THE PENINSULAR WAR,IS THE NAME GENERALLY APPLIED TO A WAR WAGED BY THE FRENCH EMPIRE UNDER NAPOLEON AND BRITISH FORCES ( 1807 - 1814).NAPOLEON'S CONQUEST OF SPAIN LED TO REVOLUTION IN CHILE.HAVING CROSSED THROUGH SPAIN ,THE FRENCH INVADED PORTUGAL.
Spanish officials surrender Madrid to NapoleonThe Peninsula War was one of the most drawn out and bloody of the
Napoleonic Wars. Figures on the war help to shed light on this huge and
arduous conflict.Seven years is how long there was fighting in Portugal and Spain after
Napoleon sent in his troops. The whole campaign lasted from 1807 to
1814.At the start of the war, the entire French Army had 90 infantry
regiments. By the end of the war, with France facing many enemies, there
were 156. Of these, at least 84 fought in the Peninsula, a huge
commitment for a nation that also fought Austria, Prussia, and Russia.As
with the British, the infantry made up the majority of the army, but
there were also substantial elements of cavalry and artillery.
Napoleon in America takes place, in part, against the backdrop of a French invasion of Spain. This invasion was not invented for the novel. It actually happened, in 1823, to restore a Spanish Bourbon King to the throne. It was a huge deal at the time, both in Europe and the Americas. Newspapers, diplomatic reports, memoirs and letters of the period are full of commentary on the events leading up to the invasion, the resulting war, and its aftermath. Here is a very abbreviated account of what transpired.Before France invaded Spain in October 1807, the two countries were allies. At first, the French stormed through Spain and into Portugal. It looked as if they would win the campaign.Then the situation was transformed by events elsewhere in Europe. A revolt by the Tyroleans in 1809 created an excuse for Austria to start fighting the French again. As a new coalition formed against him, Napoleon was forced to leave Spain and deal with the political and military consequences. Without his inspiring leadership, the French were much weaker.However, Spain was not the reliable ally Napoleon wished for. Factions in the Spanish court were pushing the King towards abandoning the French alliance and launching an invasion across the Pyrenees.More importantly, the Iberian Peninsula stood in the way of Napoleon’s plans to defeat his greatest rival, Britain. His plan was to destroy the British economy through the Continental System, a blockade on British trade.For this idea to work, however, it relied on Europe not trading with Britain. Spain was not a staunch supporter of the system, and Portugal, on the far side of Spain from France, was one of Britain’s biggest markets in Europe.Having crossed through Spain, the French invaded Portugal. It was the first of three invasions in only four years, as the French struggled to bring the Portuguese under control.Once in control of Spain, Napoleon bullied both King Charles IV and his son Ferdinand into giving up their throne. He then brought in his brother, Joseph, as King of Spain. Joseph had some experience as a ruler, as Napoleon had previously put him in charge of Naples. This nepotistic approach allowed Napoleon to ensure he could rely on the monarchs of satellite states; family members who owed their positions to him.Resistance to military rule by armed civilians was by no means unprecedented. Nor was the sort of irregular fighting it led to, as soldiers and civilians alike attacked using ambushes, sabotage, and hit and run raids. Up to then, there had been no word for that sort of fighting. The Spanish provided one “guerrilla,” meaning “little war.” As the British became involved in the fighting in Spain and Portugal, they picked up the word from locals and it entered the English language.The desperate, irregular nature of the guerrilla war led to the use of terror tactics often adopted by and against freedom fighters and terrorists. French soldiers were mutilated, decapitated, and allegedly buried alive. The French fought back by hanging partisans from trees, leaving