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The Peninsular War
1807 to 1814

The Peninsular War was probably the worst mistake Napoleon Bonaparte made during his lengthy reign over France - the attempted subjugation of Portugal in a bid to tighten his trade blockade of Britain. To get at Portugal, Bonaparte had to trick his ally Spain into allowing a French army under General Jean-Andoche Junot to move through its territory. On 1 December 1807, the French captured Lisbon - the Portuguese capital - but just missed the royal family who fled to Brazil the day before Junot arrived. Just three months later, Marshal Joachim Murat took a huge army into Spain on the pretext of restoring order - the king, Charles IV, was quarreling with his son, Ferdinand - and soon had the entire family taken to France for protection.

Next, Bonaparte made the major error of having his brother Joseph chosen as the new king by the large party of French-loving reformists, a move that sent the peasantry and church into a rebellious frenzy. Within two months there were open uprisings against Joseph and the conflict descended into one of the most brutal periods of warfare seen. The Spanish artist Goya sketched a series of ink images, Disasters of War, that show the inhuman levels reached during the campaign. Despite its shockingly poor regular army, the war began well for Spain with the French being forced into a lengthy siege of Saragossa and an army, under the luckless General Pierre Dupont, being made to surrender at Bailen. The reverses in Spain cut Junot off from any support he might have anticipated, but he felt strong enough to defeat a British army that landed in Portugal on 1 August 1808. Unfortunately, for Junot and France, the British were led by Arthur Wellesley, whose military prowess was fostered in India and was therefore unrecognised in Europe. Wellesley beat General Delaborde at Rolica on 17 August and four days later took on a reinforced Junot at Vimiero. The battle ended in victory for the maligned "Sepoy General" Wellesley and with the French on their knees, British idiocy took over when two geriatric generals - Sir Harry "Betty" Burrard and Sir Hew "Dowager" Dalrymple - were placed in command of British forces. The pair negotiated the embarrassing Convention of Cintra with Junot that allowed the trapped Frenchman to withdraw his troops, with all their equipment, on British ships back to France. Wellesley, Burrard and Dalrymple were all brought before an inquiry and only Wellesley was acquitted of any wrong-doing. In the meantime, Sir John Moore took over the British army and, in expectation of major support from the Spanish, advanced deep into Spain. He was badly let down by the Spanish and found himself without support and up against no lesser opponent than Bonaparte himself.

Moore turned his army around and began a horrendous retreat through winter-blasted mountains that tested the British army to its limits. When faced with destruction, however, the exhausted redcoats turned on their attackers and saw them off. They won two clashes at Sahagun, Benavente and Cacobelos. The city of Corunna was the haven for Moore as the Royal Navy was waiting to evacuate his army. With Marshal Soult now at his heels, Moore arrived at Corunna and organised a defensive perimeter to hold the French at bay while his men embarked. Corunna was a victory for Britain, but Moore died during the battle, opening the way for the return of Wellington as commander. With the extremely capable Sir William Beresford retraining and organising the Portuguese army, Wellesley at last had allies he could trust and caught Marshal Nicholas Soult on the hop when he crossed the Douro River at Oporto and seized the military initiative. Moving into Spain, Wellesley was attacked by the French at Talavera, where the duplicitous Spanish general Gregorio de la Cuesta did nothing as the British fought tooth and nail to defeat Marshal Victor and Joseph Bonaparte's army. Deciding against trusting the Spaniards again, the now Duke of Wellington fell back to Portugal where he waited for the next opportunity to take on the French. By 1810, Wellesley had constructed an impenetrable, series of fortified prepared defensive Lines of Torres Vedras, which completely cut off Lisbon from attack and stymied the new French commander's, Marshal Andre Massena, hopes of an easy victory over the Anglo-Portuguese. Massena's invasion of Portugal earned him a bloody nose at Bussaco and before he had time to reorganise for another attempt at Wellington, the British commander had withdrawn behind the defensive perimeter at Torres Vedras. The French marshal made some attempts to get through the lines and then sat obstinately outside them waiting for another chance to be at the British.

Wellington had other ideas and just waited for hunger - the lands having been cleared of foodstuffs - to take its effect. It took the entire winter for Massena to get the message and he was finally forced to march his starving army towards better providing countryside. The British won a further battle at Barrossa and Wellington and Massena drew the encounter at Fuentes de Onoro. In 1811, one of the most bloody encounters on the Peninsula occurred when Soult moved to end the siege of Badajoz, a fortress guarding the Portuguese-Spanish border. Marching towards the city, he attacked a blocking force under Beresford at Albuera. The battle was up-close and nasty with the two lines of troops only seperated by 20 paces. In the end it was the obstinacy of the British that won them the battle. As Soult said he had defeated the redcoats, only they did not know the meaning of the word. While Wellington's army was the master of countryside, the French still garrisoned the key fortresses of Badajoz and Ciudad Rodrigo. The mighty towns stood as gatekeepers into Spain and the British leader knew he had to capture them before taking on the French in Spain. As careful of his mens' lives as he was, Wellington lost caution when storming fortresses and both Ciudad Rodrigo (19 January) and Badajoz (19 April) were extremely bloody affairs that cost thousands of British lives and then thousands more inside the cities as the redcoats were given free reign. The sacking of both brought little honour to Britain. Moving quickly into Spain, Wellington found himself up against a new French commander - Marshal Auguste Marmont - but dealt with him the same way as the others and defeated him at Salamanca. Madrid was freed but, being unable to capture the fortress at Burgos, the British had to make another retreat into safety in Portugal. The back of French occupation was broken at the battle of Vitoria where King Joseph not only lost his crown, but also millions of pounds worth of treasure. Soult now took over command of a unified French force and conducted a brilliant series of rearguard battles through the Pyrenees. Eventually, Wellington forced his way through, overran the border fortresses, defeated Soult at Orthez and then, finally, at Toulouse. The Peninsular War was finally over.

Albania, 1996, The Second of May, 1808 at the Puerta del Sol

Argentina, 1981, San Martin Monument

Bulgaria, 1996, 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid

Dominica, 1977, Wellington's Victory

Equatorial Guinea, 1977, Spain campain

Fujeira, 1968, The Second of May, 1808 at the Puerta del Sol

Fujeira, 1972, Napoleon at the gates of Madrid

Gibraltar, 1971, The Black Watch

Gibraltar, 1971, Royal Regiments of Fusiliers

Gibraltar, 1971, King's Own Royal Border Regiments

Gibraltar, 1971, Devonshire and Dorset Regiment

Gibraltar, 1972, The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry