Napoleon Part 2 session ii Spain

NapoleonPART TWO

session iiSpain

Thursday, September 8, 11

NapoleonPART TWO

session iiSpain


It was the Spanish ulcerwhich ruined me.

--Napoleonon St. Helena


major topics for this session

I. 2 de Mayo

II. Portugal

III. The Revolt Spreads

IV. The Empire Strikes Back

V. Moore’s Retreat



I. 2 de Mayo


I. 2 de Mayo

The death of Pedro Velarde y Santillán during the Defensa del Parque de Artillería de Monteleón ("Defence of the Monteleon Artillery Barracks") by Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Velarde_y_Santill%C3%A1n

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Velarde_y_Santill%C3%A1n

"Nothing like this universal uprising of a numerous, ancient race and nation, all animated by one thought, had been seen before...For the first time the forces unchained by the French Revolution, which Napoleon had disciplined and directed, met not kings or Old World hierarchies, but a whole population inspired by the religion and patriotism which...Spain was to teach to Europe."

Winston Churchill


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution




Don Manuel Francisco Domingo de Godoy (di Bassano) y Álvarez de Faria, de los Ríos y Sánchez-Zarzosa,

also Manuel de Godoy y Álvarez de Faria de los Ríos Sánchez Zarzosa

1767 – 1851


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_(honorific)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_(honorific)

Godoy--the power behind the throne✦ two years older than Napoleon, born to noble but

impoverished family, he began in the royal guard

✦ “Young, virile, handsome, shrewd and ambitious, he soon became the royal favorite, and, as prime minister, the virtual ruler of Spain

✦ “Napoleon...had cosseted Godoy to increasingly suck troops, ships and money from this kingdom

✦ “Spain had been subordinated to French policy off and on since...1795, the treaty that brought peace with France and earned...Godoy, the lover of [the Spanish queen], the title of Principe de la Paz

✦ 1801-”Godoy allied Spain with France in the brief conquest of Portugal ( the Treaty of Amiens restored its independence)

✦ 1804-”another alliance cost Spain most of its fleet, sunk at Trafalgar, another major blow to its diminishing influence in South America”--Asprey, pp. 93 & 95

Prime Minister of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to

1808


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Minister

La Familia de Carlos IVFrancisco de Goya, 1800-1801


La Familia de Carlos IVFrancisco de Goya, 1800-1801

CrownPrince

Ferdinand

CarlotaJoaquina

Princess of Brazil

InfanteFranciscode Paula


Théophile Gautier described the figures [in Goya’s painting] as looking like "the corner baker and his wife after they won the lottery".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9ophile_Gautier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9ophile_Gautier

Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno Jose

Januario Serafin Diego1748 – 1819

King of Spain from 1788 until his abdication on 19 March 1808.

While he was considered by many to be intellectually

sluggish and quite credulous he was also known for his acts of

kindness.The affairs of government he left to

his wife and his prime minister.King Charles IV


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_monarchs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Spanish_monarchs

Maria Luisa of Parma 1751 - 1819

Queen consort of Spain from 1788 to 1808 as the wife of King Charles IV of Spain.

She was often described by contemporaries as an ugly (however, pretty in her youth),

vicious, and coarse woman who thoroughly dominated the king.

Her beauty was damaged by her many childbirths - among other things, she lost her

teeth - but she made many efforts to look pretty and dress elegantly.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV_of_Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IV_of_Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childbirth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childbirth

Fernando (Ferdinand) María Francisco de Paula Domingo Vicente Ferrer Antonio José Joaquin Pascual Diego Juan

Nepomuceno Januario Francisco Francisco Javier Rafael Miguel

Gabriel Calixto Cayetano Fausto Luís Ramón Gregorio Lorenzo

GeronimoIn his youth he occupied the painful position of an heir apparent who was jealously excluded from all share in

government by his parents and the royal favorite Manuel de Godoy. National discontent with a feeble

government produced a revolution in 1805. In October 1807, Ferdinand was arrested for his complicity in the Conspiracy of the Escorial in which liberal reformers aimed at securing the help of the emperor Napoleon.

When the conspiracy was discovered, Ferdinand betrayed his associates and groveled to his parents.

by Goya, about 1814


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Godoy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_de_Godoy

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conspiracy_of_the_Escorial&action=edit&redlink=1

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Conspiracy_of_the_Escorial&action=edit&redlink=1

Motín de Aranjuez (Mutiny of Aranjuez)

✦ Godoy had become highly unpopular with both nobles and peasants. The nobles because of his power, the peasants because of his pro-French policy

✦ 1805-the economic crisis after Trafalgar had destroyed trade with the Latin American colonies: there were food shortages and manufacturing suffered

✦ the king and Godoy had permitted Napoleon’s troops to cross Spain in order to attack Portugal, which wouldn’t adhere to the embargo on Britain

✦ this was extremely unpopular with the Spanish people, who saw the entry as an invasion, which it would soon become

✦ 17 March 1808-soldiers, workers and peasants in Aranjuez, where the court was installed, assaulted Godoy’s residence, made him prisoner and forced the king to dismiss him

✦ 19 March-they forced Charles to abdicate in favor of his son Ferdinand


One important reason for Napoleon’s seizure of Spain in 1808 was his discovery two years previously that the Spanish government (then his ally) had been prepared to stab him in the back if his Prussian campaign got into difficulties.

