First Siege of Zaragoza
The First Siege of Zaragoza was a bloody struggle in the Peninsular War. When the Dos de Mayo uprisings took place in Spain in 1808, Napoleon at first thought that they were a series of isolated uprisings, in North Eastern Spain Marshall Bessières assigned General Lefebvre-Desnouettes to quell the revolt in Aragon. Eventually his column included 5,000 infantry,1,000 cavalry, Lefebvre quickly discovered, that the revolt was much more widespread than had been believed. The Spanish side was led by General José de Palafox who was the son in an aristocratic Spanish family. He was appointed Captain-General of Aragon in late May and he successfully raised a force of 7,500 troops but was handicapped by the lack of experience of these troops with only about 300 experienced cavalry and a few gunners. Palafox made a few attempts to stop the French from even reaching Zaragoza and his elder brother the Marquis of Lazan attempted to stop them at Tudela on 8 June 1808 and again at Mallen on 13 June 1808. Palafax sent out a force of 6,000 but was defeated again at Alagon on 14 June 1808, finally the remaining Spanish forces retreated into Zaragoza.
Zaragoza itself was protected by two walls and two rivers – the Ebro river to the north-east and the Huerva to the south –. The strength of the city, was in its maze of strongly built defensible buildings with narrow lanes easy to block with barricades, Lefebvre reached Zaragoza on 15 June 1808. At this time he was outnumbered by the Spanish, who had around 11,000 troops although only half had experience of battle from the Alagon defeat. The next day Lefebvre assaulted the wall of the city expecting that the Spanish would collapse quickly. The French suffered around 700 casualties in this first assault, Palafox himself was not present on that day. He had left to raise troops in Upper Aragon to attack Lefebvres lines of communication. Palafox raised a force of 5,000 troops but these were defeated at Épila on the 23–24 June 1808. The French, received more substantial reinforcements with a force of 3,000 led by General Jean-Antoine Verdier arriving on 26 June 1808, as General Verdier was senior to Lefebvre he took over command of all the troops.
Further reinforcements continued to arrive including some siege artillery, on 28 June 1808 Verdier attacked Monte Terrero on the southern bank of the Huerva river. Monte Terrero was a hill dominated the south of Zaragoza. As a result the hill was captured with ease and the Spanish commander, Colonel Vincento Falco, was subsequently court-martialled, now that Monte Terrero was in his hands, Verdier was able to use it as a base for his siege artillery
Madrid
Madrid is the capital city of the Kingdom of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole. The city has a population of almost 3.2 million with an area population of approximately 6.5 million. It is the third-largest city in the European Union after London and Berlin, the municipality itself covers an area of 604.3 km2. Madrid lies on the River Manzanares in the centre of both the country and the Community of Madrid, this community is bordered by the communities of Castile and León. As the capital city of Spain, seat of government, and residence of the Spanish monarch, Madrid is the political, the current mayor is Manuela Carmena from Ahora Madrid. Madrid is home to two football clubs, Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid. Madrid is the 17th most liveable city in the according to Monocle magazine. Madrid organises fairs such as FITUR, ARCO, SIMO TCI, while Madrid possesses modern infrastructure, it has preserved the look and feel of many of its historic neighbourhoods and streets.
Cibeles Palace and Fountain have become one of the monument symbols of the city, the first documented reference of the city originates in Andalusan times as the Arabic مجريط Majrīṭ, which was retained in Medieval Spanish as Magerit. A wider number of theories have been formulated on possible earlier origins, according to legend, Madrid was founded by Ocno Bianor and was named Metragirta or Mantua Carpetana. The most ancient recorded name of the city Magerit comes from the name of a built on the Manzanares River in the 9th century AD. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the origin of the current name of the city comes from the 2nd century BC. The Roman Empire established a settlement on the banks of the Manzanares river, the name of this first village was Matrice. In the 8th century, the Islamic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula saw the changed to Mayrit, from the Arabic term ميرا Mayra. The modern Madrid evolved from the Mozarabic Matrit, which is still in the Madrilenian gentilic, after the disintegration of the Caliphate of Córdoba, Madrid was integrated in the Taifa of Toledo.
