The following tables show the sequence of events of the Peninsular War (1807–1814), including major battles, smaller actions, uprisings, sieges and other related events that took place during that period.[1]
For ease of reference using modern maps, the provinces/regions given for Spain and Portugal are those that correspond to the 20th century.[2] Events in Portugal and France are specified.
See main article: Peninsular War. The Peninsular War was a military conflict for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars, waged between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal. It started when French and Spanish armies, then allied, occupied Portugal in 1807, and escalated in 1808 when France turned on Spain, its former ally. The war on the peninsula lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation, and significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare. British and Portuguese forces eventually secured Portugal, using it as a safe position from which to launch campaigns against the French army, while both Spanish and Portuguese guerrillas weakened the occupying forces.
The Peninsular War overlaps with what the Spanish-speaking world calls the Guerra de la Independencia Española (Spanish War of Independence), which began with the Dos de Mayo Uprising on 2 May 1808 and ended on 17 April 1814. Although Spain had been in upheaval since at least the Mutiny of Aranjuez (March 1808), May 1808 marks the start of the Spanish War of Independence. The French occupation destroyed the Spanish administration, which fragmented into quarrelling provincial juntas. In 1810, a reconstituted national government, the Cortes of Cádizeffectively a government-in-exilefortified itself in Cádiz but could not raise effective armies because it was besieged by up to 70,000 French troops. Cádiz would go on to hold the distinction of being the only city in continental Europe to survive a siege by Napoleon: thirty-one months—from 5 February 1810 to 25 August 1812.[3] The combined efforts of regular and irregular forces throughout the peninsula prevented Napoleon's marshals from subduing the rebellious Spanish provinces, and the war continued through years of stalemate.
While the initial stages of the Peninsular War were fought on Portuguese soil, most of the war was fought on Spanish soil and, as the French army was pushed further back across the Pyrenees, the final stages of the war were fought on French soil.
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-value="12 October 1807" | 12–18 October 1807 | French troops enter Spain en route to Portugal | Irun, Basque Country | Manoeuvres (French) | Junot crosses into Spain with the 25,000–28,000 troops of the Corps of Observation of the Gironde. The Treaty of Fontainebleau, to be signed later that month, stipulates that three columns of Spanish troops numbering 25,500 men will support the Invasion of Portugal. |
| 27 October 1807 | Treaty of Fontainebleau signed by Charles IV of Spain and Napoleon I of France | Fontainebleau | Treaty | The accord proposed the division of the Kingdom of Portugal and all Portuguese dominions between the signatories. | |
| 12 November 1807 | Junot's Army of the Gironde reaches Salamanca | Salamanca, Castile and León | Manoeuvres (French) | ||
| data-sort-value="19 November 1807" | 1930 November 1807 | Invasion of Portugal | Portugal | Junot enters Portugal 19 November. | |
| 22 November 1807 | Bayonne to Spain | Manoeuvres (French) | The 25,000 men of the French reserves, the Second Corps of Observation of the Gironde, under General Dupont, crossed into Spain. The following month, when Marshal Moncey's troops also crossed the Pyrenees (see 8 January 1808, below), Dupont marched on towards Madrid, cantoning in Burgos, Valladolid, and other major cities of Old Castile. | ||
| 29 November 1807 | Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil | The Royal Court of Portugal, headed by the Prince Regent, Prince John and his mother, Maria I of Portugal, set sail for Brazil, escorted by the British Royal Navy, led by Sir Sidney Smith and Sir Graham Moore (younger brother of Sir John Moore). | |||
| 30 November 1807 | Junot occupies Lisbon[4] | Lisbon | Manoeuvres (French) | Junot entered the city with only 1,500 troops; the rest of his troops arriving over the following ten days. | |
| data-sort-value="1 December 1807" | 1 December 1807 | First anti-French riots | Lisbon | ||
| data-sort-value="13 December 1807" | 13 December 1807 | Anti-French riots | Lisbon | Junot ordered the Portuguese flag be replaced by the tricolour on the public buildings in the city, which led to a fierce riot, dispersed with a cavalry charge. | |
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 January 1808 | Bayonne – Spain | Manoeuvres (French) | Following General Dupont's entry into Spain the previous month (see 22 November 1807, above), a third army corps, Marshal Moncey's 30,000-strong Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coast, crossed the border via Bayonne, occupying all the major towns of Biscay and Navarre. | |||
| data-sort-value="1 February 1808" | February 1808 | Junot dissolves the Regency Council and disbands the Portuguese army. | Manoeuvres (French) | The Portuguese Legion, comprising 6,000 Portuguese soldiers, sent to France. | ||
| 10 February 1808 | French troops enter Catalonia | Barcelona, Catalonia | Manoeuvre (French) | General Duhesme, at the head of 14,000 troops, half French, half Italians, enters Catalonia and moves towards Barcelona. | ||
| 16 February 1808 | Citadel of Pamplona (Capture of) | Pamplona, Navarre | Manoeuvres (French) | The French troops quartered in the town surprised the Spanish garrison at the Citadel. Oman (1902) refers to this coup de main, the first of a series of similar actions, as the "infamous seizure by surprise of the Spanish frontier fortresses, which would pass for the most odious act of the Emperor's whole career, if the kidnapping at Bayonne were not to follow". | ||
| 29 February 1808 | Citadel of Barcelona (Capture of) | Barcelona, Catalonia | Manoeuvres (French) | General Lecchi, commanding the French troops passing through Barcelona, marched his division through the city to the gate of the citadel and suddenly entered the fortress, before the Spanish garrison realised what was happening and, without a fight, evicted the Spanish troops. | ||
| 5 March 1808 | Fortress of San Sebastian (Capture of) | San Sebastian | Manoeuvres (French) | One of Spain's frontier fortresses, this one at the Atlantic end of the Pyrenees, was surrendered when orders from Madrid forbade its governor to resist an assault. | ||
| 10 March 1808 | Joachim Murat crosses into Spain from Bayonne | Manoeuvres (French) | Napoleon's brother-in-law, the new Grand-Duke of Berg, as 'Lieutenant of the Emperor', was to take command of all the French forces in Spain. | |||
| data-sort-value="17 March 1808" | 1719 March 1808 | data-sort-value="Aranjuez" | Mutiny of Aranjuez | Aranjuez, Madrid | Ferdinand, Prince of the Asturias, announced that the King was displeased with Godoy, the Prince of the Peace, and had determined to dismiss him. The following morning, a royal decree was issued, declaring Godoy relieved of all his posts and duties and banished from the court. | |
| 18 March 1808 | Sant Ferran Castle (Capture of) | Figueres, Catalonia | Manoeuvres (French) | The citadel at Figueres, on the Mediterranean coast, yet another of Spain's frontier fortresses, was seized by a coup de main similar to the one carried out a month earlier at Pamplona. (See 16 February 1808, above.) | ||
| 18 March 1808 | Joachim Murat | Burgos | Manoeuvres (French) | With the arrival at Burgos of the newly appointed Lieutenant of the Emperor and Napoleon's brother-in-law, Murat, commissioned to take command of all the French forces in Spain, together with the news that more than 30,000 troops, under Marshal Bessières, had already started to cross the Pyrenees, bringing up the total of French troops on the Peninsula to more than 100,000 men, Godoy ordered the departure of the King for Seville. | ||
| 19 March 1808 | Charles IV of Spain abdicates | Aranjuez, Madrid | Abdication | Charles IV of Spain abdicated in favour of his son, Ferdinand VII[5] | ||
| 23 March 1808 | Murat enters Madrid | Madrid | Manoeuvres (French) | In his letter to his brother Louis, dated 27 March 1808, offering him the throne of Spain, Napoleon stated that he had 100,000 troops in Spain, and that 40,000 of them had entered Madrid with Murat on 23 March 1808.[6] | ||
| 24 March 1808 | Ferdinand VII enters Madrid | Madrid | Manoeuvres (French) | |||
| 2 May 1808 | Dos de Mayo Uprising | Madrid | Uprising: French victory | Following the fighting at the Royal Palace, rebellion spread to other parts of the city, with street fighting in different areas including heavy fighting around the Puerta del Sol, the Puerta de Toledo and at the barracks of Monteleón. Martial law was imposed on the city. Hundreds of people died in the fighting, including around 150 French soldiers. The uprising was depicted by the Spanish artist Goya in The Second of May 1808 (The Charge of the Mamelukes) and The Third of May 1808. | ||
| 6 May 1808 | Ferdinand VII abdicates | Abdication | ||||
| 9 May 1808 | Uprising in Oviedo | Oviedo, Asturias | Uprising | On 13 May, the president of the Junta of Asturias, the Marquis of Santa Cruz, declared that "when and wherever one single Spaniard took arms against Napoleon, he would shoulder a musket and put himself at that man's side". | ||
| 23 May 1808 | Uprising in Valencia[7] | Valencia | Uprising | Valencia acknowledges Fernando as King of Spain. The governor, Miguel de Saavedra, Baron Albalat is killed by the crowds. Bertrán de Lis and his brothers arm the population. | ||
| 24 May 1808 | Uprising in Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Uprising | |||
| data-sort-value="24 May 1808" | 24 May 1808 – 5 June 1808 | Dupont marches from Toledo | Toledo – Andújar, Andalusia | Manoeuvres (French) | After having originally received orders from Murat to head for Cádiz, which were countermanded by Napoleon, thinking that his troops might be needed in Madrid, Dupont finally left Toledo with 13,000 second-line troops. After crossed Sierra Morena and encountering no hostility along the way, he occupied Andujar on 5 June. | |
| 26 May 1808 | Uprising in Seville< | Seville | Uprising | |||
| 30 May 1808 | Uprisings in Corunna and Ferrol | Galicia | Uprising | |||
| 5 June 1808 | Despeñaperros | Jaén, Andalusia | Spanish victory (guerrillas) | Two squadrons of French dragoons were attacked by insurgents at the northern entrance to the pass of Despenaperros, a steep gorge (defile) in the Sierra Morena that separates Castile-La Mancha (including Madrid) from Andalusia. The French were forced to retreat to the nearby town of Almuradiel. | ||
