|
Spain History - French Invasion - (1808 - 1813)
Fernando VII returned triumphantly to Madrid in 1808 from Aranjuez little expecting
the event that was awaiting his arrival. The previous day General Murat had
marched into Madrid with his French army and refused to recognize Fernando
as the new king. Napoleon demanded their royal presence at Bayonne where he was
quartered and upon their arrival he was to witness a degrading scene. The
Spanish King and Queen together with Godoy hurled accusations and insults at each
other whilst pawing for favours from Napoleon. Without much trouble Napoleon
convinced Fernando to hand back the throne to his father Carlos IV, who in
turn had to then abdicate in favour of Bonaparte's brother Joseph
(José I). This
roundabout was achieved in one day and the three actors left the stage
for permanent exile in France. Later in his career Bonaparte when a prisoner on St Helena
blamed his downfall from power on his handling of this one event at
Bayonne.
Meanwhile, a sad and horrific event was to take place in the streets of Madrid.
The inhabitants of the city believing that the French army was intending to
kidnap their Royal Family spontaneously took to
the streets in revolt. Responded heroically with knives, shovels, and anything
useful, they made a vain attempt to stop the well trained and armed French
forces. Obviously they were quickly suppressed and this event is annually
celebrated to this day as the "Dos de Mayo". The subsequent brutal mass
assassination of ordinary citizens by General Murat the next day is well
recorded. During this tragic two day horror the Spanish garrison in the city
offered no support to its own people.
King José I announced the beginning of his reign by reading Napoleon's
proclamation which said "Spaniards, after a long agony your nation is perishing.
I have seen your ills and I shall remedy them." It was too prove wrong for
Napoleon's choice of his brother was misplaced and he failed to understand
Spanish thinking. Shortly José was to write "My position in history is unique,
I have not a single supporter here". This was not exactly correct for there
were many younger Spaniards who welcomed the French invaders as fresh air to
their stifled liberal minded thinking. The choice was difficult for them and many
as his supporters were to pay the ultimate price for what later was considered
as treason.
The invasion of the French on Spanish soil was met by strong small bands of
determined resistance. The Emperor became so concerned that in November of
1808 he himself led a force of a further 135,000 men into the Peninsular. His
superior tactical ability soon outsmarted the resistance fighters and within
a short time had captured control of nearly all the important towns. The
body of the Spanish resistance was withdrawn into the city of Cádiz and
surrounded by French forces. However, the small bands still kept active and
in an area as large as Andalucía there attacking at any opportunity
with little impunity. This continual token resistance encouraged England to send
a force of 25,000 troops under General Arthur Wellesley in 1808 to Portugal.
Within a short time he had doubled this force with the addition of the
Portuguese army, but this was not that many when faced with a French army of
more than 250,000 experienced troops. So began the Peninsular War (1808-1812).
As Wellesley marched north taking Porto and Talavera the French had
to put down a insurgent army at Burgos. A second front was opened
in the north coast of Spain in 1809 under Sir John Moore who was
then forced to
retreat by the French to take refuge in the city of Corunna. The following year
the French take the town of Ciudad Rodrigo but are held by Wellesley at Torres
Vedras in Portugal forcing the French to retreat back towards Spain. In 1811
Wellesley now Lord Wellington, again defeats the French army at Fuentes
d'Onoro in Spain. His army is greatly helped by a further force of 30,000
Spanish guerrillas harassing Napoleon’s troops behind their lines. The following
year Wellington recaptures Ciudad Rodrigo, then Badajoz, Salamanca and Madrid.
A year later the conclusive victory was achieved when he defeated the remaining
French army of 70,000 men and the puppet King José and effectively driving the
French out of Spain. It had cost France over 180,000 of their experienced
soldiers which they would soon to be need of in other parts of Europe. To the
rest of Europe the Spanish now had slid down to second level as a European
power and when the Congress of Vienna was called in 1814 to decide the fate of
Europe the Spanish were deemed not necessary to attend.
|