their bodies out as a warning.Regular soldiers on both sides of the war came to see the guerrillas as savage and uncivilized. British troops, as well as French, looked at the Spanish with a wary eye.The Peninsula Campaign was the war that made the career of Sir Arthur Wellesley, who by its end had been made the Duke of Wellington.Wellesley had previously distinguished himself as an officer in India and Denmark. When the British arrived in Portugal, with the intention of pushing on from there to liberate Spain, he was not in charge. A government inquiry into the conduct of the war led to the removal of his superiors. Only Wellesley came out of the investigation looking good, so he was given command of the British forces in the Iberian Peninsula in April 1809.From then on he showed the skill with which the British would push the French back and defeat Napoleon at Waterloo. Using skirmishers and placing his troops on the reverse slopes of high ground, he was able to counter French tactics. His attention to diplomacy and logistics, as well as strategy and tactics, brought the British and their Peninsula allies a string of victories.His success was reflected in his ever increasing rank as he was made a Viscount in 1809, Earl in 1812, Marquess later that year, and Duke in 1814. Militarily, he was made into a British Field Marshal in 1813, as well as being appointed marshal-general by the Portuguese and generalissimo by the Spanish.The French invasion and the monarchy’s time in exile led to Spain’s loss of its colonies.A rebel government was founded in Spain to fight against French control. The Latin American colonies felt they should be represented in the government as they had not been before. Conservatives and those with old world interest resisted. As a result, more people in the colonies came to resent Spanish rule. A series of revolts broke out, leading to the eventual liberation of the colonies years later.Once Napoleon returned to France, the guerrilla war that had plagued Spain broke out again. The country’s low agricultural yield made it difficult for a large occupying force to live off the land, but a large force was needed to control such a vast territory. Even when no pitched battles were fought this irregular warfare led to constant French casualties and became known as the Spanish Ulcer. The French responded by establishing small military posts along lines of communication, and swept the countryside with large bodies of men to weed out guerrillas, but this only provided sporadic control. This policy also tied down many soldiers that could not be used in offensive operations elsewhere. The brutality inflicted on the civilian population in return knew no bounds, which kept them permanently hostile to French occupation. Only late in the war did the French make some efforts to win over the local population and deprive the guerrillas of a base. While an effective strategy that had some success, it could not be put into practice fast enough to make a real difference. While the resistance continually ate away at the French, they did so in an inconsistent manner, which made them unreliable allies for the British. Fear of their unreliability often inspired British commanders to be more cautious than they might have otherwise been.
The
campaign was fought across nineteen provinces; thirteen Spanish and
six Portuguese. Many of these were the remnants of ancient kingdoms and
principalities, with distinct senses of identity and tradition. Not all
responded to the war in the same way, and within Spain, there were
disputes over the role of different regional bodies in running the
war.Both King Charles IV of Spain and his son and heir King Ferdinand
VII
were forced to abdicate by the French. France began its involvement in
Spain on supposedly friendly terms and sent troops through Spain to
invade Portugal. Resistance by some Spanish politicians led the French
to seize direct power. Charles and Ferdinand were both ousted in 1808
and Napoleon’s brother was installed as King Joseph I.
Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult commanded the French forces throughout much of the war in Spain. He fought the British as they pursued the French across the Pyrenees and into France. He earned the respect of many of his opponents, although Wellington felt he was overrated and prone to hesitation on the battlefield.In January 1820, a liberal revolt led by Spanish troops under General Rafael del Riego compelled absolutist King Ferdinand VII to implement the Spanish constitution of 1812. That constitution – full of goodies like universal suffrage (at least for men) and freedom of the press – had been drafted by the Spanish national assembly (the Cortes) when they were trying to rid the country of King Joseph Bonaparte and Napoleon’s troops during the Peninsular War. Upon the constitution’s resurrection, Ferdinand became a de facto prisoner of the Cortes. He retired to Aranjuez, south of Madrid. When a counter-revolt by extreme royalists in July 1822 failed to liberate him, Ferdinand called on the other European monarchs to come to his assistance.The issue was taken up at the Congress of Verona in late 1822. The Holy Alliance (Russia, Prussia and Austria) was concerned about the threat posed by revolutionary movements such as that in Spain, and Russian Tsar Alexander I was keen to intervene. The British – represented at the Congress by the Duke of Wellington – were opposed to intervention. Austrian Foreign Minister Clemens von Metternich was in favour of restoring legitimate monarchs, but did not want to give Russia an excuse to extend its power.France was in an awkward position. As Ferdinand VII was a member of the House of Bourbon, French ultra-royalists were pressuring King Louis XVIII to rescue his distant cousin. Louis, however, disapproved of Ferdinand’s brand of absolutism, and neither he nor Prime Minister Joseph Villèle favoured sending troops into Spain. War would be expensive, the army was not well organized, and the loyalty of the troops was questionable. As a compromise, the government had already deployed soldiers along the border with Spain, ostensibly to prevent the spread of yellow fever into France. This “cordon sanitaire” became an observation corps.France’s representative at the Congress of Verona, Foreign Minister Mathieu de Montmorency, was on the side of the ultra-royalists. He ignored Villèle’s instructions to limit discussion of the Spanish question. Arguing that turmoil in Spain posed a threat to all of Europe, and especially to France, Montmorency told the Congress that circumstances might force France to recall her ambassador from Madrid, leading the Spanish Cortes to declare war on France. He then asked whether, if France were compelled to engage in a defensive war with Spain, she could count on the support of her allies. Russia, Austria and Prussia agreed to provide moral and possibly material support. Britain would not provide support. Instead, she offered to mediate between France and Spain. The offer was refused. Amidst much hand-wringing over the assault on Spanish liberty, Britain ultimately adopted a position of neutrality.Though the way was paved for unilateral French intervention in Spain, Villèle – backed by Louis XVIII – refused to go along with the plan. Montmorency resigned. His replacement, François-René de Chateaubriand, also favoured intervention, arguing that it would give France an opportunity to regain great power status. There were fierce debates in the Chamber of Deputies.The 100,000 sons of Saint Louis – otherwise known as the Army of the Pyrenees, mobilized for the invasion – actually numbered around 60,000. The problem of ensuring soldiers’ loyalty without compromising their efficiency was dealt with by giving primary commands to former Napoleonic generals (who had the necessary experience) and secondary commands to royalists (who were unlikely to mutiny). Louis XVIII’s nephew, the Duke of Angoulême was made commander-in-chief, despite his lack of military experience. He was not keen on the appointment, but agreed to it as an honourary post, leaving the army’s actual military direction to General Armand Guilleminot, who had served under Napoleon.The government hoped that victory over the revolutionary forces in Spain would break the spirit of those who were conspiring against the Bourbons in France. Many French political refugees, including some who had fled to the United States and participated in the Vine and Olive Colony or the Champ d’Asile, fought on the side of the Spanish constitutionalists. Among them was the indomitable Charles Lallemand, who organized a Legion of French Refugees in Spain.On April 6, 1823, the question of the army’s allegiance was answered. Just as happens in Napoleon in America, a group of insurgents led by Colonel Charles Fabvier tried to subvert the French forces at the Bidassoa River who were preparing to enter Spain. Fabvier’s group hoisted the tricolour flag, sang “La Marseillaise” and urged the soldiers to desert the Bourbons. Instead the French troops obeyed General Louis Vallin’s orders to open fire on Fabvier and his men.he next day, the French army entered Spain. They met little resistance. As an Irish visitor to the country reported:The Constitution, no matter what may be its excellence or imperfection, has certainly not succeeded in gathering around it the sentiments and good wishes of a majority of the people of that country. … [A]pathy, to use the mildest expression, prevailed in all the towns through which we passed after leaving Madrid. From my own observations, and those of others, I can safely state that the great majority of the people on the line of that route desired nothing so much as peace. They have been vexed and injured by repeated contributions and conscriptions, and latterly, by anticipations of the current year’s taxes, their means of complying with them being extremely limited. … However ardent may be an Englishman’s wish that Spain may enjoy liberal institutions (and if he were without a wish of this nature he would be undeserving of his country); still, when he saw that the idea of civil liberty was carried in that nation to an extreme which promised no durability, and that this extreme, supported only by bayonets and by official employes, was the inviolable system which England was called upon to assist with her mighty arm, he cannot but rejoice that that assistance was refused, and that the strength of his country was reserved for more worthy purposes.The French soon controlled Navarre, the Asturias and Galicia. Andalusia, the site of Cádiz (the constitutionalists’ provisional capital, to which they had carried Ferdinand), took longer to subdue. On August 31, in the only significant battle of the campaign, the French took the fortress of Trocadero and turned its powerful guns toward Cádiz. The city surrendered on September 30. The Cortes dissolved itself and released Ferdinand VII, who rejected the 1812 constitution, restored absolute monarchy and took revenge on his opponents. In November, the Duke of Angoulême returned to France, leaving behind an occupying force of 45,000. The last French soldiers were not withdrawn until 1828.
The Peninsular War
was one of Napoleon’s greatest blunders, leading to seven years of
warfare and ending with an invasion of France, but it began with a an
almost effortless occupation of Madrid, Old Castile and the fortresses
on the Pyrenees, followed by a cynical
but well managed abduction of the Spanish royal family. Spain was
officially allied with France at the time of the French invasion, but
for some time Napoleon had been dissatisfied with the performance of his
ally, especially after the Spanish fleet was destroyed at Trafalgar,
and was known to have said that a Bourbon Spain was too week as an ally
but potentially a dangerous enemy. Napoleon’s suspicions had been raised
during the Jena campaign of 1806, when the Spanish government had
issued a proclamation calling on the people to unite against an unnamed
enemy, widely assumed to be France. In the aftermath of Napoleon’s
victory at Jena the proclamation had been withdrawn, but the damage was
done.Spain in 1808 was ruled by Charles IV, the
last surviving Bourbon king in Europe. He was widely considered to be an
imbecile who was entirely dominated by his wife Maria Luisa and her
favourite, Don Manuel Godoy. Charles had denied any role during the
reign of his father Charles III, and had come to the throne at the age
of 40. At first power was held by the queen, but within a few years
Godoy had risen from the ranks (he was a private in the royal bodyguard,
and a minor nobleman) to the status of prime minister. After
negotiating the peace of Basle, which ended the Franco-Spanish War of
1793-1795, he had been awarded with the title of Prince of the Peace.
Godoy was corrupt and ambitious but ineffective, although he was also
moderately progressive, a supporter of vaccination and an opponent of
the Inquisition. Lurking behind the scenes was Ferdinand, Prince of the
Asturias, the heir to the throne. Just like his father he had been
excluded from all government business for most of his life, but as his
parents aged, Ferdinand began to attract a group of supporters.
Unfortunately he would turn out to be ignorant, cowardly, and on his
return to power in 1814 despotic and tyrannical.Ferdinand’s
main concern by 1807 was a fear that Godoy was planning to exclude him
from the succession, and seize the throne in his own name. Despite all
the pleadings of his supporters, Ferdinand took no action against Godoy,
but in the autumn of 1807 he decided to write to Napoleon, asking for a
French princess to marry, and for Napoleon’s support against Godoy and
his father. Godoy soon learnt of this letter, and on 27 October 1807
Ferdinand was arrested and his quarters searched. There Godoy’s men
discovered two letters of complaint that Ferdinand had drafted but never
sent. This was just enough for Godoy to convince Charles to arrest his
son and announce that Ferdinand had been planning to overthrown his
father. Whatever plans Godoy had for Ferdinand were derailed by
Napoleon, who intervened to make it clear that his involvement in the
affair must not be revealed. Ferdinand was forced to write a grovelling
letter of apology, and was by 5 November was partially restored. The
whole episode became known as the “Affair of the Escurial”, and it
played a considerable part in speeding up Napoleon’s plans against
Spain.The first French troops to enter Spain were
the 25,000 men of General Junot’s First Corps of Observation of the
Gironde, who passed through on their way to Portugal in October-November
1807. Under the terms of the agreement between France and Spain, the
French were allowed to send reinforcements to Portugal if the British
intervened, but only after giving Charles IV due notice, but Junot had
met no opposition at all, and the British were still months away from
intervening when on 22 November the Second Corps of Observation of the
Gironde began to enter Spain. This force of 30,000 men under General
Dupont made no effort to move towards Portugal. Behind them in France
three more corps began to take shape – the Corps of Observation of the
Ocean under Marshal Moncey, the Corps of Observation of the Pyrenees and