| 5 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Santa Cruz de Mudela" | Uprising of Santa Cruz de Mudela | Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha | Uprising: Spanish victory | The 700 French troops stationed in the village of Santa Cruz de Mudela are attacked by the population. 109 French soldiers are killed and 113 taken prisoner, while the rest flee back in the direction of Madrid, to Valdepeñas. (See 6 June 1808, below.) | |
| data-sort-value="5 June 1808" | 5–6 June 1808 | Valencia (Massacre of) | Valencia | Massacre | Canon (clergy) Baltasar Calvo instigated the massacre of 300–400 French citizens, half of whom were inside the city's citadel, where the local authorities were protecting them against popular reprisals following the killings in Madrid.[8] After having declared himself the only representative of King Ferdinand and was about to issue orders for dismissing the captain-general, Conde de Cervellon, and dissolving the Junta, Calvo was arrested, tried as a traitor and executed. Some two hundred of his followers were also executed and their bodies exposed in public.[9] | |
| 6 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Valdepeñas" | Uprising of Valdepeñas | Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha | Uprising: Spanish victory | Following the previous day's uprising in Santa Cruz de Mudela, Liger-Bélair and Roize, at the head of some 800 troops, together with some 300 soldiers that had escaped from the Santa Cruz uprising the previous day, prepare to march through the town of Valdepeñas. The population attack the leading column and Liger-Bélair sends in the dragoons, who are also forced to retreat. The resulting truce stipulates that, in return for a day's worth of food supplies, the French troops will not pass through the village. These actions at Santa Cruz (see 5 June 1808, above) and Valdepeñas, together with more isolated actions in the Sierra Morena, effectively cut French military communications between Madrid and Andalusia for around a month. | |
| 6 June 1808 | Porto (Uprising of) | Porto (Portugal) | Uprising: Portuguese victory | On hearing of the rebellion in Spain, Spanish general Belesta, having participated in the Invasion of Portugal, and stationed at Porto with 6,000 Spanish troops, captures the French general Quesnel, and marches to Coruña to join the fight against the French troops, sparking off a series of uprisings throughout the north of Portugal. | ||
| 6 June 1808 | Coronation of Joseph I | Madrid | Napoleon's elder brother, Joseph Bonaparte, proclaimed King of Spain. His reign lasted until 11 December 1813, when he abdicated and returned to France after the French defeat at the Battle of Vitoria in 1813. | |||
| 6 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Bruch 1" | First battle of Bruch | Barcelona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | See also Second battle of Bruch (14 June 1808). Often grouped together as one battle, there were in fact two separate battles, separated by more than a week, with different armies and commanders involved: of the 12 French regiments that participated, only one of them fought at both battles. | |
| 7 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Alcolea Bridge" | Battle of Alcolea Bridge | Córdoba, Andalusia | French victory | At Alcolea, 10 km from Córdoba, Dupont's troops engaged in their first battle in Andalusia against 3,000 regular troops under Pedro Agustín de Echávarri who tried to protect the bridge over the Guadalquivir. The same day, Dupont captured Córdoba. | |
| 7 June 1808 | Córdoba | Córdoba, Andalusia | French victory/sack | On their way to Seville, and ultimately to Cádiz, Dupont's 18,000 troops capture Córdoba, ransacking the city over four days. However, damaging guerrilla actions force Dupont to withdraw towards Madrid to meet up with Gobert's division, that had set out from Madrid on 2 July to reinforce Dupont. Only one brigade of this division ultimately reached Dupont, the rest being needed to hold the road north (to Madrid) against the guerrillas. | ||
| data-sort-value="9 June 1808" | 9–10 June 1808 | Sack of L'Arboç | L'Arboç, Tarragona, Catalonia | Manoeuvres (French)/sack | On retreating back from Tarragona towards Barcelona, General Chabran's vanguard was attacked and chased away by some 1,200 sometents from El Vendrell and 200 Swiss regulars. When Chabran's emissary returned to negotiate, the villagers met them with gunfire and the French troops retaliated, sacking the village.[10] | |
| data-sort-value="9 June 1808" | 9–14 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Rosily Squadron" | Capture of the Rosily Squadron | Cádiz, Andalusia | Spanish victory | |
| 11 June 1808 | Arrest of Spanish troops in Portugal | Lisbon, Portugal | Manoeuvres (French) | Following General Belesta's escape from Porto (See 6 June 1808, above), Junot arrested General Carrafa and rounded up most of his 7,000 troops,[11] the only Spanish troops now left in Portugal, were disarmed and kept prisoners on pontoons moored under the guns of the Lisbon forts, until the English released them after the battle of Vimiero, ten weeks later, under the terms of the Convention of Cintra. | ||
| 12 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Cabezón" | Battle of Cabezón | Valladolid, Castile and León | French victory | ||
| 14 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Bruch 2" | Second battle of Bruch | Barcelona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | See also First battle of Bruch (6 June 1808) | |
| data-sort-value="15 June 1808" | 15 June 1808 – 14 August 1808 | data-sort-value="Zaragoza 1" | First Siege of Zaragoza | Zaragoza, Aragón | Spanish victory | |
| 16 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Olhão" | Uprising of Olhão | Olhão (Portugal) | Uprising: Portuguese victory | Portuguese civilians revolted and expelled the French forces from Olhão. By 23 June, all French forces had been expelled from the region of Algarve. | |
| 17 June 1808 | Skirmish of Mongat | Montgat, Barcelona, Catalonia | French victory | On his way to Girona, with four French and three Italian squadrons of cuirassiers and chasseurs, almost the whole of his cavalry, that is, some 5,900 men, nearly half his corps, and a battery of eight guns, Duhesme was met at the Castle of Montgat by some 8,000 or 9,000 somatenes who fled after suffering severe losses. | ||
| 17 June 1808 | Sack of Mataró | Mataró, Barcelona, Catalonia | Manoeuvres (French)/sack | Met with barricades, and two or three cannon, Milosewitz's Italian brigade easily stormed the town, which Duhesme's troops entered that same afternoon, and were given permission by their general to sack the town. After leaving Mataró the following day, the French troops then destroyed every other village on the road to Girona. | ||
| 18 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Faro" | Uprising of Faro | Faro (Portugal) | Uprising: Portuguese victory | On 18 June the civilians in the city of Faro captured 70 French soldiers and General Maurin, the Governor of Algarve. Colonel Maransin, Maurin's second-in-command, having lost his communications with Lisbon, evacuated his 1,200 men, a battalion each of the 26th of the line and the Légion du Midi, from the province. He withdrew first to Mertola and then to Beja, in the Alemtejo, before heading to Lisbon. (See 26 June 1808, below) | |
| 19 June 1808 | Vedel marches from Toledo | Toledo – La Carolina | Manoeuvres (French) | Vedel, with the 6,000 men, 700 horse, and 12 guns of the 2nd Division, set out south from Toledo to force a passage over the Sierra Morena, hold the mountains from the guerrillas, and link up with Dupont, pacifying Castile-La Mancha along the way. Vedel was joined during the march by small detachments under Roize and Liger-Bélair. | ||
| data-sort-value="20 June 1808" | 20–21 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Gerona" | Battle of Girona | Girona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | |
| 21 June 1808 | Manoeuvres (French)/Portuguese victory | Loison, based at Almeida, left for Porto with two battalions, some 2,000 men, and a few guns to garrison the city. Crossing the Douro at the ferry of Pezo-de-Ragoa, his troops were attacked on all sides by the local population, which fired on his troops from above, and rolled rocks down the slopes at them. Loison retreated back to Almeida. | ||||
| data-sort-value="26 June 1808" | 26–28 June 1808 | data-sort-value="Valencia" | Battle of Valencia | Valencia, Valencia | Spanish victory | |
| 26 June 1808 | Sack of Villa Viciosa | Villa Viciosa, District of Évora, Portugal | Manoeuvres (French)/sack | Avril, based at Estremoz, near Elvas, relieved the French garrison at Villa Viciosa, where the townsfolk had besieged the company of the 86th Regiment. The French force sacked the town. | ||
| 26 June 1808 | Sack of Beja | Beja, Portugal | Manoeuvres (French)/sack | Isolated in the centre of the insurrection in Portugal, Maransin had left Mertola to withdraw towards Lisbon with his 1,200 men. At Beja, a mass of citizens fired upon the French troops from the town's walls. The French force sacked the town. (See 18 June 1808, above.) | ||
| 26 June 1808 | Puerta del Rey (mountain pass) | Jaén, Andalusia | French victory | Vedel's column faced Lieutenant-Colonel Valdecaños's detachment of Spanish regulars and guerrillas with six guns blocking the mountain pass. The following day, Vedel met up with Dupont at La Carolina, reestablishing military communications with Madrid after a month of disruption. With the reinforcements from Vedel and Gobert, Dupont now had 20,000 men, albeit short of supplies.[12] | ||
| 27 June 1808 | Gijón Arrival of British officers | Asturias | Delegation | In response to the Junta General of Asturias' request to London, the Portland administration sent three British Army officers, led by a lieutenant colonel, to Gijón to assess the state of affairs. Following the Spanish victory at Bailén the following month, the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Viscount Castlereagh sent a second delegation, led by General Sir James Leith, who arrived in Gijón on 30 August 1808 charged with seeing how the north of Spain could be reinforced to prevent Napoleon sending in more troops through Irun, and isolating him in Madrid or Burgos. Leith would join Baird's forces in November 1808.[13] | ||
