 of whom only 28,000 were available for field operations; the others were either on garrison duties or guarding the lines of communication back into France.[162]
Suchet thought that the armies under the command of the Spanish GeneralCopons and the British GeneralClinton amounted to 70,000 men (in fact they only had about as many as he did), so Suchet remained on the defensive.[163]
On 10 January 1814 Suchet received orders from the French War Ministry that he withdraw his field force to the foothills of the Pyrenees and to make a phased withdraw from the outlying garrisons. On ratification of the Treaty of Valençay he was to move his force to the French city ofLyons.[164] On 14 January he received further orders that because the situation was so grave on the eastern front he was to immediately send further forces to the east, even though ratification of the Treaty of Valençay had not been received. This would reduce the size of Suchet's field army to 18,000 men.[165]
The Allies heard that Suchet was hemorrhaging men and mistakenly thought that his army was smaller than it was, so on 16 January they attacked. Suchet had not yet started the process of sending more men back to France and was able to stop the Sicilians (and a small contingent of British artillery in support) at theBattle of Molins de Rey because he still had a local preponderance of men. The allies suffered 68 casualties; the French, 30 killed and about 150 wounded.[164]
After Suchet sent many men to Lyons, he left an isolated garrison in Barcelona and concentrated his forces on the town of Gerona calling inflying columns and evacuating some minor outposts. However his field army was now down to 15,000 cavalry and infantry (and excluding the garrisons in northern Catalonia).[166]
The last actions in this theatre happened at thesiege of Barcelona on 23 February; the French sallied out of Barcelona to test the besiegers' lines, as they thought (wrongly) that the Anglo-Sicilian forces had departed. They failed to break through the lines, and forces under the command of the Spanish GeneralPedro Sarsfield stopped them. The French GeneralPierre-Joseph Habert tried another sortie on 16 April and the French were again stopped with about 300 of them killed.[167] Habert eventually surrendered on 25 April.[168]
On 1 March Suchet received orders to send 10,000 more men to Lyons. On 7 March Beurmann's division of 9,661 men left for Lyons. With the exception ofFigueras, Suchet abandoned all the remaining fortresses in Catalonia that the French garrisoned (and that were not closely besieged by Allied forces), and in doing so was able to create a new field force of about 14,000 men, which were concentrated in front of Figueras in early April.[169][g]
In the meantime, because the Allies underestimated the size of Suchet's force and believed that 3,000 more men had left for Lyon and that Suchet, with the remnant of his army, was crossing the Pyrenees to join Soult in the Atlantic theatre, the Allies began to redeploy their forces. The best of the British forces in Catalonia were ordered to join Wellington's army on the riverGaronne in France.[h] They left to do so on 31 March, leaving the Spanish to mop up the remaining French garrisons in Catalonia.[167]
In fact, Suchet remained in Figueras with his army until after the amnesty signed by Wellington and Soult. He spent his time arguing with Soult that he had only 4,000 troops available to march (although his army numbered around 14,000) and that they could not march with artillery, so he could not assist Soult in his battles with Wellington.[170] The military historian Sir Charles Oman puts this refusal to help Soult down to Suchet's personal animosity rather than strong strategic reasons.[171]
On the night of 9 November 1813 Wellington brought up his right from the Pyrenean passes to the northward ofMaya and towards theNivelle.Marshal Soult's army (about 79,000), in three entrenched lines, stretched from the sea in front ofSaint-Jean-de-Luz along commanding ground toAmotz and thence, behind the river, toMont Mondarrain near theNive.[158] Wellington on 10 November 1813 attacked and drove the French toBayonne. The allied loss during theBattle of Nivelle was about 2,700; that of the French, 4,000, 51 guns, and all their magazines. The next day Wellington closed in upon Bayonne from the sea to the left bank of theNive.[158]