With the surrender of Toledo to Alfonso VI of León and Castile, the city was conquered by Christians in 1085, Christians replaced Muslims in the occupation of the centre of the city, while Muslims and Jews settled in the suburbs. The city was thriving and was given the title of Villa, since 1188, Madrid won the right to be a city with representation in the courts of Castile. In 1202, King Alfonso VIII of Castile gave Madrid its first charter to regulate the municipal council, which was expanded in 1222 by Ferdinand III of Castile
Bayonne
Bayonne is a city and commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. Archaeological studies have confirmed the presence of a Roman castrum, a stronghold in Novempopulania at the end of the 4th century before the city was populated by the Vascones. In 1023 Bayonne was the capital of Labourd and, in the 12th century, extended to, at that time the first bridge was built over the Adour. The city came under the domination of the English in 1152 through the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine, it became militarily and, above all and it was separated from the Viscount of Labourd in 1177 by Richard the Lion Heart. In 1451 the city was taken by the Crown of France after the Hundred Years War, the loss of trade with the English and the silting up of the river as well as the movement of the city towards the north weakened it. The district of Saint-Esprit developed anyway thanks to the arrival of a Jewish population fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, from this community Bayonne gained its reputation for chocolate.
The course of the Adour was changed in 1578 under the direction of Louis de Foix, in the 17th century the city was fortified by Vauban. In 1951 the Lacq gas field was discovered whose extracted sulphur, Bayonne was, in 2014, a commune with over 45,000 inhabitants, the heart of the urban area of Bayonne and of the Agglomeration Côte Basque-Adour which includes Anglet and Biarritz. It is an important part of the Basque Bayonne-San Sebastián Eurocity, modern industry—metallurgy and chemicals—are established to take advantage of procurement opportunities and sea shipments through the harbour. It is now mostly business services which today represent the largest source of employment, Bayonne is a cultural capital, a city with strong Basque and Gascon influences and a rich historical past. Its heritage lies in its architecture, the diversity of collections in museums, its gastronomic specialties, the inhabitants of the commune are known as Bayonnais or Bayonnaises. Bayonne is located in the south-west of France on the border between Basque Country and Gascony.
It developed at the confluence of the Adour and its tributary on the left bank, the commune was part of the Basque province of Labourd. Bayonne occupies a territory characterized by a relief to the west and to the north towards the Landes forest, tending to slightly raise towards the south. The city has developed at the confluence of the Adour and Nive 6 kilometres from the ocean, the meeting point of the two rivers coincides with a narrowing of the Adour valley. Downstream from this point the river has shaped a large bed in the dunes creating a significant bottleneck at the confluence. The occupation of the hill that dominates this narrowing of the valley developed through a gradual spread across the lowlands by building embankments, the drainage network of the western Pre-Pyrenees evolved mostly from the Quaternary from south-east to northwest oriented east-west. The Adour was captured by the gaves and this system, together with the Nive, led to the emergence of a new alignment of the lower Adour and this capture has been dated to the early Quaternary
Charles IV of Spain
Charles IV was King of Spain from 14 December 1788, until his abdication on 19 March 1808. Charles was the son of Charles III and his wife. He was born in Naples, while his father was King of Naples and his elder brother, Don Felipe, was passed over for both thrones, due to his learning disabilities and epilepsy. In Naples and Sicily, Charles was referred to as the Prince of Taranto and he was called El Cazador, due to his preference for sport and hunting, rather than dealing with affairs of the state. Charles was considered by many to have been amiable, but simple-minded, in 1788, Charles III died and Charles IV succeeded to the throne. He intended to maintain the policies of his father, and retained his prime minister, the Count of Floridablanca, in office. Even though he had a belief in the sanctity of his office. The affairs of government were left to his wife, Maria Luisa, in 1792, political and personal enemies ousted Floridablanca from office, replacing him with Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda.