Elting, Swords Around A Throne, p. 514


Napoleon, reluctant kingmaker✦ winter 1807-08--previously, Napoleon had sent his troops into Spain that fall

to pressure Portugal. Now with the British Orders in Council and the Milan Decree, he became even more aggressive about enforcing the Continental System

✦ February--dissension in the Spanish court came to a head. Godoy seemed like a liability, the king and queen were even more unpopular, 24-year-old Ferdinand, “a lightweight at best, surrounded by a coterie of nobles in English pay”

✦ “Napoleon would play both sides, offering one of Lucien’s daughters to Ferdinand, while making sure that the king, queen and treasury didn’t debunk to the New World”--Asprey

✦ 19 March-as Bonaparte arrived in Bayonne, near the Spanish border, the better to supervise matters, he learned of the mutiny of Aranjuez

✦ he had already sent Murat with more troops to Madrid, still hoping to sort things out peaceably, but this was looking less and less likely


The mob had forced King Charles to abdicate in favor of Ferdinand, which was the situation when Murat’s advance guard reached Madrid. Following orders Murat did not recognize Ferdinand as king. He placed the deposed monarch and his queen under French protection…. Murat’s army was to remain in Madrid to keep the peace while ambassador Beauharnais met with the principals to settle “this affair.” This was not going to be easy since King Charles had meanwhile accused his son of forcing him to abdicate by threat of death and had reclaimed the crown--a crown respected by the French emperor.

Asprey, p. 101

In order to personally resolve the dispute, Bonaparte summoned both to Bayonne. They accepted this “invitation,” in late April. It was Murat’s effort to send also the youngest son of King Charles to Bayonne which would begin the bloodshed between France and Spain.


Dos de Mayo✦ as a mob gathered on the palace grounds to prevent the removal of the Infante

(Prince)Francisco, Murat sent in the grenadiers of the Imperial Guard

✦ fighting spread to other quarters of the city but the disciplined French troops had little trouble gaining the upper hand









✦ most Spanish troops stayed in their barracks, as ordered

✦ but two artillery officers led their men out and became heroes of the rebellion













✦ their effort was quickly put down by the superior French numbers

✦ 3 May-Murat imposed martial law and began executions of those taken under arms

✦ February 1814- after the final expulsion of the French, Goya approached the provisional government with a request to "perpetuate by means of his brush the most notable and heroic actions of our glorious insurrection against the Tyrant of Europe". The result, his famous painting, 3 de Mayo







✦ their effort was quickly put down by the superior French numbers

✦ 3 May-Murat imposed martial law and began executions of those taken under arms

✦ February 1814- after the final expulsion of the French, Goya approached the provisional government with a request to "perpetuate by means of his brush the most notable and heroic actions of our glorious insurrection against the Tyrant of Europe". The result, his famous painting, 3 de Mayo


On 2 May, [Madrid] revolted against [Murat’s] rule, but was quickly and harshly put down. Napoleon thereupon ordered King and Prince to abdicate [on 5 May], directing Murat to reorganize the Spanish government and demobilize the Spanish Army[ cf. demobilizing the Iraqi Army, May 2003]. Surprisingly, the country remained calm for almost a month. The national Junta (legislative body[perhaps council, better]) submissively requested [as they had been told to do] that the French Emperor’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte, become King of Spain. Then--between 20 May and 5 June--Murat fell gravely ill, and an enthusiastically bloody revolt exploded all across Spain.

Esposito and Elting, “Intro to the Campaign in Spain,” following MAP 83


II. Portugal


II. Portugal

Embarque do príncipe regente de Portugal, Dom João, e toda família real para o Brasil


http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_VI_de_Portugal

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo%C3%A3o_VI_de_Portugal

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Brasil

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Brasil

John VI of PortugalJoão Maria José Francisco Xavier de Paula Luís António Domingos

Rafael de Bragança1767 – 1826

In 1799 John assumed the reins of government as prince regent in the name of his widowed mother, who had declined into mental illness. He retained this position until his mother's death in 1816. John had been brought up in an ecclesiastical atmosphere and, being naturally of a somewhat weak and helpless character, was ill adapted for the responsibilities he was called on to undertake. His wife, Charlotte of Spain, dominated him


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_regent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_regent

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Spain

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_of_Spain

Carlota of SpainQueen Consort of Portugal

Carlota Joaquina Teresa Caetana1775 – 1830

John, her husband, was good-natured, indolent, corpulent and almost as ugly as was she. His religious observances bored her and they were quite incompatible. Nevertheless they produced nine children and, because they were all handsome, it was rumored that especially the younger ones had a different father. After the birth of the ninth child they began to live separate lives, she at Queluz. Here it was rumored that she had bought a retreat where she indulged in sexual orgies.


