1.
Peninsular War
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The Peninsular War was a military conflict between Napoleons empire and the allied powers of Spain, Britain and Portugal, for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war started when French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807, the Peninsular War overlaps with what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Guerra de la Independencia Española, which began with the Dos de Mayo Uprising on 2 May 1808 and ended on 17 April 1814. The French occupation destroyed the Spanish administration, which fragmented into quarrelling provincial juntas, the British Army, under the then Lt. Gen. Arthur Wellesley, guarded Portugal and campaigned against the French in Spain alongside the reformed Portuguese army. The demoralised Portuguese army was reorganised and refitted under the command of Gen, in the following year Wellington scored a decisive victory over King Josephs army at Vitoria. The years of fighting in Spain were a burden on Frances Grande Armée. The Spanish armies were beaten and driven to the peripheries. This drain on French resources led Napoleon, who had provoked a total war. War and revolution against Napoleons occupation led to the Spanish Constitution of 1812, the burden of war destroyed the social and economic fabric of Portugal and Spain, and ushered in an era of social turbulence, political instability and economic stagnation. Devastating civil wars between liberal and absolutist factions, led by officers trained in the Peninsular War, persisted in Iberia until 1850. The cumulative crises and disruptions of invasion, revolution and restoration led to the independence of most of Spains American colonies, the Treaties of Tilsit, negotiated during a meeting in July 1807 between Emperors Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon, concluded the War of the Fourth Coalition. With Prussia shattered, and Russia allied with France, Napoleon expressed irritation that Portugal was open to trade with the United Kingdom, furthermore, Prince John of Braganza, regent for his insane mother Queen Maria I, had declined to join the emperors Continental System against British trade. After a few days, a large force started concentrating at Bayonne, meanwhile the Portuguese governments resolve was stiffening, and shortly afterward Napoleon was once again told that Portugal would not go beyond its original agreements. After he received the Portuguese answer, he ordered Junots corps to cross the frontier into Spain, while all this was going on, the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau had been signed between France and Spain. The document was drawn up by Napoleons marshal of the palace Géraud Duroc and Eugenio Izquierdo, the treaty proposed to carve up Portugal into three entities. Porto and the part was to become the Kingdom of Northern Lusitania. 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. According to the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Junots invasion force was to be supported by 25,500 men in three Spanish columns, Gen. Taranco and 6,500 troops were ordered to march from Vigo to seize Porto in the north. Capt. Gen. Solano would advance from Badajoz with 9,500 soldiers to capture Elvas, Gen. Caraffa and 9,500 men were instructed to assemble at Salamanca and Ciudad Rodrigo, and cooperate with Junots main force
2.
Segovia
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Segovia is a city in the autonomous region of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital of Segovia Province, the name of Segovia is of Celtiberian origin. The first inhabitants named the city Segobriga and this name comes from two terms of the Celtiberian language of the Celtic branch of Indo-European. The term Sego means «victory» and the suffix -briga would mean «city» or «strength», so the name might be translated as City of the victory or Victorious city. Under the Romans and Arabs, the city was called Segovia, Segovia is located on the plains of Old Castile, near Valladolid and the Spanish capital, Madrid. Segovia is one of nine provinces that make up the region of Castile. Burgos and Valladolid lie to the north, Ávila to the west, Madrid to the south, the altitude of the province varies from 750 metres in the extreme northwest to a maximum of 2,430 m at Peñalara peak in the Sierra de Guadarrama. The town lies on the route of the Camino de Santiago de Madrid. The climate is hot-summer Mediterranean near the boundaries of Csb and BSk, resulting from the high altitude, the average annual temperature is 12.42 °C, with a minimum in December of −14 °C and maximum in August of 39 °C. All of this make the province a damp corner in the context of the region, the predominant forms of vegetation in the mountainous areas include pine, evergreen, oak, beech and juniper. Aside from the city, there are a number of other villages within the municipality of Segovia. Fuentemilanos Hontoria Madrona Revenga, established in 1983 as a local entity. Zamarramala Torredondo Perogordo The first recorded mention of a settlement in what is today Segovia was a Celtic possession, control later passed into the hands of the Romans. The city is a site of the battle in 75 BCE where Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius was victorious over the Quintus Sertorius and Hirtuleius. During the Roman period the settlement belonged to one of numerous contemporary Latin convents and it is believed that the city was abandoned after the Islamic invasion of Spain centuries later. Segovias position on trading routes made it an important centre of trade in wool, the end of the Middle Ages saw something of a golden age for Segovia, with a growing Jewish population and the creation of a foundation for a powerful cloth industry. Several splendid works of Gothic architecture were also completed during this period, notably, Isabella I was proclaimed queen of Castile in the church of San Miguel de Segovia on December 13,1474. Like most Castilian textile centres, Segovia joined the Revolt of the Comuneros under the command of Juan Bravo, despite the defeat of the Communities, the citys resultant economic boom continued into the sixteenth century, its population rising to 27,000 in 1594
3.