| 30 June 1808 | Balearic Islands to mainland Spain | Manoeuvres (Spanish) | The corps of 10,000 men stationed in the Balearic Islands was the nearest force able to succour Catalonia. Faced with the open mutiny of the Aragonese and Catalan battalions of his army, the Captain-General at Palma, General Vives, in charge of the garrisons of Majorca and Minorca finally agreed to send troops from Port Mahon to the mainland.[14] The Aragonese regiment landed near Tortosa, and marched for Saragossa, while the bulk of the expeditionary force, nearly 5,000 strong, was put ashore in Catalonia between 19 and 23 July. | |||
| data-sort-value="2 July 1808" | 2–3 July 1808 | Sack of Jaen | Jaen, Jaén, Andalusia | Manoeuvres (French) | Dupont ordered Vedel, based at Baylen, to send a brigade, which sacked the city. | |
| 4 July 1808 | Sack of Guarda | Guarda, District of Guarda, Portugal | Manoeuvres (French) | Loison left a garrison of 1,200 men at Almeida, having formed a provisional battalion of soldiers not deemed fit for forced marching, and spent a week moving through the mountains of Beira, skirmishing with insurgents along the way and sacking the town of Guarda. By the time he reached Abrantes he had lost 200 men, mostly stragglers killed by peasantry. His cruelty led to his nickname, "Maneta" (‘One-Hand’), being accursed for many years in Portugal. | ||
| data-sort-value="13 July 1808" | 13 July 1808 – 1 August 1808 | Expeditionary force (British) | Cork, Ireland – Mondego Bay, Coimbra District, Portugal | Manoeuvres (British) | Wellington's expeditionary force, comprising thirteen battalions of infantry plus cavalry and artillery, 9,000 men in all,[15] sailed from Cork, landing in Portugal on 1 August. | |
| 14 July 1808 | data-sort-value="Medina de Rioseco" | Battle of Medina de Rioseco | Valladolid, Castile and León | French victory | Also known as the Battle of Moclín, from the name of a nearby hill held by Spanish infantry. | |
| data-sort-value="16 July 1808" | 16–19 July 1808 | data-sort-value="Bailén" | Battle of Bailén | Jaén, Andalusia | Spanish victory (decisive) | Having lost some 2,000 men on the battlefield, together with some 800 Swiss troops that had gone over to Reding's Swiss regiment, Dupont called for a truce, formally surrendered his remaining 17,600 men on 23 July. Under the terms of surrender, Dupont, Vedel and their troops were to be repatriated to France. However, with the exception of the most senior officers, most of the French rank and file were confined on hulks in Cádiz, before being transported to the uninhabited island of Cabrera, where half of the 7,000 men starved to death. |
| data-sort-value="24 July 1808" | 24 July 1808 – 16 August 1808 | data-sort-value="Gerona 2" | Second Siege of Girona | Girona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | |
| 29 July 1808 | data-sort-value="Evora" | Battle of Évora | Alentejo (Portugal) | French victory | The following day, the French General Loison massacred the men, women, and children, of Évora, marking the future of the relationships between the different nations. | |
| data-sort-value="1 August 1808" | 1 August 1808 – 17 December 1808 | data-sort-value="Barcelona" | Blockade of Barcelona | Barcelona, Catalonia | French victory | |
| data-sort-value="7 August 1808" | 7 August 1808 – 11 October 1808 | Evacuation of the La Romana Division | Denmark–Spain by sea | Manoeuvres (Spanish) | Some 9,000 men stationed in Denmark, belonging to the 15,000-strong Division of the North, comprising Spanish troops commanded by Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana, defected from the armies of the First French Empire under the leadership of Marshal Bernadotte. Transported aboard British navy ships, on reaching Santander, they reinforced Blake's Army of Galicia. Entering into battle at Valmaseda, on 5 November 1808, they defeated Victor's army, only to be defeated by the same forces a few days later at the Battle of Espinosa. | |
| 17 August 1808 | data-sort-value="Roliça" | Battle of Roliça | Leiria (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory, tactical French retreat | The first battle fought by the British army during the Peninsular War.[16] | |
| 21 August 1808 | data-sort-value="Vimeiro" | Battle of Vimeiro | Lisbon (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory | Wellesley (not yet Wellington) was superseded in command by Generals Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple. This defeat for the French led to the signing of the Convention of Sintra on 30 August 1808, putting an end to Napoleon's invasion of Portugal. | |
| 27 August 1808 | Alfaro (Bridge of) & Tudela | Alfaro, La Rioja, Tudela, Navarre & Miranda de Ebro | Manoeuvres (Spanish)/ | On 27 August, following Palafox's instructions to push as far up the Ebro as he could, Eugenio Eulalio Palafox Portocarrero, Count of Montijo, at the head of a column of the Army of Aragón reached the bridge at Alfaro, almost opposite the left flank of the French forces at Milagro. When attacked there by Lefebvre-Desnouettes's cavalry, the Spanish column retreated to Tudela, where Marshal Moncey met them with an infantry division. Again, Montijo retreated. Thinking that these skirmishes must be mere diversions, and under the impression that the attack would be coming from that side, King Joseph moved his reserves up the river to Miranda. Montijo, however, had given way simply because his troops were raw levies, and because his nearest support was Saragossa. It would not be until some three weeks later that Spanish forces made another offensive move. | ||
| 30 August 1808 | data-sort-value="Sintra" | Convention of Sintra | Lisbon (Portugal) | French troops abandon Portugal | Following his victory at the Battle of Vimeiro (21 August) Sir Arthur Wellesley, against his wishes, was ordered by his immediate superiors, Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple, to sign the preliminary Armistice. The subsequent convention, the Convention of Cintra, agreed between Dalrymple and Kellerman, and despite the protests of the Portuguese commander, Freire, allowed the evacuation of Junot's 20,900 troops from Portugal to France with all their equipment and 'personal property' (mostly loot) aboard Royal Navy ships. The public outcry in Britain led to an inquiry, held 14 November to 27 December 1808, which cleared all three British officers. Shortly after, George Woodward would caricature Wellesley in The Convention of Cintra, a Portuguese Gambol for the amusement of Iohn Bull, London, 1809[17] Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore took over command of the army in Portugal. | |
| data-sort-value="10 September 1808" | 10–20 September 1808 | Bilbao (Relief of) | Bilbao, Basque Country | Spanish victory | Contrary to the plan of operations decided on at Madrid on 5 September, by which he was to meet up with the armies of Castaños and of Eguia, neither of which were ready, on 10 September Blake set in motion his own plan to threaten Burgos with a small portion of his army of some 32,000 Galicians and Asturians, while with the main body he would march on Bilbao.[18] Having sent his 'vanguard' and 'reserve' brigades towards Burgos, Blake moved on Bilbao with four complete divisions, with the Marquis of Portazgo's division routing General Monthion's garrison there on 20 September.[19] [20] | |
| 26 September 1808 | Bilbao (Retreat from) | Bilbao, Basque Country | Manoeuvres (Spanish) | Having routed General Monthion's garrison the previous week, Marquis of Portazgo's division was forced to abandon the city as Ney approached. Although Portazgo occupied it again 12 October, he was forced to abandon the place once again. | ||
| 12 October 1808 | Combat of Sant Cugat | Sant Cugat del Vallès, Barcelona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | |||
| 16 October 1808 | Almeida, Portugal | Manoeuvres (British) | Having left 9,000 troops at Almeida, as well as sending 4,000 troops, under Lt Gen Sir John Hope towards Madrid via Elvas, LtGen Sir John Moore, the commander of British forces in Portugal, entered Spain with 17,000 troops to meet up with Sir David Baird's 12,300 troops then marching towards Leon from Coruña.[21] | |||
| 31 October 1808 | data-sort-value="Zornoza" | Battle of Zornoza | Biscay, Basque Country | Indecisive | Although a tactical victory for the French, it was considered a strategic blunder | |
| 5 November 1808 | data-sort-value="Valmaseda" | Battle of Valmaseda | Biscay, Basque Country | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="7 November 1808" | 7 November 1808 – 5 December 1808 | data-sort-value="Roses" | Siege of Roses | Girona, Catalonia | French victory | |
| 10 November 1808 | data-sort-value="Gamonal" | Battle of Gamonal | Burgos, Castile and León[22] | French victory | The Conde de Belvedere, at the head of the 1st Division (4,000 foot, 400 horse and twelve guns) of the army of Estremadura, plus the greater part of the 2nd Division (about 3,000 infantry and two regiments of hussars) of the same army, had arrived to reinforce the 1,600 men (plus four guns) of the Burgos garrison. The Spanish forces therefore totalled some 8,600 bayonets, 1,100 sabres, and sixteen guns which would face Napoleon's French forces,[23] under Soult,[24] of some 70,000 men (although of these, only around 18,000 bayonets and 6,500 sabres would be deployed for the battle). | |
| data-sort-value="10 November 1808" | 10–11 November 1808 | data-sort-value="Espinosa" | Battle of Espinosa | Burgos, Castile and León | French victory | |
| 23 November 1808 | data-sort-value="Tudela" | Battle of Tudela | Tudela, Navarre | French-Polish victory | ||
| 30 November 1808 | data-sort-value="Somosierra" | Battle of Somosierra | Mountain pass 60 miles north of Madrid separating the provinces of Madrid and Segovia | French victory | Famous for the Polish light cavalry's uphill charge, in columns of four, against Spanish artillery positions. The heavily outnumbered Spanish detachment of conscripts and artillery were unable to stop the Grande Armée's advance on Madrid, and Napoleon entered the capital of Spain on 4 December, a month after having entered the country.[25] | |
| 4 December 1808 | Napoleon entered Madrid with 80,000 troops. | Madrid | French victory | Napoleon turned his troops against Moore's British forces, who were forced to retreat back towards Galicia three weeks later and, after a last stand at the Battle of Corunna in January 1809, withdrew from Spain. | ||