After this there was a period of comparative inaction, though during it the French were driven from the bridges at Urdains[i] andCambo-les-Bains.George Bell, a junior British officer in the34th Foot during this period of inaction, told in his biography of an "Irish sentry who was found with a French and an English musket on his two shoulders, guarding a bridge over a brook on behalf of both armies. For he explained to the officer going the rounds that his French neighbour had gone off on his behalf, with his last precious half-dollar, to buy brandy for both, and had left his musket in pledge till his return. The French officer going his rounds on the other side of the brook then turned up, and explained that he had caught his sentry, without arms and carrying two bottles, a long way to the rear. If either of them reported what had happened to their colonels, both sentries would be court-martialled and shot. Wherefore both subalterns agreed to hush up the matter".[172] The weather had become bad, and the Nive unfordable; but there were additional and serious causes of delay. The Portuguese and Spanish authorities were neglecting the payment and supply of their troops. Wellington had also difficulties of a similar kind with his own government, and also the Spanish soldiers, in revenge for many French outrages, had become guilty of grave excesses in France, so that Wellington took the extreme step of sending 25,000 of them back to Spain and resigning the command of their army (though his resignation was subsequently withdrawn). So great was the tension at this crisis that a rupture with Spain seemed possible, but this did not happen.[158][j]
Wellington occupied the right as well as the left bank of the Nive on 9 December 1813 with a portion of his force only underRowland Hill andBeresford,Ustaritz and Cambo-les-Bains, his loss being slight, and thence pushed down the river towardsVillefranque, where Soult barred his way across the road to Bayonne. The allied army was now divided into two portions by the Nive; and Soult from Bayonne at once took advantage of his central position to attack it with all his available force, first on the left bank and then on the right.[158] Desperate fighting now ensued, but owing to the intersected ground, Soult was compelled to advance slowly, and Wellington coming up with Beresford from the right bank, the French retired baffled.[158] Renewed French attacks on 13 December were also stopped. The losses in the four days' fighting in the battles before Bayonne (orbattles of the Nive) were-Allies about 5,000, French about 7,000.[158][k]
The sortie from the besieged city of Bayonne, on 14 April 1814
Operations resumed on French soil in February 1814 and Wellington went quickly over to the offensive. Hill on 14 and 15 February, after abattle of Garris, drove the French posts beyond the Joyeuse; and Wellington then pressed these troops back over the Bidouze andGave de Mauleon to theGave d'Oloron.[l] An amphibious landing with 8,000 troops at the mouth of the Adour secured a crossing over the river as a preliminary to the siege of Bayonne.[174] On 27 February, Wellington attacked Soult atOrthez and forced him to retreat towards Saint-Sever, which he reached on 28 February. The allied loss was about 2,000; the French 4,000 and 6 guns.[175] Beresford, with 12,000 men, was now sent toBordeaux, which opened its gates as promised to the Allies. Driven by Hill from Aire-sur-l'Adour on 2 March 1814, Soult retired byVic-en-Bigorre, where there was a combat (19 March), andTarbes, where there was a severe action (20 March), toToulouse behind the Garonne. He endeavored also to rouse the French peasantry against the Allies, but in vain, for Wellington's justice and moderation afforded them no grievances.[175][176]
On 8 April, Wellington crossed theGaronne and theHers-Mort,[m] andattacked Soult at Toulouse on 10 April. Spanish attacks on Soult's heavily fortified positions were repulsed but Beresford's assault compelled the French to fall back.[175] On 12 April Wellington entered the city, Soult having retreated the previous day. The Allied loss was about 5,000, the French 3,000.[175]
On 13 April 1814 officers arrived with the announcement to both armies of the capture of Paris, theabdication of Napoleon, and the practical conclusion of peace; and on 18 April a convention, which included Suchet's force, was entered into between Wellington and Soult.[175] After Toulouse had fallen, the Allies and French, in asortie from Bayonne on 14 April, each lost about 1,000 men, so that some 10,000 men fell after peace had virtually been made.[175] ThePeace of Paris was formally signed at Paris on 30 May 1814.[175]
Horace Vernet: Napoleon on the Island of Elba Awaiting the brig Inconstant. (1863)
Ferdinand VII remained King of Spain having been acknowledged on 11 December 1813 by Napoleon in theTreaty of Valençay. The remainingafrancesados were exiled to France. The whole country had been pillaged by Napoleon's troops. The Catholic Church had been ruined by its losses and society subjected to destabilizing change.[177][178]
With Napoleon exiled to the island ofElba,Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne.
British troops were partly sent to England, and partly embarked at Bordeaux for America for service in the final months of theAmerican War of 1812.
After the Peninsular War, the pro-independence traditionalists and liberals clashed in theCarlist Wars, as KingFerdinand VII ("the Desired One"; later "the Traitor King") revoked all the changes made by the independentCortes Generales in Cádiz, theConstitution of 1812 on 4 May 1814. Military officers forced Ferdinand to accept the Cádiz Constitution again in 1820, and was in effect until April 1823, during what is known as theTrienio Liberal.
The experience in self-government led the laterLibertadores (Liberators) to promote the independence ofSpanish America.
Portugal's position was more favorable than Spain's. Revolt had not spread to Brazil, there was no colonial struggle and there had been no attempt at political revolution.[179] The Portuguese Court's transfer to Rio de Janeiro initiated theindependence of Brazil in 1822.
The war against Napoleon remains as one of the bloodiest events in Spain's modern history.[180]
The 82 prints of Goya, calledthe Disasters of War, visualize the efforts and horror of the reality of the Spanish people's war as part of the Peninsular War.[1]
On 29 July 1836 theArc de Triomphe was inaugurated in Paris with the French victories of the Peninsular War inscribed on it.
A sculpture was erected forJuana Galán (1787–1812), nicknamedLa Galana, who became a guerrilla fighter, when she smashed hercast-iron stew pan in the heads of the French soldiers during theBattle of Valdepeñas.
^In Spanish, the form of asymmetric warfare waged by the Spanish partisans was termedguerrilla ("little war"), while the practitioner of such tactics was aguerrillero. Those terms are usually rendered in English as "guerrilla warfare" and "guerrilla (fighter)", respectively.
Spanish: Many names, including theGuerra de la Independencia ("Independence War"),la Francesada,Guerra Peninsular ("Peninsular War"),Guerra de España ("War of Spain"),Guerra del Francés ("War of the French"),Guerra de los Seis Años ("Six Years' War"),Levantamiento y revolución de los españoles ("Rising and Revolution of the Spaniards")
^By 1813, Spanish guerrillas had tied down over 75% of the French occupying army, leaving only a small fraction free to concentrate and face the conventional allied forces under Wellington.[11]
^There were a further 13,000 French troops besieged in Barcelona, Tortosa, Saguntun and other fortresses, who were under siege and not able to extract themselves to join Suchet at Figueras (Oman 1930, p. 425).
^The Anglo-Italian battalions, the Calabrians and the Sicilian "Estero" regiment were sent to Sicily (Oman 1930, p. 429).
^The bridge crosses the Urdains brook (a tributary of the Nive) just north of theChâteau d'Urdain.
^On 11 December, Napoleon, beleaguered and desperate, agreed to a separate peace with Spain under theTreaty of Valençay, under which he would release and recognize Ferdinand in exchange for a complete cessation of hostilities. But the Spanish had no intention of trusting Napoleon and the fighting continued.[citation needed]
^On the evening of 10 December, some 1,400 troops from three German battalions deserted in response to a secret message from theDuke of Nassau—one of the many German rulers who had surrendered following theBattle of Leipzig—ordering them to surrender to the Allies. In addition, Soult and Suchet lost the rest of their German units—another 3,000 men—as it was felt that they became unreliable. This left theAdour's defenders much depleted and incapable of further offensive action.[173]
^"Gave" in the Pyrenees means a mountain stream or torrent.[158]
^Contemporary British military sources and some secondary sources call this river the "Ers" (Robinson 1911, p. 97).
Bell, David A. (2009)."Napoleon's Total War". Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved1 May 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Grehan, John (2015).The Lines of Torres Vedras: The Cornerstone of Wellington's Strategy in the Peninsular War 1809–1812. Pen & Sword Books Limited.ISBN978-1-4738-5274-7.
Blaze, Elzéar (1995). Haythornthwaite, Philip J. (ed.).Life in Napoleon's army: the memoirs of Captain Elzéar Blaze. Greenhill Books. p. 102.ISBN1853671967.
Fletcher, Ian (2003).Peninsular War; Aspects of the Struggle for the Iberian Peninsula. Spellmount Publishers.ISBN1873376820.
Fletcher, Ian, ed. (2007).The Campaigns of Wellington. Vol. (3 vols) Vol 1. The Peninsular War 1808–1811, Vol. 2. The Peninsular War 1812–1814. The Folio Society.
Griffith, Paddy (1999).A History of the Peninsular War: Modern Studies of the War in Spain and Portugal, 1808–14. Vol. 9. Greenhill Books.ISBN185367348X.
Gurwood, J., ed. (1852). "Wellington to Liverpool, 14 November 1809".The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, K. G. During His Various Campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries, and France: France and the Low Countries, 1814–1815. Vol. III. London. p. 583.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Gurwood, J., ed. (1852b). "Wellington to Liverpool, 21 December 1810".The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington during his various Campaigns in India, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, the Low Countries and France from 1789 to 1815. Vol. VII. London. p. 54.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Haythornthwaite, Philip (2001).Corunna 1809. Campaign 83. Osprey Publishing.ISBN1855329689.
Henty, G. A. (1898).With Moore at Corunna: A Tale of the Peninsular War. Independently Published.ISBN979-8574537800. – historical fiction
Laqueur, Walter (1975). "The Origins of Guerrilla Doctrine".Journal of Contemporary History.10 (3). Society for Military History:341–382.doi:10.1177/002200947501000301.S2CID153541441.
Morgan, John (2009). "War Feeding War? The Impact of Logistics on the Napoleonic Occupation of Catalonia".Journal of Military History.73 (1):83–116.doi:10.1353/jmh.0.0183.S2CID159770864.
Muir, Rory (1996).Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 1807–1815. Yale University Press.ISBN978-0300064438.
Neale, Adam; Hopetoun, John Hope (4th earl); Malcolm, John; Rocca, Albert Jean Michel (1828).Memorials of the Late War. Vol. I. Edinburgh.OCLC9981233. Retrieved2 May 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
Southey, Robert (1828a).History of the Peninsular War. Vol. I (New, in 6 volumes ed.). London: John Murray. Retrieved2 May 2021.
Southey, Robert (1828b).History of the Peninsular War. Vol. II (New, in 6 volumes ed.). London: John Murray. Retrieved2 May 2021.
Suchet, Duke D'Albufera (2007).Memoirs of the War in Spain (2 volumes). Pete Kautz.ISBN978-1858184777.
Tranié, Jean; Carmigniani, Juan Carlos (1994) [1982].Napoleon's War in Spain: The French Peninsular Campaigns, 1807–1814. Translated by Mallender, Janet S.; Clements, John R. based on the notes and documents of the late Commandant Henry Lachouque (1883–1971) (reprint ed.). Arms and Armour Press.ISBN978-1854092199.
_-_cores_compensadas.jpg)
_-_Henry_L%2527Ev%25C3%25AAque%2c_F._Bartollozzi.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-january-17th-1809%2c-from-%2527the-martial-achievements-of-great-britain-and-her-allies-from-1799-.jpg)
![The Battle of Chiclana, 5th March 1811 (1824) captures the fight between British redcoats and the French troops for Barrosa Ridge.[12]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fwikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBattle_of_Chiclana.jpg)
_(cropped).jpg)