France
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France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
4.
First French Empire
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The First French Empire, Note 1 was the empire of Napoleon Bonaparte of France and the dominant power in much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. Its name was a misnomer, as France already had colonies overseas and was short lived compared to the Colonial Empire, a series of wars, known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars, extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. The plot included Bonapartes brother Lucien, then serving as speaker of the Council of Five Hundred, Roger Ducos, another Director, on 9 November 1799 and the following day, troops led by Bonaparte seized control. They dispersed the legislative councils, leaving a rump legislature to name Bonaparte, Sieyès, although Sieyès expected to dominate the new regime, the Consulate, he was outmaneuvered by Bonaparte, who drafted the Constitution of the Year VIII and secured his own election as First Consul. He thus became the most powerful person in France, a power that was increased by the Constitution of the Year X, the Battle of Marengo inaugurated the political idea that was to continue its development until Napoleons Moscow campaign. Napoleon planned only to keep the Duchy of Milan for France, setting aside Austria, the Peace of Amiens, which cost him control of Egypt, was a temporary truce. He gradually extended his authority in Italy by annexing the Piedmont and by acquiring Genoa, Parma, Tuscany and Naples, then he laid siege to the Roman state and initiated the Concordat of 1801 to control the material claims of the pope. Napoleon would have ruling elites from a fusion of the new bourgeoisie, on 12 May 1802, the French Tribunat voted unanimously, with exception of Carnot, in favour of the Life Consulship for the leader of France. This action was confirmed by the Corps Législatif, a general plebiscite followed thereafter resulting in 3,653,600 votes aye and 8,272 votes nay. On 2 August 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte was proclaimed Consul for life, pro-revolutionary sentiment swept through Germany aided by the Recess of 1803, which brought Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden to Frances side. The memories of imperial Rome were for a time, after Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. The Treaty of Pressburg, signed on 26 December 1805, did little other than create a more unified Germany to threaten France. On the other hand, Napoleons creation of the Kingdom of Italy, the occupation of Ancona, to create satellite states, Napoleon installed his relatives as rulers of many European states. The Bonapartes began to marry into old European monarchies, gaining sovereignty over many nations, in addition to the vassal titles, Napoleons closest relatives were also granted the title of French Prince and formed the Imperial House of France. Met with opposition, Napoleon would not tolerate any neutral power, Prussia had been offered the territory of Hanover to stay out of the Third Coalition. With the diplomatic situation changing, Napoleon offered Great Britain the province as part of a peace proposal and this, combined with growing tensions in Germany over French hegemony, Prussia responded by forming an alliance with Russia and sending troops into Bavaria on 1 October 1806. In this War of the Fourth Coalition, Napoleon destroyed the armies of Frederick William at Jena-Auerstedt, the Eylau and the Friedland against the Russians finally ruined Frederick the Greats formerly mighty kingdom, obliging Russia and Prussia to make peace with France at Tilsit. The Treaties of Tilsit ended the war between Russia and the French Empire and began an alliance between the two empires that held power of much of the rest of Europe, the two empires secretly agreed to aid each other in disputes
5.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
6.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
7.