| 9–11 December 1808 | General St. Cyr sets off to relieve Duhesme at Barcelona | Roses – Barcelona | Manoeuvres (French) | Having captured Rosas (See 7 November 1808, above), General St. Cyr was now able to return to his initial task of relieving Duhesme at Barcelona. Leaving Reille's division of 5,000–5,500 soldiers to hold Figueres and Roses, watch Girona, and protect the high-road to Perpignan, St. Cyr headed south with the divisions of Souham, Pino, and Chabot, a force of some 15,000 infantry and 1,500 horse. Realising that Girona would be able to hold out longer than the timeline available (Duhesme had reported that their provisions would only last until the end of that month), and after failing to draw its commanders, Lazán and Álvarez to meet him in the open, and as the place commanded the high-road, St. Cyr chose the inland by-paths, meaning that he was forced to send his guns and heavy baggage back to Figueres. | ||
| 15 December 1808 | Skirmish at fortress of Hostalrich | Hostalric, Girona, Catalonia | French victory | The Spanish garrison came out and skirmished with the rearguard of St. Cyr's column (See 9 December 1808, above), but without doing much harm. | ||
| 15 December 1808 | Combat at Sant Celoni | Sant Celoni, Catalonia | French victory | St. Cyr's column (See 9 December 1808, above), proceeding in single file, with the dragoons dismounted and leading their horses, descended into the Barcelona chaussée near Sant Celoni, where it was attacked by four battalions of miquelets, sent by Vives. | ||
| 16 December 1808 | data-sort-value="Cardadeu" | Battle of Cardadeu | Barcelona, Catalonia | French victory | ||
| data-sort-value="20 December 1808" | 20 December 1808 – 20 February 1809 | data-sort-value="Zaragoza 2" | Second Siege of Zaragoza | Zaragoza, Aragón | French victory | |
| 21 December 1808 | data-sort-value="Molins de Rey" | Battle of Molins de Rei | Barcelona, Catalonia | French victory | ||
| 21 December 1808 | data-sort-value="Sahagún" | Battle of Sahagún | León, Castile and León | British victory | ||
| 24 December 1808 | Combat of Tarancón | Tarancón, Cuenca, Castilla–La Mancha | Spanish victory/Manoeuvres | The Duke of the Infantado sent General Venegas, with the vanguard of the Army of the Centre, together with greater part of his cavalry, to surprise the French brigade of dragoons at Tarancón. The two French regiments escaped the town with the loss of fifty or sixty men and the Spanish cavalry arrived too late to give chase. The vanguard of the Spanish forces planning to evict King Joseph from Madrid remained at Tarancón until 11 January, when they withdrew to Uclés.[26] (See 13 January 1809, below.) | ||
| 25 December 1808 | Retreat to Corunna | British retreat | John Moore started a 250-mile (400 km) retreat (reaching La Coruña on 14 January). | |||
| 29 December 1808 | Massacre of Chinchón | Chinchón, New Castile (now Community of Madrid) | Massacre/sack | In retaliation for the murder of four French soldiers in the town two day previously, the French troops based at Aranjuez executed 86 people, both in the town itself and on the road to Aranjuez, and set fire to numerous buildings. Goya, whose brother was a priest in Chinchón during that period, makes a reference to this, and other tragedies of war in his etching "This is worse" ("Esto es peor"), part of the series The Disasters of War.[27] | ||
| 29 December 1808 | Battle of Benavente | Zamora, Castile and León | British victory | |||
| 30 December 1808 | data-sort-value="Mansilla" | Battle of Mansilla | León, Castile and León | French victory | ||
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 1809 | data-sort-value="Castellón" | Battle of Castellón | Girona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | This Castellón refers to Castelló d'Empúries, in Catalonia, not the town or province in Valencia. | |
| 3 January 1809 | data-sort-value="Cacabelo" | Battle of Cacabelos | León, Castile and León | British victory | ||
| 13 January 1809 | data-sort-value="Uclés" | Battle of Uclés | Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha | French victory | ||
| 14 January 1809 | Treaty between Great Britain and Spain | London | Treaty | "Treaty of peace, friendship, and alliance" by which Britain recognises Fernando as King of Spain.[28] | ||
| 16 January 1809 | data-sort-value="Corunna" | Battle of Corunna | A Coruña, Galicia | Different analyses:British tactical victory[29] French strategic victory[30] [31] | The British troops were able complete their embarkation, but left the port cities of Corunna and Ferrol, as well as the whole of northern Spain, to be captured and occupied by the French. During the battle, Sir John Moore, the British commander, was mortally wounded. The battle is also referred to as the Battle of Elviña. | |
| 18 January 1809 | Corunna (Surrender of) | A Coruña, Galicia | French victory | Alcedo, whose garrison of two Spanish regiments had protected Sir John Moore's troops during the embarkation, surrendered to Marshal Soult, who was able to refit with the ample military stores available. A week later Soult's forces also captured Ferrol, a major Spanish naval base with an even greater arsenal than that of Corunna, and taking eight ships of the line. | ||
| 18 January 1809 | Combat of Tortola | Tórtola, Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha | French victory | Following the defeat at Uclés (See 13 January 1809, above), battle at which he was not present, Infantado, withdrawing towards Chinchilla, in the kingdom of Murcia, via his base at Cuenca, went ahead of his artillery. Fifteen guns, escorted by a single cavalry regiment, were captured by Digeon's dragoons at Tortola, a few miles to the south of Cuenca. | ||
| 31 January 1809 | data-sort-value="Vigo" | French troops garrison Vigo[32] | Vigo, Galicia | Manoeuvres (French) | On his way to Portugal, Marshal Soult left a garrison of 700 men at Vigo to prevent the British using its harbour to supply the Galician insurgents. As soon as Soult had moved on to Orense, the Galicians, headed by Pablo Morillo, a lieutenant of the regular army, and Manuel Garcia del Barrio, a colonel dispatched by the Central Junta from Seville, blockaded the city. (See 27 March 1809, below.) | |
| 25 February 1809 | data-sort-value="Valls" | Battle of Valls | Tarragona, Catalonia | French victory | ||
| 6 – 7 March 1809 | Battle of Monterey | Monterrey, Orense, Galicia | French victory | |||
| 7 March 1809 | British General William Beresford appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese Army. | |||||
| 10 March 1809 | Aguilar de Campoo (Capture of) | Aguilar de Campóo, Palencia, Castile and León | Spanish victory | Juan Díaz Porlier's irregular troops captured the French battalion garrisoned at Aguilar, taking prisoner nine officers, 400 soldiers and seizing two 4-pounder guns, which were taken to Oviedo and handed over to the Junta. For this action, Porlier was promoted to brigadier and his second-in-command, Amor, to captain.[33] | ||
| data-sort-value="10 March 1809" | 1012 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Chaves 1" | First Siege of Chaves | Norte (Portugal) | French victory | Francisco da Silveira would later recapture the town at the Second Siege of Chaves (21–25 March 1809). |
| 17 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Villafranca" | Battle of Villafranca | León, Castile and León | Spanish victory | ||
| 17 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Mesas de Ibor" | Combat of Mesas de Ibor | Mesas de Ibor, Cáceres, Extremadura | French victory | Despite his strong position, with six guns and 5,000 troops, on the heights of the other side of the ravine at the river Ibor, Duke del Parque was forced to retreat, pushing his guns over the precipice, by Leval's eight battalions. | |
| 20 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Braga" | Battle of Braga | Braga (Portugal) | French victory | Also known as the Battle of Póvoa de Lanhoso or Battle of Carvalho d'Este. | |
| 20 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Berrocal" | Combat of Berrocal | Cáceres, Extremadura | Spanish victory | Henestrosa, as the rearguard of Cuesta's Army of Estremadura and faced with Lasalle pressing him, made a sudden halt and drove in the leading squadron of the French by a charge of his Royal Carbineers. The skirmish at Miajadas the following day would be an even greater Spanish victory. (See 21 March 1809, below.) | |
| 21 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Miajadas" | Battle of Miajadas | Miajadas, Cáceres, Extremadura | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="21 March 1809" | 2125 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Chaves 2" | Second Siege of Chaves | Norte (Portugal) | Portuguese victory | |
| 24 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Yevenes" | Battle of Los Yébenes | Toledo, Castile-La Mancha | Spanish victory | ||
| 27 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Ciudad Real" | Battle of Ciudad Real | Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha | French-Polish victory | ||
| 27 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Vigo" | Capitulation of Vigo | Anglo-Spanish victory | Articles of Capitulation signed between Chalot, the Governor and Commandant of the French troops garrisoned in the town and forts of Vigo, on the one part; and Crawford, captain of the British frigate, Venus, deputed by George McKinley, captain of HMS Lively and Commanding Officer before Vigo, and Morillo, Colonel Commandant of the Spanish troops before the town, on the other. (See 31 January 1809, above.) | ||
| 28 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Medellín" | Battle of Medellín | Medellín, Extremadura | French victory | ||
| 28 March 1809 | data-sort-value="Porto 1" | First Battle of Porto | Porto (Portugal) | French victory | ||
| data-sort-value="18 April 1809" | 18 April 1809 – 2 May 1809 | Battle of the Bridge of Amarante | Amarante, Porto, Portugal | French victory | Oman (1902, p. 250.) refers to it as the defence of Amarante. Following Francisco da Silveira's victory at Chaves (see 21 March 1809, above), Soult, in Porto, sent General Delaborde, Lorge, and Heudelet to assist Loison in opening up the route back to Spain. At Amarante, the Portuguese troops were able hold Loison, with 9,000 French troops, nearly half the army of Portugal, concentrated on the west bank of the Tâmega Riverfor almost two weeks. | |
| 22 April 1809 | Creation of Anglo-Portuguese Army | Having arrived at Lisbon on the 29th, Wellesley, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Portuguese Army and integrated the two armies into mixed British-Portuguese divisions, normally on a basis of two British and one Portuguese brigades. | ||||
| data-sort-value="6 May 1809" | 6 May 1809 – 12 December 1809 | data-sort-value="Gerona 3" | Third Siege of Girona | Girona, Catalonia | French victory | Depicted in The Great Day of Girona, by Ramon Martí Alsina. |
| data-sort-value="10 May 1809" | 10 May 1809 – 11 May 1809 | data-sort-value="Grijó" | Battle of Grijó | Porto (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory | |
| 12 May 1809 | data-sort-value="Porto 2" | Second Battle of Porto | Porto (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory (decisive) | Also known as the Battle of the Douro. Wellesley's British troops, reinforced by Portuguese units under Beresford's command, beat Soult at Oporto, forcing the French out of the country. | |
| 14 May 1809 | data-sort-value="Alcantara" | Battle of Alcantara | Cáceres, Extremadura | French victory | ||
| 22 May 1809 | Combat at Campo de Estrella | Santiago de Compostela, Galicia | Spanish victory | General La Carrera, having rested his 2000-strong detachment of regulars at Puebla de Sanabria, then marched them, plus six guns, up to form the core of the Division of the Minho, the newly raised insurrectionary army that Morillo and Garcia del Barrio had been training. The combined force of 10,000 men, of whom 7,000 had firearms, then approached Santiago, where Maucune's four battalions and a regiment of chasseurs met them outside the city and were repulsed, with Carrera forcing the French troops back into the town and chasing them for a league beyond it. Maucune, himself wounded, and having lost 600 men—a fifth of his whole force—and two guns, retreated in disorder to La Coruña. | ||
| 23 May 1809 | data-sort-value="Alcañiz" | Battle of Alcañiz | Teruel, Aragón | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="7 June 1809" | 7 June 1809 – 9 June 1809 | data-sort-value="Puente Sanpayo" | Battle of Puente Sanpayo | Pontevedra, Galicia | Spanish victory | |
| 15 June 1809 | data-sort-value="María" | Battle of María | Zaragoza, Aragón | French victory | ||
| 18 June 1809 | data-sort-value="Belchite" | Battle of Belchite | Zaragoza, Aragón | French victory | ||
| data-sort-value="27 July 1809" | 2728 July 1809 | data-sort-value="Talavera" | Battle of Talavera | Toledo, Castile-La Mancha | Anglo-Spanish victory Strategic French victory | Wellesley, who, together with Spanish troops under General Cuesta, had defeated the French army at this battle then had to return to Portugal when Marshal Soult's army threatened his lines of communication. |
| 8 August 1809 | data-sort-value="Arzobispo" | Battle of Arzobispo | Toledo, Castile-La Mancha | French victory | ||
| 11 August 1809 | data-sort-value="Almonacid" | Battle of Almonacid | Toledo, Castile–La Mancha | French victory | ||
| 12 August 1809 | data-sort-value="Puerto de Baños" | Battle of Puerto de Baños | Cáceres, Extremadura | French victory | Mountain pass | |
| 9 October 1809 | data-sort-value="Astorga" | Combat of Astorga | León, Castile and León | Spanish victory | Apparently unaware that the town had recently been heavily garrisoned, Kellerman sent Carrié with 1,200 infantry and two regiments of dragoons to attack the town.[34] | |
| 18 October 1809 | data-sort-value="Tamames" | Battle of Tamames | Salamanca, Castile and León | Spanish victory | ||
| 25 October 1809 | Battle of Maguelone | Gulf of Roses, Girona, Catalonia | British victory | A running naval battle | ||
| 26 October 1809[35] | data-sort-value="Torres Vedras" | Wellington orders construction of the Lines of Torres Vedras | Lisbon, Portugal | Fortification (Anglo-Portuguese) | Wellington orders construction of the Lines. Under the direction of Sir Richard Fletcher, the first line was completed one year later, around the time of the Battle of Sobral. | |
| 11 November 1809 | data-sort-value="Ocaña" | Combat of Ocaña | Toledo, Castile-La Mancha | French victory | Ocaña is a small town 65 km from Madrid, defended by five regiments of Milhaud's dragoons and Sebastiani's division (six battalions) of Polish infantry. Aréizaga sent his cavalry force, 5,700 strong, which outnumbered the French cavalry by three-to-one, and forced them to retreat behind the Polish infantry. After attempting to attack the squares, Aréizaga realised that they would have to wait for Zayas's infantry to arrive and attack the following day. The French, however, retreated overnight to Aranjuez. Aréizaga entered the town the following day.[36] | |
| 18 November 1809 | data-sort-value="Ontigola" | Combat of Ontigola | Ontigola (near Ocaña) | French victory | The cavalry of Milhaud and Paris (who was killed in the battle), made up of eight regiments, numbering almost 3,000 men, and riding at the head of the French army, crossed the Tagus river at Aranjuez and met Freire's four divisions of horsemen, over 4,000 sabres, moving at the head of Aréizaga's column. According to Oman (1908), "the collision of Milhaud and Freire brought about the largest cavalry fight which took place during the whole Peninsular War".[37] | |
| 19 November 1809 | data-sort-value="Ocaña" | Battle of Ocaña | Toledo, Castile-La Mancha | French victory | At Ocaña, 65 km from Madrid, French forces under Soult and King Joseph Bonaparte caused the greatest single defeat of Spanish army, leaving twenty-six thousand out of the fifty-four thousand Spanish troops, under Aréizaga, dead, wounded, or imprisoned. | |
| 23 November 1809 | data-sort-value="Carpio" | Battle of Carpio | Valladolid, Castile and León | Spanish victory | El Carpio, some 20 km southwest of the town of Medina del Campo, is about 4 km from Fresno el Viejo. Both villages border the province of Salamanca at the southwestern tip of the province of Valladolid. The village, including its strategic 10th-century fortress was completely destroyed by the French troops on 25 November. | |
| 26 November 1809 | data-sort-value="Alba de Tormes" | Battle of Alba de Tormes | Salamanca, Castile and León | French victory | ||
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 January 1810 | data-sort-value="Mollet" | Battle of Mollet | Barcelona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | ||
| 31 January 1810 | Capture of Oviedo | Oviedo, Asturias | French victory | The captain-general of Asturias, Antonio Arce, with some 4,000 men to cover the whole of Asturias,[38] plus some new levies, little more than 2,000 strong, raised at Oviedo, evacuated that city without offering much resistance to General Bonet's 7,000 troops out of Santander. However, by seizing Infiesto and Gijon, Juan Díaz Porlier effectively cut off Bonet's communication with Santander, forcing the French general to abandon Oviedo and head back towards Santander in order to clear his rear, whereby the Spanish general, Bárcena, was able to reoccupy the Asturian capital. (See 14 February 1810, below.) | ||
| 1 February 1810 | Seville (surrender of) | Seville, Andalusia | French victory | King Joseph, accompanied by Marshals Soult and Victor, entered Seville, the Central Junta having abandoned the city to its fate. | ||
| data-sort-value="5 February 1810" | 5 February 1810 – 24 August 1812 | data-sort-value="Cádiz" | Siege of Cádiz | Cádiz, Andalusia | Spanish victory | The reconstituted national government of Spain, known as the Cortes of Cádizeffectively a government-in-exilefortified itself in Cádiz, besieged by 70,000 French troops. |
| 14 February 1810 | Combat of Colloto & capture of Oviedo | Colloto, Asturias | French victory | Bonet, having secured his line back to Santander, returned to take Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, again, (See 31 January 1810, above.) after defeating Bárcena—who had reoccupied the city—at Colloto, just outside Oviedo. The Roman bridge of Colloto, crosses the Nora River on the Roman road that connected Cantabria with Gallaecia. It was declared a Cultural heritage monument in 2003.[39] | ||
| 20 February 1810 | data-sort-value="Vich" | Battle of Vic | Barcelona, Catalonia | French victory | ||
| 19 March 1810 | Skirmish at Grado | Grado, Asturias | Spanish victory | José Cienfuegos, appointed by the Asturian junta to take command of Arce's Asturian troops, resumed the offensive operations against Bonet. Following the skirmish, and once again concerned with Juan Díaz Porlier's rear attacks, Bonet abandoned Oviedo, for the third time, withdrawing to Cangas de Onis. (See 14 February 1810, above.) | ||
| 21 March 1810 | data-sort-value="Vilafranca" | Battle of Vilafranca | Vilafranca del Penedès, Catalonia | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="21 March 1810" | 21 March 1810 – 22 April 1810 | data-sort-value="Astorga" | Siege of Astorga | León, Castile and León | French victory | |
| 29 March 1810 | Capture of Oviedo | Oviedo, Asturias | French victory | For the fourth time in three months, Bonet took the capital of Asturias. (See 19 March 1810, above.) The Spanish troops once again retired without offering serious opposition, and were finally forced to retreat to Tineo in the mountains. Bonnet's 7,000 men were now immobilized for the rest of the year, having to garrison Oviedo, the ports of Gijon and Aviles, as well as all the central and eastern Asturias, and, moreover, to defend the communication with Santander from Juan Díaz Porlier's continued attacks. | ||
| 5 April 1810 | data-sort-value="Manresa" | Battle of Manresa | Manresa, Catalonia | Spanish victory | ||
| 15 April 1810 | Lleida arrival of Suchet's troops | Lleida, Catalonia | Manoeuvres (French) | Suchet's army of 13,000 French troops arrived in front of Lleida. The siege proper started on 29 April. | ||
| 23 April 1810 | data-sort-value="Margalef" | Battle of Margalef | Tarragona, Catalonia | French victory | On 22 April, a Spanish force of 8,000 infantry and 600 cavalry, incorporated into two divisions led by Ibarrola and Pirez, under O’Donnell,[40] descended the Monblanc defile of the Prades Mountains to relieve Lleida. They were surprised by Musnier's seven infantry battalions and 500 cuirassieres which, together with Harispe's three infantry battalions and two squadrons of hussars that had been stationed at Alcoletge, a bridgehead three miles from Lleida, forced them to retreat to the ruined village of Margalef, some 10 miles from Lleida.[41] | |
| data-sort-value="26 April 1810" | 26 April 1810 – 9 July 1810 | data-sort-value="Ciudad Rodrigo 1" | First siege of Ciudad Rodrigo | Salamanca, Castile and León | French victory | |
| data-sort-value="29 April 1810" | 29 April 1810 – 13 May 1810 | data-sort-value="Lérida" | Siege of Lleida | Lleida, Catalonia | French victory | |
| data-sort-value="15 May 1810" | 15 May 1810 – 8 June 1810 | data-sort-value="Mequinenza" | Siege of Mequinenza | Zaragoza, Aragon | French victory | |
| 11 July 1810 | data-sort-value="Barquilla" | Combat of Barquilla | Salamanca, Castile and León | French victory | ||