Humboldts Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain was a key publication from his five-year travels, Godoy continued Arandas policy of neutrality towards France, but after Spain protested the execution of Louis XVI of France, the deposed king, in 1793, France declared war on Spain. After the declaration and Spain signed a treaty of protection against France. In 1795 France forced Godoy to enter into an alliance, Spain remained an ally of France and supported the Continental Blockade until the British naval victory at Trafalgar, when Spain became allied with Britain. However, after Napoleons victory over Prussia in 1807, Godoy again steered Spain back onto the French side and this switching of alliances devalued Charles position as a trustworthy ally, increasing Godoys unpopularity, and strengthening the fernandistas, who favoured an alliance with the United Kingdom. Economic troubles, rumours about a relationship between the Queen and Godoy, and the Kings ineptitude, caused the monarchy to decline in prestige among the population.
Anxious to take over from his father, and jealous of the prime minister, and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez, in 1808 forced the king to abdicate on 19 March, in favor of his son. Ferdinand took the throne as Ferdinand VII, but was mistrusted by Napoleon, the ousted King, having appealed to Napoleon for help in regaining his throne, was summoned before Napoleon in Bayonne, along with his son, in April 1808. Napoleon forced both Charles and his son to abdicate, declared the Bourbon dynasty of Spain deposed, and installed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, as King Joseph I of Spain. Following Napoleons deposing of the Bourbon dynasty, the ex-King, his wife, after the collapse of the regime installed by Napoleon, Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne. The former Charles IV drifted about Europe until 1812, when he settled in Rome
Barracks
A barrack or barracks is a building or group of buildings built to house soldiers. The word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes, the main object of barracks is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline and esprit de corps. They have been called discipline factories for soldiers, Early barracks such as those of the Roman Praetorian Guard were built to maintain elite forces. There are a number of remains of Roman army barracks in frontier forts such as Vercovicium, from these and from contemporary Roman sources we can see that the basics of life in a military camp have remained constant for thousands of years. Large, permanent barracks were developed in the 18th century by the two dominant states of the period, France the caserne and Spain the cuartel. The English term ‘barrack’, on the hand, derives from the Spanish word for a temporary shelter erected by soldiers on campaign. Early barracks were multi-story blocks, often grouped in a quadrangle around a courtyard or parade ground, a good example is Berwick Barracks, which was among the first in England to be purpose-built and begun in 1717 to the design of the distinguished architect Nicholas Hawksmoor.
The pavilion plan concept of design was influential in barrack planning after the Crimean War. The first large-scale training camps were built in the Kingdom of France, the British Army built Aldershot camps from 1854. By the First World War, infantry and cavalry regiments had separate barracks and these were inadequate for the enormous armies mobilized after 1914. Hut camps were developed using variations of the eponymous Nissen hut, in many military forces, NCOs and enlisted personnel will frequently be housed in barracks for service or training. Junior enlisted and sometimes junior NCOs will often receive less space and may be housed in bays, while senior NCOs, the term Garrison town is a common expression for any town that has military barracks, i. e. a permanent military presence nearby. Barracks blockhouses were used to house troops in forts in Upper Canada, the Stone Frigate, completed in 1820, served as barracks briefly in 1837–38, and was refitted as a dormitory and classrooms to house the Royal Military College of Canada by 1876.