Siege of Roses (1808)
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The Siege of Roses or Siege of Rosas from 7 November to 5 December 1808 saw an Imperial French corps led by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr invest a Catalan and Spanish garrison commanded by Peter ODaly. Roses is located 43 kilometres northeast of Girona, Spain, the action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. In the summer and fall of 1808, an Imperial French corps under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme was isolated in Barcelona by a 24, with 23,000 men, Gouvion Saint-Cyr moved from the French border to relieve Duhesmes troops. The first obstacle to Gouvion Saint-Cyrs mission was the haven of Rosas defended by a citadel with sea approaches defended by a headland castle. The 3,500 Catalan and Spanish defenders of Roses were mostly local miquelets stiffened by a unit of regulars from the Fija de Roses garrison. Gouvion Saint-Cyr still faced the problem of getting past Girona in order to succor Duhesmes soldiers, the French general made a bold but risky maneuver and the result was the Battle of Cardadeu on 16 December. Emperor Napoleon I plotted to replace the family of the Kingdom of Spain. Pursuant to his design, he ordered several key points, including Barcelona, on 29 February, General of Division Giuseppe Lechis Imperial French troops were marching through Barcelona, ostensibly to help fight Portugal. Lechi staged a review, but it was a cover for gaining control of the citadel. As the soldiers marched past the gate of the fortress, they suddenly turned left. Without spilling a drop of blood, the Imperial troops herded the baffled Spanish garrison out of the fortifications, among other key points, the French also grabbed San Sebastian, Pamplona and Figueras. On 2 May 1808, the infuriated Spanish people rose in rebellion against their French occupiers, a 12, 710-man Franco-Italian corps commanded by General of Division Guillaume Philibert Duhesme guarded Barcelona in June 1808. General of Division Joseph Chabrans 1st Division consisted of 6,050 soldiers in eight battalions, generals of Brigade Bertrand Bessières and François Xavier de Schwarz led 1,700 cavalrymen in nine squadrons, and there were 360 artillerists. The French authorities in Madrid confidently expected that Duhesmes corps would quickly stamp out the rebellion in Catalonia, the miquelets, the Catalan militia, turned out in large numbers to harass their enemies. In June, Schwarz and Chabran were beaten at the Battles of the Bruch, finally awakening to reality, Napoleon ordered General of Division Honoré Charles Reille and a division of reinforcements to Duhesmes assistance. The troops were of low quality and scattered throughout southern France, joined by more of his division, he next marched on the port of Roses. Reille commanded 4,000 men and two cannons, Roses was held by about 800 men of the Fija de Roses regiment and 400 miquelets, the Catalan militia, with 5,000 more miquelets under Colonel Juan Clarós in the nearby hills. The defenders were given a boost when the British warship HMS Montagu, under Captain Robert Otway, appeared off the port, Reille launched an attack on 11 July 1808, but his troops were driven off with 200 casualties
8.
Battle of Tudela
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The Battle of Tudela saw an Imperial French army led by Marshal Jean Lannes attack a Spanish army under General Castaños. The battle resulted in the victory of the Imperial forces over their adversaries. The combat occurred near Tudela in Navarre, Spain during the Peninsular War, Spanish casualties were estimated to be about 4,000 dead and 3,000 prisoners out of a total force of 33,000. The French and Poles lost no more than 600 dead and wounded out of a total of 30,000 and this is one of the battles whose name was engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The Dos de Mayo Uprising of 2 May 1808, followed by extensive uprisings throughout Spain, Blake was active in attacking the French but his offensive near Bilbao was defeated at Pancorbo on 31 October 1808. Napoleon’s strategy was to make an attack towards Burgos splitting off the army of Blake from the others. It was in his interest that the Spanish maintain their exposed advanced positions, the French armies facing them were therefore ordered not to attack. So from October to 21 November 1808, Marshal Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey’s III Corps remained static in front of Castaños’s army, the Spanish armies were however in a constant state of movement to no effect. For much of the time Castaños was ill leaving Palafox to direct operations, Palafox seems to have been indecisive on what course of action to take. The battlefield was the area between Tudela and the hills on the left. The Spanish front was deployed on the hills of Santa Barbara, Tudela, Torre Monreal, Santa Quiteria the top of Cabezoe Maya, and the villages of Urzante, Murchante, separating the Spanish and the French was the Queiles River, a tributary of the Ebro. The French advanced from the Cierzo hills that were in front of the Spanish lines towards the Spanish troops, on 21 November 1808 Castaños was around Calahorra on the Ebro between Logrono and Tudela. These movements threatened Castaños with entrapment between these two armies, to avoid this Castaños withdrew to Tudela. He decided to defend a line 17 kilometres long stretching west from Tudela along the Ebro, then along the Queiles River to Cascante and finally to Tarazona at the foot of the Moncayo Massif. Castaños had insufficient men to hold a line of this length so he asked General Juan ONeylle, as O’Neylle was under the command of Palafox he refused to move without an order from Palafox. This did not arrive until noon on 22 November 1808, O’Neylle moved promptly to the east bank of the Ebro opposite Tudela but decided not to cross the river until the next day. By nightfall on 22 November 1808 Castaños had almost 45,000 soldiers in the vicinity of Tudela, General Roca’s division was on the east bank of the Ebro plus the two divisions from Aragon of O’Neylle and Felipe Augusto de Saint-Marcq. Most of the fighting in the battle of Tudela would involve only the three divisions of Roca, O’Neylle, and Saint-Marcq – totaling about 23,000 infantry, for the French only the III Corps was involved in the Battle of Tudela
9.