| 11 July 1810 | Landing at Santoña | Santoña, Cantabria | Manoeuvres (Anglo-Spanish) | Captain Mends, on board HMS Arethusa off Bermeo, informed the commander-in-chief of the Western Squadron, Lord Gambier, that his squadron, also composed of, under Captain Bowles;, under Captain Aylmer, who would also lead the landing party; ; ;[42] and, had successfully participated in the landing of Brigadier-general Porlier's 500 men and that a brigade of British seamen and Marines had also been part of the landing party and had seen action onshore. Mends, as well as commending the officers and men serving under him, ends his dispatch by praising Porlier and the gallantry of his "small band of officers and soldiers".[43] | ||
| 24 July 1810 | data-sort-value="River Côa" | Battle of the Côa | Guarda, (Portugal) | French victory | After having blown up the Real Fuerte de la Concepción on 20 July, Craufurd positioned his Light Brigade, comprising five battalions of infantry, two light cavalry regiments, and one horse artillery battery (about 4200 infantry, 800 cavalry, and 6 guns)[44] east of the Côa River (disobeying Wellington's orders), near Castelo de Almeida and near the only bridge of an otherwise unfordable river. On the morning of the battle, they were surprised by Marshal Ney's 20,000 troops, on their way to besiege Almeida. Craufurd was able to defend the bridge against several attacks, but finally retreated at midnight. The Real Fuerte de la Concepción, in the province of Salamanca, was one of a series of star forts on the Spanish side of the border between Spain and Portugal. The Praça-forte de Almeida, 10 km away, in the Guarda District, was one of a series of Portuguese star forts. | |
| data-sort-value="25 July 1810" | 25 July27 August 1810 | data-sort-value="Almeida 1" | First siege of Almeida | Guarda, (Portugal) | French victory | |
| 29 July 1810 | Sanabria, Zamora | French victory | At the head of 5,000 troops, General Seras attacked the castle at Puebla de Sanabria, near the border with Portugal, garrisoned by 3,000 Spanish troops. When the Spanish general, Taboada, abandoned the place, the French took twenty pieces of artillery and enough provisions for 3,000 troops for six months.[45] Silveira, concerned, immediately prepared to defend the frontier. However, Seras unexpectedly turned back to Zamora, leaving a battalion of the 2nd Swiss Regiment and a squadron of horse to garrison the place. Silveira and Taboada immediately united their forces, and routed the French from the castle, forcing it into the town on 4 August, where it was forced to surrender a week later, with some 20 officers and 350 men, of an original 600, taken prisoner. Seras returned too late to succour his garrison, and retired to Benavente, whereupon Taboada reoccupied the place. Seras then had to head up to the north where Bonet was being bothered by Porlier's actions, with Bonet asking him to attack Porlier's force in the rear. | |||
| 11 August 1810 | Combat of Villagarcia | Villagarcía de la Torre, Extremadura | French victory | |||
| 10 September 1810 | Combat at Begur | Begur, Girona, Catalonia | English victory | An English landing-party stormed the coastal battery, capturing the garrison of 50 men. | ||
| 14 September 1810 | data-sort-value="La Bisbal" | Battle of La Bisbal | Girona, Catalonia | Anglo-Spanish victory | ||
| 14 September 1810 | Actions at Palamos, San Feliu & Calonje | Palamós, Sant Feliu & Calonge, Girona, Catalonia | Anglo-Spanish victory | On the same day that O'Donnell was taking La Bisbal (see above), General Doyle (the British commissioner in Catalonia) and Captain Fane, having sailed from Tarragona on the British frigate Cambrian (Fane's ship) accompanying the Spanish frigate Diana, and a few transports, led a landing-force, numbering some 500 troops, to storm Palamós while the Spanish troops under Colonel Fleires took Sant Feliu, and Colonel Aldea cut off the French troops at Calonge. That day, Anglo-Spanish forces captured General Schwartz, two colonels, fifty-six officers, and 1,183 rank and file, with seventeen guns, leaving Schwartz's brigade completely out of action. | ||
| 15 September 1810 | Battle of Fuente de Cantos | Fuente de Cantos, Extermadura | French victory | |||
| 24 September 1810 | Cortes of Cádiz – opening session | Cádiz, Andalusia | The opening session of the Cortes was held eight months into the two-and-a-half-year Siege of Cádiz. | |||
| 27 September 1810 | data-sort-value="Bussaco" | Battle of Bussaco | Serra do Bussaco mountain range, Aveiro District (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory | Marshal Masséna, having captured the border fortresses of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, advanced into Portugal. At Bussaco, Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese army drove them off with the loss of about 1,250 killed or wounded, compared to French losses of 4,500 men. | |
| data-sort-value="1 October 1810" | 12 October 1810 | Sack of Coimbra | Coimbra, Coimbra District, Portugal | Masséna's troops sacked the city over two days; the first division of the 8th Corps, consisting mainly of newly formed battalions of conscripts arriving on 1 October. No attempt was made to restore order until the 6th Corps entered the next day, although the plunder continued. | ||
| 6 October 1810 | Trant's Raid | Coimbra, Portugal | Portuguese victory | Coimbra is recaptured by Portuguese militia led by Nicholas Trant. | ||
| data-sort-value="13 October 1810" | 1314 October 1810 | data-sort-value="Sobral" | Battle of Sobral | Lisbon (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory | |
| 6 October 1810 | Trant's Raid | Coimbra, Portugal | Portuguese victory | Coimbra is recaptured by Portuguese militia led by Nicholas Trant. | ||
| data-sort-value="14 October 1810" | 14 October2 November 1810 | La Coruña (Galicia)–Gijón (Asturias)–Santoña (Cantabria)–Viveiro (Galicia) | Manoeuvres (Anglo-Spanish) | Having previously collaborated on a joint mission (see 11 July 1810, above) another Anglo-Spanish landing operation set off to establish a base at Santoña, from which to free the western part of the coast of the Cantabrian Sea of French troops and then move on to free up the central and eastern coast of the region, effectively cutting off Irun as the main gateway for French supplies into Spain. The squadron, under the command of Captain Joaquín Zarauz, sailed from La Coruña on 14 October 1810.[46] The British squadron, led by Captain Mends, on board the frigate, was also composed of the frigates, under Captain Bowles;, under Captain Aylmer, ; and the brig-sloop . The landing party consisted of 1,200 Spanish troops, under Field Marshal Renovales and 800 British Marines. After an initial landing at Gijón, from which they drove the French garrison and captured large amounts of supplies, the expedition then headed for Santoña, where a gale forced the expedition to turn back. On their way into port at Viveiro, two of the Spanish ships, the frigate and the brig Palomo, were both destroyed with great loss of life, Magdalena having collided with shortly before foundering. Of the 508 people on board the Magdalena, 500 perished in the storm, including her captain, Blas Salcedo, and the commander-in-chief of the Expedition, Zarauz.[47] Of the eight people who managed to reach shore, five later died of their injuries. Of the 75 men on board the Palomo, 50 perished in the storm, while the remaining 25, including their captain, managed to reach the shore. | ||
| 15 October 1810 | data-sort-value="Fuengirola" | Battle of Fuengirola | Málaga, Andalusia | Polish-French victory | ||
| 18 October 1810 | Plunder of Solsona | Solsona, Lleida, Catalonia | Manouevre/plunder (French) | The French Marshal Macdonald, at the head of two French and two Italian brigades, set off to do battle against the Marquis de Campoverde's Spanish troops. Stopping at Solsona, until then the seat of Junta of Upper Catalonia and finding the place deserted by its inhabitants, the French troops proceeded to plunder the town and burnt its cathedral. | ||
| 21 October 1810 | Combat of Cardona | Cardona, Barcelona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | The Marquis de Campoverde's division, together with several thousand somatenes, had manned the town, its castle, and the neighbouring heights. Without waiting for Marshal Macdonald and the reserve brigade, the Italian general Eugenio marched straight at the position, with Salme's French brigade in support, and was forced to retreat. | ||
| 31 October 1810 | Combat at Alventosa | Albentosa, Teruel, Aragon | French victory | General Chłopicki, in the first of two successive engagements, defeated the partisan forces of Carbajal and Villacampa. (See 11 November 1810, below.) | ||
| 4 November 1810 | data-sort-value="Baza" | Battle of Baza | Granada, Andalusia | French victory | ||
| 11 November 1810 | Combat at Fuensanta (Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fuensanta) | Villel, Teruel, Aragon | French victory | General Chłopicki, in the second of two successive engagements, defeated the partisan forces of Carbajal and Villacampa. (See 31 October 1810, above.) | ||
| data-sort-value="16 December 1810" | 16 December 1810 – 2 January 1811 | data-sort-value="Tortosa" | Siege of Tortosa | Tortosa, Catalonia | French victory | |
| 25 December 1810 | Combat at Palamós | Palamós, Girona, Catalonia | French victory | Two French gunboats and eight transports on their way from Cette with provisions for the garrison at Barcelona were destroyed by a landing party from the British frigates based along the Catalan coast. Although the initial British raid was a success, they were surprised by a French flying column, and driven back to their boats with a loss of over 200 men, including the commanding officer, Captain Fane of HMS Cambrian, who was taken prisoner. | ||
| 31 December 1810 | Ponte do Abbade (Combat of) | Ponte do Abbade, Guarda District, Portugal | French victory | Francisco da Silveira, with six militia regiments and the former garrison of Almeida, had orders to stay between General Claparède's force of 6,000 troops and Porto. The Portuguese had been following the French troops and, Claparède, based at Trancoso, which Silveira had initially retreated from on Claparède's approach, routed the Portuguese at Ponte do Abbade on 31 December. Having lost 200 men, Silveira retreated to Vila da Ponte, some seven miles away. | ||
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 January 1811 | Vila da Ponte (Combat of)[48] | Aldeia da Ponte, Guarda District, Portugal | French victory | On 11 January, General Claparède made a second sortie from Trancoso, beating Francisco da Silveira's men even more decisively than at Ponte do Abbade the previous month, and pursued them to Lamego on the Douro. Silveira crossed the river on the 13th, and the news of his defeat brought terror to Oporto. Bacelar ordered the four battalions from Vizeu, Trant's seven battalions from Coimbra, and Wilson's four battalions from Peñacova, to join him. They concentrated at Castro Daire, ten miles south of Lamego, with a force of 14,000 bayonets, whereupon Claparéde, with less than half that number, and worried about being cut off, returned to Trancoso. | ||