Portugal attempted to evade Napoleon’s demands [that she enter the Continental System] through drawn-out negotiations. Irritated, Napoleon proposed a joint Franco-Spanish invasion of Portugal, which was to be divided into three Spanish satellite states. Junot was dispatched on this mission on 19 October 1807 with approximately 23,000 men. But the promised Spanish reinforcements and supplies did not materialize; his maps proved faulty; and his conscripts collapsed under foul weather, worse roads and hunger. On 23 November, he entered Portugal with fewer than 6,000 men. Undaunted, he took the best 1,500 of them and pushed straight on Lisbon, stampeding the government into a panicky flight to Brazil. During early December, the rest of his army closed up and some Spanish troops appeared, enabling him to occupy the entire country.

Esposito and Elting, “Intro to the Campaign in Spain,” following MAP 83


Treaty of Fontainebleau

✦ 27 October 1807-Spain’s Godoy had signed this secret treaty with France dividing Portugal into three kingdoms

✦ Portugal had long been an ally of Britain and her seaports were a glaring affront to the Continental System

✦ with the promise of some or all of the Portuguese territory, Godoy had agreed to French military passage through Spain and to add two Spanish divisions to the attack

✦ Bonaparte sent Junot as the main force with General Dupont towards Cadiz and Marshal Soult towards Coruña (Corunna)

Corunna

Cadiz-->

Lisbon


The escape on November 29 of Maria I of Portugal and Prince Regent John, together with the administration and the Court (around 10,000 people and 9,000 sailors aboard 23 Portuguese war ships and 31 merchant ships) was a major setback for Napoleon and enabled the Prince Regent to continue to rule over his overseas possessions, including Brazil. The Portuguese Royal Family established itself at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for the next 13 years.

Wikipedia, Peninsular War


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_the_Portuguese_Court_to_Brazil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfer_of_the_Portuguese_Court_to_Brazil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_I_of_Portugal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_I_of_Portugal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro

! In Portugal the situation was...bad. Once the Spanish insurrection had begun [June 1808], Junot was completely isolated

! Some of his Spanish auxiliaries returned to Spain; the others had to be disarmed

! Thus left shorthanded, Junot retained only a loose control over the area between the Douro and Sado rivers

! The Portuguese were scattered whenever they attempted large-scale insurrections, but most of Junot’s army was soon tied up in mobile columns and small garrisons

Esposito and Elting, opposite MAP 86


A British Challenge✦ 12 July 1808- Sir Arthur Wellesley sailed from Ireland with

9,000 men

✦ 1-5 August-14,000 men under his command landed at Mondego Bay where the Portuguese rebels had seized local control

✦ Wellesley then advanced south along the coast, maintaining contact with his supporting fleet. Approximately 2,000 Portuguese accompanied him



9,000 men





9,000 men



✦ Caught with his troops widely dispersed, Junot could only send Delaborde (approximately 5,000) to delay him, while he concentrated



9,000 men




✦ 15 August-Delaborde carried out his mission expertly; at Rolica he gave Wellesley one of the hardest fights of the latter’s career



9,000 men







9,000 men





✦ 19 August-Wellesley halted at Vimiero to cover the landing of 5,000 reinforcements from England



9,000 men





✦ 19 August-Wellesley halted at Vimiero to cover the landing of 5,000 reinforcements from England

✦ 21 August-here Junot (13,000) found him in a strong but dangerously cramped position

Ibid.


n The battle began as a battle of manoeuvre, with French troops attempting to outflank the British left, but Wellesley was able to redeploy his army to face the assault

n Meanwhile, Junot sent in two central columns but these were forced back by sustained volleys from troops in line

n Soon afterwards, the flanking attack was beaten off and Junot retreated towards Torres Vedras having lost 2,000 men and 13 cannon, compared to 700 Anglo-Portuguese losses

n No pursuit was attempted because Wellesley was superseded by Sir Harry Burrard and then Sir Hew Dalrymple (one having arrived during the battle, the second soon after)

n After the comprehensive French defeat, Junot was willing to offer complete capitulation. Nevertheless Dalrymple gave the French far more generous terms than they could have hoped for. By the Convention of Sintra, the defeated army was transported back to France by the British navy, complete with its guns and equipment and the loot it had taken from Portugal

The Convention of Sintra caused a massive outcry in Britain and, following an official enquiry, both Dalrymple and Burrard were blamed. Wellesley, who had opposed the agreement, was exonerated


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_Vedras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torres_Vedras

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Burrard,_1st_Baronet,_of_Lymington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Burrard,_1st_Baronet,_of_Lymington

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Hew_Whiteford_Dalrymple,_1st_Baronet




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Sintra






! 1769-born (3 months before Napoleon) in Dublin to the Earl of Mornington, a prominent member of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy

! after Eton (1781-84), he attended the Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, France where he became an excellent horseman and learned French

! 1787-ensign in 73rd Regiment of Foot (infantry)

! 1793-fought with the Duke of York in the ill-fated Flanders expedition, became a Colonel

! 1797-1804--to India where he gained great distinction in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore and the Second Anglo-Maratha Wars

! after gaining valuable experience, a KG and a considerable fortune, he returned to England and married at age 35

! 1807- fought as a Lieutenant General in the second battle of Copenhagen

Wellesley in his major-general's uniform in India, 1804

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

KG, KP, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS*

1769 – 1852

* Knight of the Garter, Order of St Patrick, Order of the BathRoyal Guelphic Order, Privy Council, Royal Society


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_St_Patrick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_St_Patrick

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Guelphic_Order

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Guelphic_Order

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Council_of_the_United_Kingdom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society




Agustina Zaragoza, heróica defensora de la ciudad de Zaragoza


BAYONNE

C A T A L O N I

A

Land communication with France in the early nineteenth century was limited virtually to the highways at either end of the Pyrenees. Since the eastern roads led only into the blind alley of Catalonia, Bayonne became the principal French base.


Spain and Portugal form a high plateau, seamed by mountain chains and deep-cut rivers.


Spain and Portugal form a high plateau, seamed by mountain chains and deep-cut rivers. Land communication with France in the early nineteenth century was limited virtually to the highways at either end of the Pyrenees. Since the eastern roads led only into the blind alley of Catalonia, Bayonne became the principal French base. In Spain, the major highway ran directly from Vitoria to Burgos to Madrid.



BAYONNE

C A T A L O N I

A

MADRID

BURGOS

VITORIA

LINE OF COMMUNICATION(LOC)


Spain and Portugal form a high plateau, seamed by mountain chains and deep-cut rivers. Land communication with France in the early nineteenth century was limited virtually to the highways at either end of the Pyrenees. Since the eastern roads led only into the blind alley of Catalonia, Bayonne became the principal French base. In Spain, the major highway ran directly from Vitoria to Burgos to Madrid. From Madrid, neglected roads radiated to other major cities. The limited road net and the rough terrain made possession of certain fortified road centers essential. San Sebastian and Pampeluna commanded the Bayonne-Vitoria highway; Figueras and Gerona, the highway from Perpignan. Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo barred the major passes into Portugal



BAYONNE

C A T A L O N I

A

MADRID

BURGOS

VITORIA

LINE OF COMMUNICATION(LOC)

SAN SEBASTIAN

PAMPELUNA

GERONA

FIGUERAS

PERPIGNAN

BARCELONA

VALENCIA

CIUDADRODRIGO

BADAJOZ

SEVILLE

CORDOVA BAYLEN

TOLEDO

ARANJUEZ

SARAGOSSA

LEON

CADIZ

CORUÑA

CORUÑA

LISBON


The limited road net and the rough terrain made possession of certain fortified road centers essential. San Sebastian and Pampeluna commanded the Bayonne-Vitoria highway; Figueras and Gerona, the highway from Perpignan. Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo barred the major passes into Portugal. Except for the provinces of Andalusia and Catalonia, most of Spain produced barely enough to keep a thinly spread population alive. Wood and water were scarce, disease-carrying insects plentiful. During the hot summer, extensive operations were extremely difficult…. Working from faulty maps, Napoleon did not realize that much of Spain is vertical...”



PyreneesCantabrians

Cantabrians

Sierra de Guadarrama

Sierra Morena

Sierra Nevada


The French Army crossing the Sierra Guadarrama, 22-24 September 1808














Cantabrians

Ebro R

Guadiana R

Douro R

Tagus R

Guadalquivir R


The limited road net and the rough terrain made possession of certain fortified road centers essential. San Sebastian and Pampeluna commanded the Bayonne-Vitoria highway; Figueras and Gerona, the highway from Perpignan. Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo barred the major passes into Portugal. Except for the provinces of Andalusia and Catalonia, most of Spain produced barely enough to keep a thinly spread population alive. Wood and water were scarce, disease-carrying insects plentiful. During the hot summer, extensive operations were extremely difficult. Spanish resistance developed sporadically, beginning in the outlying provinces and gathering in scattered elements of the partially disbanded Spanish Army. Napoleon’s orders to Murat had been based on their Egyptian experience: Leave no small garrisons or detachments; hold the capital in strength; handle any revolts by sending out strong mobile columns to “make examples.”



The Spanish Joan of Arc

✦ June 1808-Zaragoza (Saragossa) was one of the last cities of northern Spain which had not fallen to the French, therefore, by the time of the siege, it was choked with a vast number of refugees

✦ a tiny provincial force under José de Palafox defended the city

Agustina Raimunda María Saragossa Doménech, or Agustina de Aragón

1786 – 1857





✦ 15 June-the French stormed the Portillo, an ancient gateway defended by a volunteer unit with a hodgepodge battery of old cannons

✦ 22-year-old Augustina, arrived on the ramparts with a basket of apples to feed the gunners. She saw the defenders break under the attack and abandon the walls

✦ she ran to a gun and touched it off flaying the attackers with cannister at point blank range

✦ shamed by her example, others returned and the attack was repelled


1786 – 1857





✦ 15 June-the French stormed the Portillo, an ancient gateway defended by a volunteer unit with a hodgepodge battery of old cannons

✦ 22-year-old Augustina, arrived on the ramparts with a basket of apples to feed the gunners. She saw the defenders break under the attack and abandon the walls

✦ she ran to a gun and touched it off flaying the attackers with cannister at point blank range

✦ shamed by her example, others returned and the attack was repelled


1786 – 1857

(What Valor!)


