Spanish Campaign
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte of France committed his greatest blunder when he invaded Portugal in 1807. Unexpected resistance to his actions developed in both Portugal and Spain in 1808. The Spanish Campaign was a part of the Peninsular War of 1807-14.
[edit] The King of Spain
The conditions within the family of the King of Spain afforded Napoleon with a raison de guerre that he employed to replace the Spanish King with a Frenchman. French armies under the direction of Murat occupied Spain. King Ferdinand VII was deposed. Joseph Bonaparte was removed from his position as the King of Naples and declared the King of Spain on June 6, 1808. His wife, Julia Marie Clary, never went to Spain. Outraged Spaniards refused to recognize the Bonapartes; instead, they banded together and trapped one of the divisions of the French army at Bailen on July 20, 1808. The first great disaster to the French arms in the Peninsular War occurred when Pierre Dupont de l'Étang surrendered 18,000 men to the Spaniards under Castaños.
Stunned by the unexpected turn of events in Spain, Napoleon himself entered Spain and occupied Madrid on December 4, 1808. England had come to the aid of Portugal by that time, so English troops from Portugal approached Madrid and lured the French army away from Madrid. Napoleon turned the command over to Soult and hurried back to France to prepare for the campaign against Austria. The French were involved in fighting and conflicts across Europe from Oporto at the shore of the Atlantic Ocean to Austria. About 30,000 French troops were defeated by Spanish forces at Almonacid de Toledo on August 11, 1809.
The English under Wellesley invaded Spain and fought a drawn battle with King Joseph and Marshal Victor at Talavera de la Reina on July 27-28, 1809. The battle in Spain gave relief to Portugal from French pressure, and the sphere of combat shifted into Spain. The French army had subjugated practically the whole of Spain by the middle of 1810, though the fortified towns of Cadiz, Valencia, Badajoz, and Ciudad Rodrigo, and the Province of Galicia remained under the control of the Spanish.
The French committed more troops to the Spanish Campaign and captured Ciudad Rodrigo on July 19, 1810, and Badajoz on March 11, 1811. Reversals occurred in 1812. Englishman Wellington captured Ciudad Rodrigo from the French on January 19, captured Badajoz on April 6, and defeated the French at Salamanca on July 22, fought the French at Burgos, and then retired to Portugal.
In 1813, France removed troops from the Peninsular War to fight in the campaign in Germany. The resumption of hostilities by Wellington forced King Joseph to abandon his capital at Madrid. After the defeat of the French at Vitoria, he retired to his estate at Mortfontaine, in France, then abdicated his position as the King of Spain after Napoleon recognized Ferdinand VII as the King of Spain, thereby returning Spain to the Spanish and ending the Spanish Campaign of 1808-13. Wellington had gained triumphs in Spain and pushed the war into France.
Ferdinand VII returned to Spain in March, 1814 and entered Madrid on May 14, 1814. The liberal constitution of 1812 and all acts promulgated during his absence were at once abrogated. Even so, debates and further discussions of the constitution of 1812 took place in Spain. King Ferdinand died in 1833. A royal charter, in lieu of a constitution, was created in 1834. In 1836, a revolutionary movement at the palace of La Granja (San Ildefonso) northwest of Madrid some 34 miles (54 km) forced Queen Regent Mariá Christina to swear to the constitution of 1812. The struggle for a Liberal constitution continued until another constitution was approved in 1855.
Disagreements with the new constitution continued to flower, however. Revolts took place in a number of places within Spain. Governmental instability and troubles, of complex natures, abounded. A stable government returned after Alfonso XII was proclaimed King on December 30, 1874, but he died on November 25, 1885. Once again, the leadership of Spain became unsettled until the time of King Alfonso XIII who came of age on May 17, 1902. He declared Spain neutral in World War I.