| 15 January 1811 | data-sort-value="Pla" | Battle of Pla | Tarragona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="19 January 1811" | 1922 January 1811 | data-sort-value="Olivenza" | Siege of Olivenza | Badajoz, Extremadura | French victory | |
| data-sort-value="26 January 1811" | 26 January 1811 – 11 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Badajoz" | First Siege of Badajoz | Badajoz, Extremadura | French victory | The Spanish fortress fell to the French forces under Marshal Soult. |
| 19 February 1811 | data-sort-value="Gebora" | Battle of the Gebora | Badajoz, Extremadura | French victory | ||
| 21 February 1811 | Cádiz – Tarifa – Algeciras | Cádiz, Andalusia | Manoeuvres (Allied) | A mixed force of 9,500 Spanish, 4,900 British and a few hundred Portuguese set sail from Cádiz towards Tarifa, fifty miles to the south, in order to move inland and attack the French besiegers from the rear. However, due to bad weather, the force had to land at Algeciras; further than planned. (See 5 March 1811, below.) | ||
| 5 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Barrosa" | Battle of Barrosa | Cádiz, Andalusia | Anglo-Spanish victory | Throughout February–March, an Anglo-Iberian relief force had tried to break the French blockade of Cádiz. On 5 March, Marshal Victor attacked this force near Barrosa and, although the Allies succeeded in routing Victor's army, they were not able to lift the siege of Cádiz. (See 21 February 1811, above.) | |
| 11 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Pombal" | Battle of Pombal | Leiria (Portugal) | French victory | ||
| 12 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Redinha" | Battle of Redinha | Coimbra (Portugal) | Indecisive/ | ||
| 14 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Casal Novo" | Battle of Casal Novo | Coimbra (Portugal) | French victory | ||
| 15 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Foz de Arouce" | Battle of Foz de Arouce | Anglo-Portuguese victory | Lousã, Coimbra District, Portugal | ||
| data-sort-value="15 March 1811" | 15 March 1811 – 21 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Campo Maior Castle" | Siege of Campo Maior Castle | Alentejo (Portugal) | French victory | 800 Portuguese militia and 50 old cannon held out against 4,500 troops belonging to the V Corps under Marshal Mortier. |
| 25 March 1811 | data-sort-value="Campo Maior" | Battle of Campo Maior | Alentejo (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory | ||
| 3 April 1811 | data-sort-value="Sabugal" | Battle of Sabugal | Guarda (Portugal) | Anglo-Portuguese victory | ||
| data-sort-value="9 April 1811" | 910 April 1811 | Capture of Sant Ferran Castle | Figueres, Girona | Spanish victory/Manoeuvres | In the early hours of 10 April, 700 miquelets sent by Francesc Rovira i Sala entered through the vaults of the citadel and caught the French garrison asleep. Within the hour the place had been won. By dawn, over 2,000 Catalans had manned the fortress. (See also 17 April 1811, below) | |
| data-sort-value="17 April 1811" | 10 April – 19 August 1811 | data-sort-value="Figueras" | Siege of Figueres | Sant Ferran Castle, Figueres, Girona | French victory | Following the miquelets's capture of the citadel (see 10 April 1811, above), General Peyri, with 1,500 Italian troops, had reoccupied the town of Figueres, below the citadel, waiting for reinforcements. It would not be until a week later that General Baraguey d’Hilliers, with 6,500 infantry and 500 cavalry, started the blockade proper of the citadel. (See also 19 August 1811, below) |
| data-sort-value="14 April 1811" | 14 April10 May 1811 | data-sort-value="Almeida" | Second siege of Almeida | Guarda, (Portugal) | Allied victory | Also known as the Blockade of Almeida, since the Anglo-Portuguese Army had no heavy guns to breach the walls, they were forced to starve the garrison out. Because of this, it was technically a blockade rather than a siege. French troops abandoned the fort under cover of darkness and escaped. See Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro. |
| data-sort-value="22 April 1811" | 22 April – 12 May/18 May – 10 June 1811 | data-sort-value="Badajoz 2" | Second Siege of Badajoz | Badajoz, Extremadura | French victory | The siege was briefly lifted while the Battle of Albuera was fought on 16 May. |
| data-sort-value="3 May 1811" | 36 May 1811 | data-sort-value="Fuentes de Oñoro" | Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro | Salamanca, Castile and León | Tactically indecisive[49] [50] [51] Anglo-Portuguese victory (strategic)[52] | Spanish village on the border with Portugal. French troops under Masséna failed to relieve the fortress at Almeida after being narrowly defeated by Wellington at Fuentes de Oñoro. See Blockade of Almeida. |
| data-sort-value="5 May 1811" | 5 May 1811 – 29 June 1811 | data-sort-value="Tarragona" | First siege of Tarragona | Tarragona, Catalonia | French victory | |
| 16 May 1811 | data-sort-value="Albuera" | Battle of Albuera | Badajoz, Extremadura | Allied victory | Allied forces engaged the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) some 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Badajoz. Marshal Soult had set out to relieve Badajoz, besieged by Beresford. Soult outmanoeuvred his opponent at nearby Albuera but was forced to withdraw. Three days later, Wellington arrived at Badajoz, having marched from Almeida. | |
| 25 May 1811 | data-sort-value="Arlabán 1" | First battle of Arlabán | Mountain pass between Gipuzkoa and Álava | Spanish victory | Guerrilla ambush led by Francisco Espoz y Mina. Also referred to as the First Surprise of Arlabán to distinguish it from the Second Surprise of Arlabán (April 1812). | |
| 25 May 1811 | data-sort-value="Usagre" | Battle of Usagre | Badajoz, Extremadura | Allied victory | ||
| data-sort-value="6 June 1811" | 6 and 9 June 1811 | Forts of Badajoz (two separate assaults) | Badajoz, Extremadura | French victory | Wellington made two assaults against the forts but was beaten back. French reinforcements forced him to abandon the siege. | |
| 23 June 1811 | data-sort-value="Cogorderos" | Battle of Cogorderos | León, Castile-León | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="30 June 1811" | 30 June – 2 July 1811 | Siege of Niebla | Niebla, Huelva, Andalusia | French victory | Instead of marching on Seville, Joaquín Blake laid siege to the Castle of Niebla, whose garrison consisted of a battalion of 600 Spanish and British deserters. However, an escalade having failed and having been unable to bring up artillery, due to the bad mountain roads, the Spanish troops were unable to take the place. Blake finally withdrew when Soult sent Conroux and Godinot to relieve the garrison. Although the siege itself was not successful, it did serve to draw 11,000 French troops into a remote corner of the region for some weeks. | |
| 29 July 1811 | data-sort-value="Montserrat" | Battle of Montserrat | Barcelona, Catalonia | French victory | ||
| 9 August 1811 | data-sort-value="Zujar" | Battle of Zujar | Granada, Andalusia | French victory | ||
| 19 August 1811 | Sant Ferran Castle, Figueres, Girona | Surrender | With the fall of Figueres, which blocks the main road from Perpignan to Barcelona, Marshall Macdonald's troops, which had been detained for so long blockading the citadel, were now able to come to the assistance of Suchet's Army of Aragon to capture Valencia. (See also 10 April 1811, above) | |||
| 25 September 1811 | data-sort-value="El Bodón" | Battle of El Bodón | Salamanca, Castile and León | French victory | ||
| 28 September 1811 | Aldeia da Ponte (Combat of)[53] | Aldeia da Ponte, Guarda District, Portugal | Wellington, having secured his ground at Alfayates, with his whole army, also considered Aldea da Ponte, to be too valuable to relinquish unless overwhelmed by a superior force. Even though it lay outside the intended line of battle, two miles away and on lower ground, it was a meeting-place of several roads and well placed for observation. Generals Thiébault and Souham Montbrun and Watier, under Marshal Marmont, had engaged the British troops there in skirmishes, but Marmont, on arriving, took the decision not to advance and ordered the retreat for Ciudad Rodrigo, while Wellington gave orders for his army to take up winter quarters.[54] | |||
| data-sort-value="4 October 1811" | 414 October 1811 | data-sort-value="Cervera" | Battle of Cervera | Lleida, Catalonia | Spanish victory | |
| 16 October 1811 | data-sort-value="Ayerbe" | Action at Ayerbe | Ayerbe, Huesca, Aragón | Spanish victory | A column of 800 Italian infantry, belonging to Severoli's division at Zaragoza, marching to relieve the garrison of Ayerbe, was surprised by Mina's 4,000 troops. The column "was exterminated", with two hundred Italians killed and six hundred (including many wounded) taken prisoner after a running fight between Ayerbe and Huesca. Mina then crossed 200 miles of French-occupied territory in Northern Spain to the Cantabrian coast at Motrico, where he handed over his prisoners to the British frigate HMS Isis. | |
| 25 October 1811 | data-sort-value="Saguntum" | Battle of Saguntum | Valencia, Valencia | French victory | ||
| 28 October 1811 | data-sort-value="Arroyo dos Molinos" | Battle of Arroyo dos Molinos | Cáceres, Extremadura | Allied victory | ||
| data-sort-value="3 November 1811" | 3 November 1811 – 9 January 1812 | data-sort-value="Valencia" | Siege of Valencia | Valencia, Valencia | French victory | |
| 5 November 1811 | data-sort-value="Bornos 1" | First battle of Bornos | Cádiz, Andalusia | Spanish victory | ||
| data-sort-value="19 December 1811" | 19 December 1811 – 5 January 1812 | data-sort-value="Tarifa" | Siege of Tarifa | Cádiz, Andalusia | Allied victory | |
| 29 December 1811 | Combat of Navas de Membrillo | La Nava de Santiago, Badajoz | French victory | Hoping to surprise General Dembowski at Mérida, Hill's advanced cavalry chanced upon a troop of hussars at the head of a column of French infantry, three companies of the 88th regiment, some 400 men, who had been sent out to raise requisitions of food in the villages in the area. Hill sent two squadrons each of the 13th Light Dragoons and 2nd Hussars of the King's German Legion (KLG) in pursuit. The French captain formed his men in a square, and beat off five cavalry charges, with heavy loss to Hill's men: the KGL Hussars had two men killed and one officer and 17 men wounded, while the 13th Light Dragoons had one killed and 19 wounded. Dembowski, once warned of the approaching allied forces, evacuated Merida, where Hill, arriving the following day, found the French had abandoned 160,000 lb. of wheat.[55] In a letter to the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, the Earl of Liverpool, Wellington expressed his surprise at Dembowski being still alive, having thought that he had been killed at Arroyo dos Molinos the previous October.[56] | ||