Spanish resistance developed sporadically, beginning in the outlying provinces and gathering in scattered elements of the partially disbanded Spanish Army. Napoleon’s orders to Murat had been based on their Egyptian experience: Leave no small garrisons or detachments; hold the capital in strength; handle any revolts by sending out strong mobile columns to “make examples.” On Joseph’s arrival, Napoleon briefed him carefully: he must concentrate his forces around Madrid and strike the Spanish armies in succession as they advanced, meanwhile maintaining his communications with France. This would demand coolness, patience and calculation (qualities Joseph had not shown in Naples), but would give Joseph the prestige necessary for a new king. Napoleon then left for Paris: Austria was rearming, and a strong expeditionary force had sailed from England.



El Rey Jose Iy los

AfrancesadosJoseph Bonaparte in his coronation robes, looking every inch the king,

which he was not.Those Spanish who supported him

were called Afrancesados (Frenchified)


CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN 1808-09

Situation About 16 June 1808,andMovements of French Prior to September

SCALE OF MILES

10 10 900

NOTE: 1 Savary relieved Murat on 29 June 2 This map shows only those Spanish forces actually engaged with the French. Total forces were much larger, most of that country and much of Portugal being in grip of mass revolt

BAYLENCORDOVA


CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN 1808-09

Situation About 16 June 1808,andMovements of French Prior to September

SCALE OF MILES

10 10 900

NOTE: 1 Savary relieved Murat on 29 June 2 This map shows only those Spanish forces actually engaged with the French. Total forces were much larger, most of that country and much of Portugal being in grip of mass revolt

BAYLENCORDOVA


BAYLENCORDOVA

Dupont’s Disastrous Expedition“Dupont’s operations during 19 June-23 July 1808 are an outstanding “horrible” example for any commander

faced by a popular insurrection.”--Esposito & Elting, opposite MAP 85

✦ 24 May-Dupont (13,000) left Toledo for Cadiz

✦ 7 June-he routed a Spanish army at Alcolea and stormed and pillaged Cordova

✦ learning that his communications with Madrid were cut (detachments and sick he had left enroute were brutally butchered) and that the small French fleet at Cadiz had been forced to surrender, he retired (16-19 June) to Andujar

✦ ordered by Savary to exercise caution, Dupont clung inertly to the unhealthy Andujar area, except for two raids on Jaen to seize food

✦ hunger and dysentery steadily weakened his men

✦ Vedel remained at Baylen,which commanded the southern end of the Sierra Morena passes

JAEN

ANDUJAR


BAYLENCORDOVA



✦ Vedel remained at Baylen,which commanded the southern end of the Sierra Morena passes

✦ 7 July-Gobert halted north of Baylen, after leaving garrisons along the road from Madrid

✦ Dupont, however, ordered half of Gobert’s remaining troops to Andujar

✦ early July-receiving reports of an impending Spanish offensive, he warned his subordinates to be alert, but took no further action

✦ 8-11 July-Castanos completed his concentration, divided his army into five columns

✦ 15 July-he and Reding attacked the French

✦ the Spanish offensive went badly but Dupont remained passively in Andujar

JAEN

ANDUJAR


BAYLENCORDOVA



✦ the Spanish offensive went badly but Dupont remained passively in Andujar, while Castanos and Reding continued to attack

✦ 18 July-Reding occupied Baylen which was lightly defended

✦ Dupont, warned that Baylen was in enemy hands, at last decided to retreat

✦ hoping to avoid detection, he postponed this movement until 1800, and did not destroy the Andujar bridge

✦ his column was split by a wagon train carrying some 1,200 sick; more than half of his approximately 9,700 serviceable men marched in rear of these wagons

✦ the march was hot, dusty, slow and exhausting

JAEN

ANDUJAR


Reaching Baylen at about 0300, Dupont made a series of blundering, piecemeal attacks as his troops came up, failing either to maneuver or to exploit the success of his cavalry. At the crisis of the battle, his Spanish-Swiss brigade deserted, and Castanos’ leading elements struck his rear. By 1300, casualties, desertion, and exhaustion had left barely 3,000 Frenchmen still fighting. Wounded and sick, Dupont asked Reding for a truce, to permit negotiations with Castanos (then still at Andujar). Even though he could hear fighting around Baylen, Vedel had strolled slowly southward. About 1700 he stumbled over Reding’s rear guard and-- suddenly effective--quickly smashed it. Reding protested indignantly to Dupont; Dupont ordered Vedel to cease hostilities. Early on 20 July, Dupont held a council of war which decided that his own command, trapped without food or water, could only capitulate…. Castanos...demanded that Vedel and Dufour be included in the capitulation. His spirit broken, Dupont agreed, provided (the exact terms are still disputed) that their troops would be sent back to France by sea.