Battle of Benavente
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The French chasseurs were broken and forced into the River Esla, their commanding officer, General Lefebvre-Desnouettes, was captured. The action was the first major incident in the British armys harrowing retreat to the coast, Sir John Moore led a British army into the heart of northwestern Spain with the aim of aiding the Spanish in their struggle against the French occupation. However, Napoleon had entered Spain at the head of an army in order to retrieve French fortunes. This, together with the fall of Madrid to the French, the British army had begun their retreat and were being pursued by the main French army led by Napoleon, the cavalry under Henry, Lord Paget were performing an effective screening role to cover them. On the 28th the British cavalry were acting as a rearguard posted on the River Esla, the French force consisted of three squadrons of the Chasseurs à cheval of the Imperial Guard, plus a number of Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard. The British forces were drawn from the brigades of John Slade, 10th Hussars, outlying pickets of the British cavalry were stationed along the western bank of the River Esla, which was swollen with rain. The French forced the outlying pickets of the British cavalry back onto the inlying picket commanded by Loftus Otway, Otway charged, despite heavy odds, but was driven back for 2 miles towards the town of Benavente. The French, though temporarily driven back, had numbers and forced the British hussars to retreat once more. Stewart knew he was drawing the French towards Paget and substantial numbers of British reserves, the French had gained the upper hand in the fight and were preparing to deliver a final charge when Lord Paget made a decisive intervention. He led the 10th Hussars, with squadrons of the 18th in support, Paget managed to conceal his squadrons from French view until he could fall on their left flank. The British swords, often dulled by their iron scabbards, were very sharp on this occasion, an eyewitness stated that he saw the arms of French troopers cut off cleanly like Berlin sausages. Other French soldiers were killed by blows to the head, blows which divided the head down to the chin, the French made a fighting withdrawal back to the river, though their squadrons were eventually broken and a running fight ensued. The chasseurs were forced into and across the river, those who were left on the bank were either cut down or made prisoner. As the chasseurs swam their horses across the river the British troopers fired on them with their carbines, the French cavalry re-formed on their side of the river and opened carbine fire on the British, though they were subsequently dispersed by the fire of British horse artillery. The retreat of the British army, however, continued, Napoleon had viewed the action from a height overlooking the river, his reactions were rather muted and he made light of the losses to, and humbling of, his Cherished Children. References Sources Marquess of Anglesey, F. S. A, one-Leg, The Life and Letters of Henry William Paget, First Marquess of Anglesey, KG, 1768–1854. – The Reprint Society, London,1961, galloping at Everything, The British Cavalry in the Peninsula and at Waterloo 1808-15, Spellmount, Staplehurst ISBN 1-86227-016-3. Corunna 1809, Sir John Moores Fighting Retreat Osprey Publishing
10.
