Скачать или смотреть Why did NAPOLEON invade SPAIN? The Peninsular War [History on map]

It’s 1789, and interesting events are taking place in France. The king Louis XVI is overthrown by the crowd. Subsequently, this revolutionary situation and threat to exporting it caused an immediate reaction from all over Europe. Austria and Prussia sent troops, backed by Britain, but they were repelled.

A great commander Napoleon was rising then. In 1799 he became the first consul of the French Republic, and in 5 years he proclaimed himself an emperor. In 1807 after the battle of Preussisch-Eylau, which resulted in a stalemate but France was a strategic winner, Russian emperor Alexander I was forced to conclude a Peace Treaty with Napoleon in Tilsit.

By this time, Napoleonic power had seemed untouchable. The only real power opposing him was the British Empire. Napoleon decided to combat Britain’s ongoing opposition by attacking its economy and forcing the nations of continental Europe to close their ports to British goods.

Portugal, a traditional ally of Britain, refused to do it, aiming at maintaining close relationships with this country. So, in 1807, the French army marched through Spain and occupied the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

You may ask, how did Napoleon march through Spain without any consequences? Firstly, the consequences were severe for the French garrison in Spain. Secondly, the Spanish king Fernando VII was an ally of France at that moment, so it was a normal procedure.

However, the population was expectedly furious because of this invasion of French troops, so it rebelled. In February 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain itself and soon occupied Madrid. But let’s go in order.

Spanish guerrilla warfare began primarily as a popular, widespread resistance against the French Napoleonic occupation during the Peninsular War, which, as you may guess, started in 1808.

As the Spanish rose up against the French, Napoleon ordered his columns to quickly pacify the major centres of resistance. But the surrender of around 12,000 of his troops following their defeat at Bailén On July 19, 1808 meant that he had to abandon much of Spain to the insurgents.

This battle was the first setback for the hitherto unbeatable French armies, and emboldened people in Iberia, and elsewhere, to resist. The Spanish now appealed to Britain for help. In August 1808, 14,000 British troops landed at Mondego Bay in Portugal under the command of Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington).

On August 17, the British fought their first battle of the Peninsular War at Rolica, defeating a smaller French force sent to slow Wellesley's advance towards Lisbon.

In 4 days, Wellesley defeated the French at Vimeiro near Lisbon. However, he was immediately superseded in command by Generals Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple, and was unable to press home his advantage.

These new leaders concluded the Convention of Cintra, which achieved the overall British aim of clearing the French out of Portugal. But the terms of this agreement caused uproar back in Britain owing to the fact that the evacuation was carried out in British ships with the French allowed to take all their plunder with them.

I should say that the invasion of France caused a serious problems in the Spanish colonies, in particular in Venezuela. I advise you to watch my previous video about Venezuelan independence.

The British commanders were ordered home to face an inquiry and Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore took over command of the army. Retrained and reorganised by Marshal William Beresford, Portugal’s soldiers fought bravely alongside those of Britain.

The stubborn Spanish defence of cities and towns tied down thousands of French troops. Spanish armies, though frequently defeated, kept reappearing, forcing France to send more armies against them.

French troops were also required to garrison hostile territory and wage a bitter war against Spanish and Portuguese insurgents, the ‘guerrillas’. French communications and supply lines were harassed by their raids and ambushes. By 1812, the French had over 350,000 soldiers in Iberia, but 200,000 were protecting lines of supply rather than serving as front-line troops.

All of these factors meant that although on paper the French heavily outnumbered the British armies in Iberia, they were never able to concentrate enough of their troops to win a decisive victory. The continual drain on French resources led Napoleon to call the conflict the ‘Spanish Ulcer’.

Attempting to co-operate with the Spanish, Moore advanced into Spain with 35,000 men. But when he discovered that Napoleon himself had entered the country with a large army, and that Madrid had fallen to the French, he was forced to retreat. In terrible winter conditions, his army fell back to the north-west coast of Spain where the Royal Navy could evacuate them.

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