the Corps of Observation of the Eastern Pyrenees. On 8 January 1808
Moncey’s men crossed into Spain, and the 55,000 Frenchmen under Dupont
and Moncey began to spread out across Old Castile, Biscay and Navarre.Up
until February it was just possible for the French to claim that these
55,000 troops were travelling through Spain to Portugal under the terms
of the Franco-Spanish alliance, but on 10 February 18,000 men of the
Corps of Observation of the Eastern Pyrenees, under General Duhesme,
began to cross into Catalonia. There was no way that these men were
heading for Portugal.Only a few days later the
French finally revealed their intentions, seizing a series of Spanish
border fortresses. Pampeluna was taken by surprise on 16 February, as
was Barcelona on 29 February and Figueras on 18 March. Only at San
Sebastian did the garrison put up any resistance, but the commander was
under orders not to resist any French assault, and the place fell on 5
March.The reaction in Madrid to this open
aggression was chaotic. Charles IV and his advisor Godoy had responded
to the first French moves in November by asking Napoleon if he could
find a suitable female relative to marry Prince Ferdinand. Napoleon did
not respond until after his return from Italy in January 1808, and in
his reply made it clear that he did not think Ferdinand was a suitable
match for any of his relatives, hardly a reassuring response. Even after
the seizure of the border fortresses, Charles failed to declare war,
apparently refusing to believe that Napoleon had betrayed him.Field guns fired a
ball projectile, of limited use against troops in the field unless
those troops were closely formed. Guns also fired case shot or canister
which fragmented and was highly effective against troops in the field
over a short range. Exploding shells
fired by howitzers, yet in their infancy. were of particular use against
buildings. The British were developing shrapnel (named after the
British officer who invented it) which increased the effectiveness of
exploding shells against troops in the field, by exploding in the air
and showering them with metal fragments.Throughout the Peninsular War
and the Waterloo campaign, the British army was plagued by a shortage of
artillery. The Army was sustained by volunteer recruitment and the
Royal Artillery was not able to recruit sufficient gunners for its
needs.Napoleon exploited the advances in gunnery
techniques of the last years of the French Ancien Régime to create his
powerful and highly mobile artillery. Many of his battles were won using
a combination of the manoeuvrability and fire power of the French guns
with the speed of the French columns of infantry, supported by the mass
of French cavalry.While the French conscript
infantry moved about the battle field in fast moving columns, the
British trained to fight in line. The Duke of Wellington reduced the
number of ranks to two, to extend the line of the British infantry and
to exploit fully the firepower of his regiments.The Battle of Barossa
took place during a raid by the Spanish and British/Portuguese force on
the French siege works around the southern Spanish city of Cadiz. The
aim of the raid, to inflict damage on, if not destroy, the French siege
works was not achieved, but heavy casualties were inflicted on the two
French divisions involved in the battle, and the British, Portuguese and
Spanish force was able to return to Cadiz unimpeded. The British
consider the battle a victory.
Battle of Talavera on 28th July 1809 in the Peninsular War in 1809,The British victory south of Madrid on 28th July 1809 over Joseph Bonaparte, the King imposed on Spain by Napoleon, and his French army.The previous battle of the Peninsular War is the Battle of the Passage of the Douro.The next battle of the Peninsular War is the Battle of Busaco.Place of the Battle of Talavera: south-west of Madrid in New Castile, on the road from the Portuguese border to the Spanish Capital.Combatants at the Battle of Talavera: British, Germans and Spanish against the French.