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| data-sort-value="8 January 1812" | 8 January 1812 – 20 January 1812 | data-sort-value="Ciudad Rodrigo 2" | Second siege of Ciudad Rodrigo | Salamanca, Castile and León | Allied victory | Wellington laid siege to the town and by 19 January, his guns had opened up two gaps in its defences. That night, while the 3rd Division, attacking one breach, suffered heavily from a huge mine explosion, the Light Division assaulted the other and managed to force its way into the town. The French troops surrendered the town. |
| 18 January 1812 | data-sort-value="Villaseca" | Combat of Villaseca | Vila-seca, Tarragona, Catalonia | Spanish victory | Lafosse, the governor of Tortosa, on his way to relieve Tarragona with a battalion and a troop of dragoons, was surprised by Eroles, at the head of over 3,000 somatenes, at Villaseca. Lafosse managed to reach Tarragona, with only twenty-two of his dragoons, but his battalion, after resisting for several hours in the village, was forced to surrender. Eroles took nearly 600 prisoners, and left over 200 French troops dead. Commodore Edward Codrington, then commanding a squadron in the Mediterranean Sea charged with harrying French shipping, was present at the combat, having come on shore to confer with Eroles, with whom he often collaborated, regarding an action against Tarragona. The Spanish force managed to liberate two Royal Navy captains taken prisoner by Lafosse's men after having landed at Cape Salou the previous day. | |
| 20 January 1812 | Capture of Dénia | Dénia, Province of Alicante | Manoeuvres (French) | Dénia was an important centre of distribution for stores and munitions of war, and its fortifications had been newly repaired during Blake's time at Valencia. However, following Blake's surrender at Valencia, earlier that month, Mahy withdrew his garrison, neglecting to remove its magazines. On entering Dénia, Harispe found sixty guns mounted on its walls, plus forty small merchant vessels in the harbour, some of them laden with stores. As well as garrisoning the place, the French fitted out some of the vessels as privateers. Mahy's carelessness in abandoning these resources was among the reasons he was removed from command by the Cadiz Regency. | ||
| data-sort-value="20 January 1812" | 20 January 1812 – 2 February 1812 | data-sort-value="Peniscola" | Siege of Peniscola | Peniscola, Valencia, Valencia | French victory | Garrisoned by 1,000 veteran Spanish troops, under Garcia Navarro, the impregnable fortress at Peniscola, sitting atop a rock connected with the mainland by a narrow sand-spit 250 yards long, known as 'the little Gibraltar', was one of the strongest places in all Spain, and was regularly revictualled by Spanish and British vessels from Alicante, Cartagena, and the Balearic Isles. Suchet ordered Severoli, with two Italian and two French battalions, to besiege the place and on the 31st work began to erect five batteries. On February 2, Garcia Navarro capitulated under unusually favourable terms.[57] |
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 April 1813 | data-sort-value="Castalla" | Battle of Castalla | Alicante, Valencia | Anglo-Spanish victory | ||
| 2 June 1813 | data-sort-value="Morales" | Battle of Morales | Zamora, Castile and León | |||
| data-sort-value="3 June 1813" | 311 June 1813 | data-sort-value="Tarragona" | Second siege of Tarragona | Tarragona, Catalonia | French victory | |
| 18 June 1813 | data-sort-value="San Millan-Osma" | Battle of San Millan-Osma | San Millan, Burgos, Castile and León / Osma, Álava, Basque Country | Allied victory | Mountain pass northwest of Miranda del Ebro, just off the Burgos–Bilbao road. | |
| 21 June 1813 | data-sort-value="Vitoria" | Battle of Vitoria | Álava, Basque Country | Allied victory (decisive) | Led to the abdication of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, 11 December 1813. Beethoven's Op. 91, "Wellingtons Sieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria", completed in the first week of October 1813, commemorates the victory. Originally composed for the panharmonicon, it was first performed with Beethoven himself conducting, together with the premiere of his Symphony No. 7.[65] | |
| 26 June 1813 | data-sort-value="Tolosa" | Battle of Tolosa | Gipuzkoa, Basque Country | Allied victory (decisive) | Led to the abdication of Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain, 11 December 1813. Beethoven's Op. 91, "Wellingtons Sieg oder die Schlacht bei Vittoria", completed in the first week of October 1813, commemorates the victory. Originally composed for the panharmonicon, it was first performed with Beethoven himself conducting, together with the premiere of his Symphony No. 7. | |
| data-sort-value="26 June 1813" | 26 June31 October 1813 | data-sort-value="Pamplona" | Siege of Pamplona | Pamplona, Navarre | Allied victory | |
| data-sort-value="7 July 1813" | 725 July 1813 | data-sort-value="San Sebastián 1" | First siege of San Sebastián | Province of Gipuzkoa, Basque Country | French victory | Although referred to as one siege, there were in fact two separate sieges. See Second siege of San Sebastián (8 August8 September 1813), below. |
| data-sort-value="25 July 1813" | 25 July 18131 August 1813 | data-sort-value="Pyrenees" | Battle of the Pyrenees | Allied victory | The Battle of the Pyrenees was large-scale offensive, involving several battles, launched by Marshal Soult to relieve the French garrisons under siege at Pamplona and San Sebastián. Following his defeat at Battle of Sorauren at the end of the month, Soult ordered the retreat towards France, having decided it would be impossible to relieve Pamplona. | |
| 25 July 1813 | data-sort-value="Roncesvalles" | Battle of Roncesvalles | Roncevaux Pass, Spain | French victory | Mountain pass at 1,057 m (3,468 ft) on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees near the border with France. A battle included in the Battle of the Pyrenees. | |
| 25 July 1813 | data-sort-value="Maya" | Battle of Maya | Navarre | French victory | Mountain pass on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees near the border with France. A battle included in the Battle of the Pyrenees. | |
| data-sort-value="27 July 1813" | 27 July1 August 1813 | data-sort-value="Sorauren" | Battle of Sorauren | Navarre | Allied victory | A battle included in the Battle of the Pyrenees. Soult ordered the retreat towards France, having decided it would be impossible to relieve Pamplona. A battle included in the Battle of the Pyrenees. |
| 30 July 1813 | data-sort-value="Beunza" | Combat of Beunza | Navarre | During the fighting at Sorauren, Hill's 2nd Division and Costa's Brigade were engaged 25 km to the northwest, fighting a French corps at Beunza, near Atez. | ||
| data-sort-value="8 August 1813" | 8 August8 September 1813 | data-sort-value="San Sebastián 2" | Second siege of San Sebastián | Province of Gipuzkoa, Basque Country | Anglo-Portuguese victory | Although referred to as one siege, there were in fact two separate sieges. See First siege of San Sebastián (725 July 1813), above. |
| 31 August 1813 | Battle of San Marcial | Near Irun, Basque Country | Spanish victory[66] | |||
| data-sort-value="12 September 1813" | 12–13 September 1813 | Battle of Ordal | Defile of Ordal and Vilafranca del Penedès, Barcelona | French victory | ||
| 7 October 1813 | data-sort-value="Bidassoa" | Battle of the Bidassoa | Allied victory (tactical) | Also known as the Battle of Larrun. | ||
| 9 November 1813 | data-sort-value="Nivelle" | Battle of Nivelle | Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France | Allied victory | Most of Spain had been liberated, except for the French garrison at Pamplona and the east coast. Soult had fortified the Nivelle river for 35 km, inland from its estuary, and was defending it with 60,000 troops. Wellington had 82,000 troops divided into fifteen divisions. Major General Carlos Lecor, commanding the 7th Division, was the first Portuguese officer to command a division of British troops.[67] | |
| 8 December 1813[68] | data-sort-value="Valençay" | Treaty of Valençay | Château de Valençay, Indre, France | Treaty | Napoleon, wishing to reestablish an alliance with Spain, intended the Treaty as the preliminary to a full peace treaty between France and Spain, the agreement providing for the withdrawal of French troops from Spain, and restoration of Ferdinand VII of Spain. The Cortes of Cádiz duly repudiated the treaty once Ferdinand had reached the safety of Madrid. | |
| data-sort-value="9 December 1813" | 913 December 1813 | data-sort-value="Nive" | Battle of the Nive | Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France | Allied victory | |
| 11 December 1813 | Abdication of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain | Abdication | ||||
| Date | Event | Province/ | Outcome | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 February 1814 | data-sort-value="Garris" | Battle of Garris | Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France | Allied victory | Also known as the Battle of Saint-Palais. |
| 27 February 1814 | data-sort-value="Orthez" | Battle of Orthez | Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France | Anglo-Portuguese victory | |
| 6 April 1814 | Abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte[69] | Abdication | |||
| 10 April 1814 | data-sort-value="Toulouse" | Battle of Toulouse | Haute-Garonne, France | Allied victory | One of the last battles of the Peninsular War. That afternoon, the official word of Napoleon's abdication and the end of the war reached Wellington. Soult agreed to an armistice on 17 April. |
| 14 April 1814 | data-sort-value="Bayonne" | Battle of Bayonne | Bayonne, France | Allied victory | Although there were still isolated incidents, especially in Catalonia, Bayonne was the last major battle of the Peninsular War. |
| 28 May 1814 | Surrender of Barcelona | Barcelona, Catalonia | Surrender | The French garrison at Barcelona surrenders. | |
| 4 June 1814 | Surrender of Sant Ferran Castle | Figueres, Catalonia | Surrender | The last French garrison in Spain surrenders. |