The Stone frigate is a stone building originally designed to hold gear. The majority of the Portuguese Army bases is referred as a quartel, in a barracks, each of the dormitory buildings is referred as a caserna. Most of them are regimental barracks, constituting the fixed component of the Army system of forces and being responsible for the training, sustenance, in addition to the regimental administrative and training bodies, each barracks can lodge one or more operational units. Many of the Portuguese regimental barracks are of the CANIFA model, the CANIFA barracks were designed to lodge 1,000 or more soldiers. Nevertheless, some soldiers lodgings were built in Britain at this time, the first recorded use of the word barracks in this context was for the Irish Barracks, built in the precinct of the Tower of London in 1669
Declaration of war
A declaration of war is a formal act by which one state goes to war against another. The declaration is a speech act by an authorized party of a national government. The legality of who is competent to declare war varies between nations and forms of government, in many nations, that power is given to the head of state or sovereign. In other cases, something short of a declaration of war, such as a letter of marque or a covert operation. The official international protocol for declaring war was defined in the Hague Convention of 1907 on the Opening of Hostilities, in addition to this, non-state or terrorist organizations may claim to or be described as declaring war when engaging in violent acts. These declarations may have no standing in themselves, but they may still act as a call to arms for supporters of these organizations. A definition of the three ways of thinking about a declaration of war was developed by Saikrishna Prakash. He argues that a declaration of war can be seen from three perspectives, Categorical theory, under which the power to declare war includes the power to all decisions to enter war.
This means that the power to declare war in effect rests with the ability to engage in combat, pragmatic theory, which states that the power to declare war can be made unnecessary by an act of war in itself. Formalist theory, under which the power to declare war constitutes only a formal documentation of executive war-making decisions and this sits closest to traditional legal conceptions of what it is to declare a war. An absolute declaration of war declares war absolutely due to the failure of negotiations over the grievances and remedies found in the conditional declaration and it ends absolutely the state and condition of peace, replacing it with the state and condition of war until such time as peace is restored. Degree of justification of the war A reasoned declaration of war justifies the resort to war by stating the grievances that have made peace intolerable, an unreasoned declaration of war does not justify the resort to war, or does so only minimally. Degree of perfection with which the act was made A perfect declaration of war is a formal, solemn speech act made in accordance with the proper laws, rites.
An imperfect declaration of war is an informal, unsolemn speech act not made in accordance with the laws, rites. The practice of declaring war has a long history, the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh gives an account of it, as does the Old Testament. However, the practice of declaring war was not always strictly followed, the primary multilateral treaties governing such declarations are the Hague Conventions. The utility of formal declarations of war has always been questioned, the Hague Convention of 1907 called Convention Relative to the Opening of Hostilities gives the international actions a country should perform when opening hostilities. Neutral Powers, cannot rely on the absence of notification if it is established that they were in fact aware of the existence of a state of war
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was a French diplomat and nobleman, the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily, and King of Spain. After the fall of Napoleon, Joseph styled himself Comte de Survilliers, Joseph was born in 1768 to Carlo Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino at Corte, the capital of the Corsican Republic. In the year of his birth, Corsica was invaded by France and his father was originally a follower of the Corsican Patriot leader, Pasquale Paoli, but became a supporter of French rule. As a lawyer and diplomat, Joseph served in the Cinq-Cents and was the French ambassador to Rome, in 1795 Joseph was a member of the Council of Ancients, where he used his position to help his brother overthrow the Directory four years later. The Château de Villandry had been seized by the French Revolutionary government, in 1806, Joseph was given military command of Naples, and shortly afterward was made king by Napoleon, to be replaced two years by his sisters husband, Joachim Murat.
Joseph was made King of Spain in August 1808, soon after the French invasion, Joseph somewhat reluctantly left Naples, where he was popular, and arrived in Spain where he was extremely unpopular. His arrival sparked the legitimate Spanish revolt against French rule, Joseph temporarily retreated with much of the French Army to northern Spain. Joseph and his supporters never established complete control over the country, King Josephs Spanish supporters were called josefinos or afrancesados. During his reign, he ended the Spanish Inquisition, partly because Napoleon was at odds with Pope Pius VII at the time, during Josephs rule of Spain and Venezuela declared independence from Spain. King Joseph abdicated and returned to France after the main French forces were defeated by a British-led coalition at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. He was seen by Bonapartists as the rightful Emperor of the French after the death of Napoleons own son Napoleon II in 1832, Josephs home was located near the confluence of Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River.
He considerably expanded Sayres home and created extensive gardens in the picturesque style, when his first home was destroyed by fire in January 1820 he converted his stables into a second grand house. At Point Breeze, Joseph entertained many of the leading intellectuals, reputedly some Mexican revolutionaries offered to crown him Emperor of Mexico in 1820, but he declined. Joseph Bonaparte returned to Europe, where he died in Florence, Italy and he married Marie Julie Clary daughter of François Clary on 1 August 1794 in Cuges-les-Pins, France. They had three daughters, Julie Joséphine Bonaparte, zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte, married, in 1822 to Charles Lucien Bonaparte. Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte, married, in 1826 to Napoleon Louis Bonaparte and he claimed the two surviving daughters as his heirs. He sired two children with Maria Giulia, the Countess of Atri, Giulio Teresa, Joseph had two American daughters born at Point Breeze, his estate in Bordentown, New Jersey, by his mistress, Annette Savage, Pauline Anne, died young.
He was asked by his brother Napoleon to monitor freemasonry as Grand Master of the Grand Orient of France, with Cambacérès he managed the post-revolution rebirth of the Order in France
Ferdinand VII of Spain
Ferdinand VII was twice King of Spain, in 1808 and again from 1813 to his death. He was known to his supporters as the Desired and to his detractors as the Felon King and he reestablished the absolutist monarchy and rejected the liberal constitution of 1812. He suppressed the liberal press 1814-33 and jailed many of its editors and writers, under his rule, Spain lost nearly all of its American possessions, and the country entered into civil war on his death. His reputation among historians is very low, historian Stanley Payne says, He proved in many ways the basest king in Spanish history. Cowardly, grasping and vengeful, seemed almost incapable of any perception of the commonwealth and he thought only in terms of his power and security and was unmoved by the enormous sacrifices of Spanish people to retain their independence and preserve his throne. Ferdinand was ostensibly the eldest surviving child of Charles IV of Spain, Ferdinand was born in the palace of El Escorial near Madrid. The Queens confessor Fray Juan Almaraz wrote in his last will that she admitted in articulo mortis that none, none of her sons and daughters, none was of the legitimate marriage.
In his youth Ferdinand occupied the position of an heir apparent who was excluded from all share in government by his parents and their advisor and Prime Minister. National discontent with the government produced a rebellion in 1805, in October 1807, Ferdinand was arrested for his complicity in the El Escorial Conspiracy in which the rebels aimed at securing foreign support from the French Emperor Napoleon. When the conspiracy was discovered, Ferdinand submitted to his parents, following a popular riot at Aranjuez Charles IV abdicated in March 1808. Ferdinand ascended the throne and turned to Napoleon for support and he abdicated on 6 May 1808. Napoleon kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the Chateau of Valençay, while the upper echelons of the Spanish government accepted his abdication and Napoleons choice of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, the Spanish people did not. Uprisings broke out throughout the country, marking the beginning of the Peninsular War, provincial juntas were established to control regions in opposition to the new French king.
After the Battle of Bailén proved that the Spanish could resist the French, on 24 August, Ferdinand VII was proclaimed king of Spain again, and negotiations between the Council and the provincial juntas for the establishment of a Supreme Central Junta were completed. Subsequently, on 14 January 1809, the British government acknowledged Ferdinand VII as king of Spain, the Spanish people, blaming the policies of the Francophiles for causing the Napoleonic occupation and the Peninsular War by allying Spain too closely to France, at first welcomed Fernando. Ferdinand soon found that in the years a new world had been born of foreign invasion. In his name Spain fought for its independence and in his name as well juntas had governed Spanish America, Spain was no longer the absolute monarchy he had relinquished six years earlier. Instead he was now asked to rule under the liberal Constitution of 1812, before being allowed to enter Spanish soil, Ferdinand had to guarantee the liberals that he would govern on the basis of the Constitution, only gave lukewarm indications he would do so
Napoleon
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, marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France 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 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, 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 at the age of 51
Spain
French Empire
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