However, during the preceding night, Dupont momentarily had recovered enough of his once famous courage to warn Vedel to withdraw, and Vedel had already reached the foothills of the Sierra Morena, where he was practically safe from pursuit. Furious, Castanos threatened to massacre Dupont’s encircled men unless Vedel was recalled. Dupont recalled him, and Vedel had the moral cowardice to obey the order Dupont had the physical cowardice to give. Furthermore, Castanos exacted the surrender of Dufour and the garrisons Gobert had left north of the Sierra Morena, far beyond his reach. Only the commander at Madridejos had the fortitude to refuse and withdraw to Madrid. In all, some 17,635 Frenchmen surrendered. The shock went through Europe. The Spaniards immediately violated the terms of the capitulation. The whole force (except for most of the general officers, who abandoned their men and returned to France on parole), was imprisoned, first on hulks in Cadiz harbor, later on Cabrera. Only some 2,500 managed to survive.



“This is inconceivable,” [Napoleon] wrote Joseph, but scarcely crucial…. However, the gory details arrived two days later….”Never since the world existed has there been anything so stupid, so inept, so cowardly,” Napoleon explosively wrote….”One sees from General Dupont’s report exactly what happened.” How could Dupont have done this to him? Dupont whose troops nearly ten years earlier had saved the day of 19 Brumaire at St. Cloud. This “horrible catastrophe” which exposed Madrid to attack from the south caused a panic-stricken Joseph to evacuate the government after only nine days in the capital and, deserted by most of his Spanish ministers and advisors [the Afrancesados], to fall back with his troops to a line of the Douro River….General Verdier was forced to raise the siege of Zaragoza. General Duhesme’s troops perforce retired into Barcelona fortresses, thus yielding all of Catalonia to rebel movements. The psychological results were incalculable both in Spain and throughout Europe.

Asprey, pp. 114-115



The Spanish social fabric, shaken by the shock of rebellion, gave way to its crippling social and political tensions; the patriots stood divided on every question and their nascent war effort suffered accordingly. With the fall of the monarchy, constitutional power devolved to local juntas. These institutions interfered with the army and the business of war, undermined the tentative central government taking shape in Madrid, and in some cases proved almost as dangerous to each other as to the French. The British army in Portugal, meanwhile, was itself immobilized by logistical problems and bogged down in administrative disputes, and did not budge.Consequently, months of inaction passed at the front, the revolution having "temporarily crippled Patriot Spain at the very moment when decisive action could have changed the whole course of the war." While the allies inched forward, a vast consolidation of bodies and bayonets from the far reaches of the French Empire brought 100,000 veterans of the Grande Armée into Spain, led in person by Napoleon and his Marshals. With his Armée d'Espagne of 278,670 men drawn up on the Ebro, facing a scant 80,000 raw, disorganized Spanish troops, the Emperor announced to the Spanish deputies:

Napoleon led the French on a brilliant offensive involving a massive double envelopment of the Spanish lines. The attack began in November and has been described as "an avalanche of fire and steel."

I am here with the soldiers who conquered at Austerlitz, at Jena, at Eylau. Who can withstand them? 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.

Wikipedia, “Peninsular War”


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junta_(Peninsular_War)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junta_(Peninsular_War)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logistics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bitwa_pod_Tudela.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bitwa_pod_Tudela.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arm%C3%A9e

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Arm%C3%A9e

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshal_of_France

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_envelopment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_envelopment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jena

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jena

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Eylau

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Eylau




Accepting the surrenderof Madrid

by Antoine-Jean Gros, 1810


“I leave in a few days to take command of my army and, with God’s help, to crown the king of

Spain in Madrid and plant my eagles on the forts of Lisbon.”

--Napoleonannual “discourse” at the opening of the legislature

Paris27 October 1808


Napoleon’s hat on a battlefield is worth 40,000 men.

the Duke of Wellington


It is unlikely that [Napoleon] had any inkling that the war he was starting with such confident determination would become a six-year ulcer, draining his reserves and humiliating his marshals, nor that it would be remembered as much for its guerrilla atrocities--slit throats, convoys wiped out from ambush, villages massacred and stragglers tortured to death--as for its conventional battles.

Ronald Pawly, Napoleon’s Polish Lancers of the Imperial Guard, p. 16


The Battle of Somosierra 30 November 1808

At the Somosierra mountain pass, 60 miles north of Madrid, a heavily outnumbered Spanish detachment of conscripts and artillery under Benito de San Juan aimed to block Napoleon's advance on the Spanish capital. Napoleon overwhelmed the Spanish positions in a combined arms attack, charging the Polish Chevau-légers [light cavalry] of the Imperial Guard at the Spanish guns while French infantry advanced up the slopes. The victory removed the last obstacle barring the road to Madrid, which fell several days later.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pass

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artillery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_de_San_Juan




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_arms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_arms

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhlan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhlan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevau-l%C3%A9gers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevau-l%C3%A9gers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Guard_(Napoleon_I)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Guard_(Napoleon_I)




The painting made, and shown at the Paris salon, by Baron Lejeune, ADC to Marshal Berthier and a well known artist. As always, Lejeune’s painting is a montage...but it does

give a genuine eyewitness version

“Impossible! I do not know the word!” --Napoleon







“Where are our boys?”

“All killed, sir!”



1. Restore the LOC2. Recapture Madrid


Saragossa--the aftermath✦ 20 December 1808-with reinforcements, the French

renewed the siege of Saragossa

✦ 27 January 1809-when the walls were breeched the citizens refused to surrender. Instead, some of the most brutal street fighting of the Napoleonic wars followed

Assault on the walls of Saragossa by January Suchodolski, 1845. (National Museum in Warsaw)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Suchodolski


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_in_Warsaw





Assault on the walls of Saragossa by January Suchodolski, 1845. (National Museum in Warsaw)





✦ 8 February-Assaut du monastère de Santa Engracia by Louis-François, Baron Lejeune

✦ At one point in the San Augustin Convent the French held the altar end of the chapel and exchanged shots for hours on end with the Spanish entrenched in the nave and the belfry. However, French superiority in equipment and training took its toll, and thousands were falling daily both in the fighting and due to disease, which was rampant through the city

✦ the French commander sent Palafox the message Paz y capitulación, "peace and capitulation." Palafox responded, Guerra y cuchillo: "war and knife."

✦ 20 February-at the surrender, 12,000 remained of a prewar population of over 100,000Assault on the walls of Saragossa by January Suchodolski, 1845.

(National Museum in Warsaw)


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Santa_Engracia_de_Zaragoza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Santa_Engracia_de_Zaragoza

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Fran%C3%A7ois,_Baron_Lejeune

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Fran%C3%A7ois,_Baron_Lejeune





Frenchmen compared Spaniards to pigeons--easy to frighten away, yet always circling hopefully back again.

Elting, Swords, p. 511

Elsewhere the Spanish field armies and guerilla forces refused to stand and fight the French forces


For two whole weeks, the majority of the French troops rested on their laurels in the vicinity of Madrid…. Napoleon was eager to plunge into the task of reordering Spanish affairs, although by rights this mammoth undertaking should have been left to his brother Joseph. Day after day new reforms were promulgated; the many relics of medieval feudalism were swept away. The decrepit Inquisition, the merest shadow of its former self, was abolished. A sweeping reduction in the number of religious houses was announced, and small pensions were awarded to monks and nuns who agreed to break their vows and return to public life. The chaotic taxation system was overhauled. Most of these reforms were long overdue, as the most enlightened Spaniards freely admitted, but the method of their imposition at bayonet point by a foreign ruler was wholly unpalatable and inevitably offended Spanish pride and religious sensibilities.

Chandler, p. 643









3. Destroy the English








A veritable flood of orders poured out of Imperial Headquarters. The cavalry of Ney’s corps and of the Guard were to set out at once for the Guadarrama Pass, followed by the infantry of the VIth Corps…. For the occupation of Madrid…, Joseph was left with Lefebvre’s corps…a total of 36,000 men and 90 guns. For the remainder, Napoleon’s plan was as follows. While Soult pinned Moore frontally, Napoleon would lead up a powerful army against the British rear and thus encompass [their] destruction…. the only question was whether [Moore] could avoid the fate bearing down on his small army.

Chandler, p. 650



“The Rearguard”by James Beadle

(the Regimental Museumof the Royal Greenjackets)


"Moore's contribution to the British Army was not only that matchless Light Infantry who have ever since enshrined his training, but also the belief that the perfect soldier can only be made by evoking all that is finest in man - p h y s i c a l , m e n t a l a n d spiritual.” --Sir Arthur Bryant

! born in Glasgow, the son of a doctor

! 1776-joined as an ensign, fought in America

! 1798-helped put down the United Irishmen

! 1801-Colonel of the 52nd in Aboukir

! 1803-commanded a brigade at Shorncliffe where his training birthed British light infantry & riflemen, modeled on his American experience

Lieutenant General Sir John Moore, KB

1761 – 16 January 1809











1761 – 16 January 1809








! 1808-took command of the forces on the Peninsula after the recall of Gen Burrard

! led the fall offensive, then conducted the even more masterful retreat when Bonaparte arrived

! died, like Nelson, in defending the victorious “Dunkirk” at Corunna


1761 – 16 January 1809










! 1808-took command of the forces on the Peninsula after the recall of Gen Burrard

! led the fall offensive, then conducted the even more masterful retreat when Bonaparte arrived