Second Siege of Zaragoza
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The Second Siege of Zaragoza was the French capture of the Spanish city of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War. It was particularly noted for its brutality, as a part of the Dos de Mayo uprising the city had already successfully resisted a first siege from 15 June 1808 to 14 August 1808. This was one of the first times in history that an army was defeated by irregulars in street fighting. The Spanish at this point missed their best chance to defeat the French and they did not appoint a Supreme Commander, so all the armies continued to operate independently. The main armies consisted of those of General Blake on the north coast, General Castaños around Tudela, Blake was the most active, but he was defeated at Zornoza on 31 October 1808. Napoleons plan was to attack in strength towards Burgos in between the armies of Blake and Castaños, once they broke through they were to swing both north and south to envelope the remaining armies. In order to achieve this, Napoleon wanted the exposed Spanish armies to remain in their current advanced positions, to achieve this Marshal Monceys 3rd Corps opposite General Castaños remained inactive from late October to 21 November. The Spanish armies, however, moved constantly to no discernible effect, castanos was ill much of the time, leaving Palafox in command. He seemed reluctant to adopt a course of action. On 21 November 1808 the French 3rd Corps crossed the Ebro River at Logrono, Marshal Neys column reached the Upper Douro valley and headed for Tudela. These movements developed into the Battle of Tudela and this battle was a major victory for the French, but the armies of the Spanish generals were able to flee to Saragossa, escaping with the large majority of their war chests and cannons. The stage was now set for a second siege, considerable changes occurred in the defences of Saragossa after the first siege in June–August. In that siege, the city had few fortifications, except for the walls that could not withstand the French artillery bombardment. The defenders consisted of only a handful of troops and gunners. They had, however, been able to inflict casualties on the French at the barricades in the narrow winding streets. Since September 1808, Colonel San Genis had been working on a number of modern fortifications and these were overlooked by the city walls. To the west, a solid rampart had been built outside the city walls and this provided a central gun battery, as well as a ditch that was 14-metres deep. San Lazaro was fortified with a protected by waterways and the two convents on the north side of the Ebro River had been made into fortresses
11.
Battle of Corunna
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The Battle of Corunna took place on 16 January 1809, when a French corps under Marshal of the Empire Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult attacked a British army under Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore. The battle took place amidst the Peninsular War, which was a part of the wider Napoleonic Wars, doggedly pursued by the French under Soult, the British made a retreat across northern Spain while their rearguard fought off repeated French attacks. Both armies suffered extremely from the winter conditions. Much of the British army, excluding the elite Light Brigade under Robert Craufurd, suffered from a loss of order and discipline during the retreat. When the British eventually reached the port of Corunna on the northern coast of Galicia in Spain a few days ahead of the French they found their transport ships had not arrived. During the battle, Sir John Moore, the British commander, was mortally wounded, dying after hearing all the French attacks had been repulsed. In addition, Sir David Baird in command of an expedition of reinforcements out of Falmouth consisting of 150 transports carrying between 12,000 and 13,000 men, convoyed by H. M. S. Louie, Amelia and Champion, entered Corunna Harbour on the 13 October, by November 1808 the British army, led by Moore, advanced into Spain with orders to assist the Spanish armies in their struggle against the invading forces of Napoleon. 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, deeply disturbed by news of Sintra, the Emperor remarked, I see that everybody has lost their head since the infamous capitulation of Bailén. I realise that I must go there myself to get the machine working again, the French, all but masters of Spain in June, stood with their backs to the Pyrenees, clutching at Navarre and Catalonia. It was not known if even these two footholds could be maintained in the face of a Spanish attack, by October French strength in Spain, including garrisons, was about 75,000 soldiers. They were facing 86,000 Spanish troops with Spains 35,000 British allies en route, with the fall of the monarchy, constitutional power devolved to local juntas. The British army in Portugal, meanwhile, was immobilized by logistical problems and bogged down in administrative disputes. Months of inaction had passed at the front, the revolution having temporarily crippled Patriot Spain at the moment when decisive action could have changed the whole course of the war. Certainly not your wretched Spanish troops who do not know how to fight, I shall conquer Spain in two months and acquire the rights of a conqueror. Starting in October 1808 Napoleon led the French on a brilliant offensive involving a double envelopment of the Spanish lines. The attack began in November and has described as an avalanche of fire. The main army, under Moore, had advanced to Salamanca and were joined by Hopes detachment on 3 December when Moore received news that the Spanish forces had suffered several defeats and he considered that to avoid disaster he must give up and retreat back to Portugal
French Empire
Duchy of Warsaw
Spain
