Battle of Toulouse (1814)

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Peninsular War, 1810–1814
Fuengirola – Barrosa – Fuentes de Onoro – Albuera – Badajoz – Salamanca – Vitoria – Maya – Roncesvalles – Sorauren – Nivelle – Nive – Orthez – Toulouse

The Battle of Toulouse (April 10, 1814) was one of the final battles of the Napoleonic Wars, four days after Napoleon's surrender of the French Empire to the nations of the Sixth Coalition. The hundreds of soldiers killed in the battle died unnecessarily, as the war was already over, though news had yet to reach the south of France.

Following their successful invasion of France earlier in the year, an allied army of the Sixth Coalition, composed of British, Portuguese and Spanish troops under the supreme command of Sir Arthur Wellesley laid siege to the city of Toulouse, one of the few remaining urban centres in France still loyal to Napoleon.

The city of Toulouse was garrisoned by a small contingent of French troops, under the command of Marshal Soult, Duke of Dalmatia. French forces across southern France were greatly demoralised by fighting the allied forces in their own country, and were further demoralised by news of repeated Coalition victories in northern and eastern France. French forces in Spain had been steadily pushed out of the country since 1809, resulting in endless guerrilla wars which resulted in more than 300,000 French casualties by late 1813. The French suffered greater losses in manpower in southern France, as Napoleon diverted many southern forces to bolster his troops facing the Coalition armies invading northern and eastern France after an allied victory at Leipzig in 1813.

When the siege of Toulouse began, Soult commanded approximately 40,000 troops, who were ordered to fortify the city, preparing for what Soult believed to be his last chance to inflict a defeat on the allied armies and buy time for French reinforcements from Italy to arrive. The allied army, around 55,000 strong, aimed to take the heights to the east of the city before attacking the fortifications; Marshal Beresford was tasked with this mission while a diversionary attack was made against the city by General Hill's troops. British military intelligence underestimated the morale of French defenders, resulting in heavy casualties amongst the allied troops. Despite the casualties, British and Spanish troops succeeded in capturing the heights, allowing for an artillery bombardment of the city and its fortifications. Allied troops began to encircle the city and launched sporadic attacks against the hastily-constructed French defences.

In the evening of April 10th, Soult received an official communique from Paris informing him that Napoleon had surrendered to the Coalition forces in northern France. Unsure of what to do, Soult's generals advised him to surrender the city, as reinforcements were unlikely to arrive and further news reached Toulouse informing Soult of the surrender of French armies across France. The French suffered some 3,200 casualties while the British, Portuguese and Spanish suffered over 4,500 dead and wounded.

With the surrender, French resistance in the south collapsed and the defeated Napoleon, who had already surrendered, was exiled to the island of Elba. The city was briefly placed under Coalition control during the summer of 1814, with the withdrawal of allied troops in September 1814.