Western History 146: What happened during the Peninsular War (1808-1814)?

The Peninsular War was fought between France and the alliance of Britain, Spain and Portugal for domination of the Iberian Peninsula. In Spain the War was Known as the War of Independence. To France it was seen in less glorifying terms as the Spanish ulcer. In a sense it was a war of Liberation that was noted for its guerilla type nature of the military tactics employed.

So how did it begin?  In 1807 France invaded Portugal and occupied the country as part of his war against Anti-French coalition forces. This necessitated a transit across Spain. On the 16^th of February 1808 Napoleon’s forces advanced into Spain in greater number to provide support for French troops occupying Portugal. Soon afterward French political intervention forced the abdication of the Spanish monarch Charles IV and  his replacement by Napoleon’s brother Joseph.

This was an unpopular move and resulted in the Dos de Mayo (2^nd of May) uprising of the people in Madrid against the French troops who were propping up the Bonaparte monarch. The fallout from the rebellion spread throughout the country resulting in a war that the French considerably underestimated with respect to its overall severity

The Second of May by Francisco Goya source: francisco-de-goya.com

A French setback occurred at the Battle of Bailén which prompted Britain to enter the war on the side of the Spanish people. France responded by stepping up the size of her army as a further rebellion broke out in Portugal.

At the helm of the British troops was  Lt.-Gen. Sir Arthur Wellesley (aka the Duke of Wellington) who would enjoy much success in this theatre despite the early withdrawal of his forces from La Coruna.

Duke of Wellington source: biographyonline.net

Wellington’s situation improved when Napoleon returned to France. His forces defeated the French general ean-de-Dieu Soult at Porto.  At the Battle of Talvera the Portuguese held the lines at a cost forcing a stalemate. Fighting during this early stage of the Peninsular War took place on two fronts: Corunna and Portugal. In the former, the Spanish struggled against superior French forces necessitating a strategy change in favour of guerilla warfare.

In 1811 the French under André Masséna and Wellington’s army fought to a draw at the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. At around the same time the French proved incapable of relieving the besieged city of Badajopz. They were turned back by the British although they did have more success in the relief of Tarragona. .By 1812 as Napoleon focused on his ill-fated Russian campaign, Wellington upped his attack. He won the the Battle of Salamanca and took Madrid. The French pushed him back to Lisbon by the end of the year but it was too little too late. The war was proving to be  a serious drain on French resources.

As 1813 rolled around the French looked more desperate. Madrid fell once again to Wellington’s forces with the British general winning the Battle of Vittorio and then chasing the French across the Pyrenees. French defeated was imminent and by 1814 this was realized soon after the Allied seaborne landing at Bayonne and the French evacuation of Toulouse (both in France proper).

Battles of the Peninsular War source: timewisetraveller.com