Napoleon's Great Blunder: Spain 1808

an epic history TV history much collaboration supported by our sponsor Osprey publishing in the autumn of 1807 french emperor napoleon bonaparte dominated Europe he had humbled Austria and Prussia and sealed an alliance with Russia of the major powers only Britain still defied him safe from invasion thanks to its powerful Navy Napoleon had ordered all territory controlled by France or its allies to stop trading with Britain the so-called Continental System or blockade designed to wreck Britain's economy and force its government to make peace but neutral Portugal had continued to trade with its historic ally Britain so Napoleon sent an army under general Juno to occupy the country and force it into line the invasion was supported by Frances ally Spain though privately Napoleon held Spain's rulers in contempt the Bourbon royal family was decadent and corrupt the king and crown prince loathed each other while the country was effectively run by chief minister manuel Godoy the Queen's lover Spain Napoleon concluded was backwards militarily weak and incompetent they governed and he devised a plan to seize control of the country in the spring of 1808 under the pretext of guarding Spain against the British French troops took up strategic positions around the country the Spanish people saw the French military presence has the latest in a long line of humiliations and held chief minister manuel Godoy responsible there were riots at the palace of armed with Godoy was nearly lynched Napoleon invited the Spanish royal family and Godoy to take refuge in the French city of Bayon and sent marshal Mira and fifty thousand troops to restore order in Madrid but on the 2nd of May 1808 the people of Madrid rose up against your ass soldiers it became known as the dos de Mayo uprising immortalized by the artist Francisco Goya this scene shows Mameluke of Napoleon's imperial guard attacked by the citizens of Madrid a hundred soldiers were killed the French responded ruthlessly shooting down dozens in the streets and executing more than a hundred by firing squad meanwhile in Bayonne napoleon forced King Carlos to abdicate have bestowed the title king of Spain on his own brother Joseph [Music] that summer as Napoleon forced a new modernizing Constitution on Spain and his brother Joseph entered Madrid as its new king the Spanish reacted with fury the French weren't just arrogant foreigners trampling on their national honour they were godless atheists who during the French Revolution had rejected the Pope and Catholic Church Napoleon priests swarmed the peasants was the very Antichrist himself revolts erupted across the country the Spanish army was joined by militias and partisans who attacked French troops and killed collaborators French soldiers carried out savage reprisals no mercy was shown the countless atrocities horrified francisco goya and led to his famous disasters of war series at first it seemed the French would easily put down the revolt Girona Valencia and Zaragoza were besieged by French troops while the Spanish army of Galicia was routed by marshal Bessy air at the Battle of Medina Del Rio Seco but 8 days later as general dupa and three French divisions withdrew from Cordova slowed down by wagons piled high with loot they were surrounded at belen by general Castaignos army of Andalusia and forced to surrender the Spanish took 18,000 french prisoners about half of whom later died of starvation Berlin was a humiliation for France her first major defeat since Napoleon became Emperor Frances enemies across Europe were delighted Napoleon was incandescent with fury the situation went from bad to worse the Portuguese joined the revolt while fierce Spanish resistance forced the French to abandon the sieges of Annan Thea Girona and Sarah Gotha Spain's new king Joseph Bonaparte was even forced to flee the capital the British assisted the revolt which the Spanish now called a war of independence by shipping weapons to Spain using the Royal Navy on the 1st of August a small British army commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal to aid their revolt on the 17th of August he beat a small French force at release then four days later beat Juno's main army at the Battle of Vomero but Wells Lee's newly arrived superior say Hugh Dalrymple then agreed to repatriate Juno and his army to France with all their arms and plunder using British ships in Britain the generous terms were seen as a disgrace and scandal a subsequent inquiry exonerated Wellesley the future Duke of Wellington but Dalrymple never held command again Napoleon decided the only way to sort out the situation in Spain was to go there himself he assembled a hundred and thirty thousand reinforcements including many of his best troops and on the seventh of November led a second invasion of Spain most Spanish troops