! died, like Nelson, in defending the victorious “Dunkirk” at Corunna


1761 – 16 January 1809




! son of Colonel George Napier and Lady Sarah Lennox, the great-granddaughter of King Charles II

! 1794-(age 12)enlisted in the 33rd Infantry Regiment of the British Army and decided to become a career soldier

! 1808-commanded the 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot during Peninsular War. During the Battle of Corunna, he was wounded and left for dead on the battlefield. Rescued, barely alive, by a French Army drummer named Guibert, he was taken as a prisoner-of-war. He recuperated from his wounds while being held near the headquarters of Marshall Soult

! 1810-12--exchanged, he volunteered to return to fight again in Portugal - notably in the Battle of the Côa, where he had two horses shot out from under him, at Bussaco, at Fuentes de Oñoro, and at the second siege of Badajoz in Spain, in which he was a lieutenant colonel in the 102nd regiment. For his deeds, Napier won the silver medal with two clasps

General Sir Charles James Napier, Order of the Bath

1782 – 1853

picture, 1849


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Napier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Napier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Sarah_Lennox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Sarah_Lennox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War#Napoleon.27s_campaign_.28October_1808.E2.80.93January_1809.29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War#Napoleon.27s_campaign_.28October_1808.E2.80.93January_1809.29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Corunna

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Corunna

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Army

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Army

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-de-Dieu_Soult

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-de-Dieu_Soult

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portugal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_C%C3%B4a




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_General_Service_Medal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_General_Service_Medal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General



Model of the battle of Elvina at the museum of the Battle for Corunna


The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna

Charles Wolfe. 1791–1823 Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried. We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sods with our bayonets turning, By the struggling moonbeam's misty light And the lanthorn dimly burning. No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him; But he lay like a warrior taking his rest With his martial cloak around him. Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow; But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow. We thought, as we hollow'd his narrow bed And smooth'd down his lonely pillow, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, And we far away on the billow! Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that 's gone, And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him— But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on In the grave where a Briton has laid him. But half of our heavy task was done When the clock struck the hour for retiring; And we heard the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, But we left him alone with his glory.


The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna

Charles Wolfe. 1791–1823 Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried. We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sods with our bayonets turning, By the struggling moonbeam's misty light And the lanthorn dimly burning. No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him; But he lay like a warrior taking his rest With his martial cloak around him. Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow; But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow. We thought, as we hollow'd his narrow bed And smooth'd down his lonely pillow, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, And we far away on the billow! Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that 's gone, And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him— But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on In the grave where a Briton has laid him. But half of our heavy task was done When the clock struck the hour for retiring; And we heard the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, But we left him alone with his glory.His CurrentResting Place


His death had not been in vain; the evacuation was able to continue unopposed throughout the next two days, and by the 18th the last men had been re-embarked. Nor was this the limit of Moore’s achievement; he had overcome daunting difficulties for three long months. He had bearded Napoleon and entirely disrupted his plans for the completing the conquest of Spain and Portugal, and he had brought his men through the horrors of a winter retreat over the mountains and made it possible for them to be safely evacuated. This meant that he had preserved the greater part of England’s only field army and ensured that it could sail away to prepare for future operations designed to hammer the French eagles. Although it was a tragedy for his country and the army he loved and served so well that Moore died at the moment of success, his work was vindicated a few months later when a new expeditionary force commanded by the able Sir Arthur Wellesley appeared off the Portuguese coast and prepared to renew the conflict.

Chandler, p. 657


Napoleon returns to Paris

✦ it had become clear that Moore would escape destruction, so the Emperor left the last stage of the pursuit to Marshal Soult

✦ intelligence reports indicated that Austria was rearming and giving every indication of preparing for yet another war

✦ 1 January 1809-news reached him of a conspiracy in Paris involving Talleyrand, Fouché and even his brother-in-law Murat, the new King of Naples

✦ cheated of his decisive victory in Spain by the “cowardly flight” of Moore’s army, from England, that “nation of shopkeepers,” Napoleon abandoned his dream of personally subjugating Spain and Portugal and left that messy, and ultimately impossible, job to his ineffectual brother Joseph and his generals


What lay at the root of Napoleon’s failure in Spain? Besides his overweening ambition and relentless ambition to see the Continental System embrace the entire continent of Europe, the Emperor stands accused of rushing his fences. Had he taken the Spanish affair more steadily, made greater efforts to win popular support, ruled through a Bourbon puppet rather than one of the Bonaparte clan, then his achievement might have been more permanent. Instead, he took the bull by the horns at the first opportunity and rushed the invasion, hoping to gain everything with a very modest outlay of effort. In fact, by so doing, Napoleon the statesman had set Napoleon the soldier an impossible task. Consequently, although the immediate military aims were more or less achieved [in December 1808!], the long-term requirement of winning popular support for the new regime was hopelessly compromised. The lesson was there for the world to read: military conquest in itself cannot bring about a political victory. This was by no means a new lesson, but seldom in history has it been so amply demonstrated.

Chandler, Campaigns p. 660


Education

Napoleon Part 2 session ii Spain