were inexperienced were often badly equipped and led and their armies had no coherent strategy they were no match for the Grande armée which burst across the Ebro River and inflicted heavy defeats on the Spanish at Bourgas and to Dale at a two-day lair Marshall lands third Corps avenged the defeat at Berlin by smashing the army of general Castaignos sending it fleeing in two directions napoleon pushed on rapidly north of Madrid 8,000 Spanish held the mountain pass at Zama Sierra Napoleon the impatient to break through to the capital ordered forward the Polish late horse of the guard in an attack of almost suicidal bravery they charged the Spanish guns head-on and enabled the French to take the past four days later after Napoleon threatened to obliterate the city Madrid opened its gates to his army unaware of the disaster engulfing Spanish forces a 20,000 strong British Army commanded by Sir John Mohr had just arrived in Salamanca after a 300 mile march from Lisbon with another smaller force on route from Karuna the British Army was inexperienced but in contrast to most Spanish forces it was well-trained organized and led [Music] as news reached more of the Spanish collapse he nevertheless planned to divert French forces by attacking Marshall salts isolated second Corps and threatening Napoleon's communications to bulldoze and France at saga nom the 21st of December the British 15th us ours advanced overnight through winter frost and made a dawn attack on a French cavalry Brigade routing it in one great charge but as more prepared a full-scale attack on sults Corps he received news that Napoleon was advancing rapidly towards him with his main army from Madrid [Music] while two French Corps under marshal Lam began a second bloody siege of Zaragoza Napoleon saw a chance to get to grips with the British at last intending to trap more between his own forces and salts second Corps he force marched his troops over the icy guadarrama pass in the midst of a blizzard more are facing odds of more than two to one immediately ordered a retreat planning to march 250 miles to the coast where's army could be evacuated by the Royal Navy for both sides the race to the sea was an exhausting slog through mountains mud a bitter cold many fell by the wayside as British discipline collapsed leading to looting and drunkenness except among the rearguard which fought several skillful delaying actions have kept the French at bay soldiers of Britain's elite 95th rifles were prominent in these skirmishes this specialized light infantry regiment wore green uniforms for better concealment and were one of the few units on any side armed with rifles unlike the standard smoothbore musket rifles had spiral grooves in the barrel that spun the bullet as it was fired making them slower to load but much more accurate in one legendary incidents during Moore's retreat as cacabelos rifleman Tom Plunkett picked out and shot dead a French general at 400 yards some say further thanks to the skill of the rearguard and the desperate pace of the retreat the British kept one step ahead of the French on New Year's Eve Napoleon received grave news from Paris rumours of plots and Austria mobilizing once more for war the Emperor immediately left for France taking many of his best troops with him and entrusted marshal salt and second corps with finishing off the British the pursuit continued but on the 11th of January 1809 mores ragged army reached caronia for Sir John was exhausted army the Spanish port meant supplies rest and the prospect of rescue but few ships were there to meet them on the 11th fortunately the British had been able to blow up bridges behind them to delay marshal suits advance and three days later on the 14th of January the naval transports arrived allowing more to begin embarking his cavalry and artillery but the very next day salts army appeared on the hills south of Caronia taking up positions on the heights of Pena's Guido where he cited his main battery of cannon half of Moore's army deployed in a defensive line two miles south of the city with two divisions held back to protect his right flank both armies were roughly 16,000 strong the French had four regiments of dragoons while the British cavalry was already aboard ship but the broken terrain of walls hedges and olive trees made it a battlefield ill-suited to cavalry salts plan was to attack the British right flank and trapped Moore's army against the sea around 2 p.m. the French artillery opened fire then mo mais infantry division advanced supported by Lihue say's dragoons on his left more had been unsure if salt would attack and had just ordered Paget's division to begin embarkation now he hurriedly canceled that order ordering Paget instead to bring up his men to reinforce his open flank and Fraser's division to take up position on the heights of santa margherita the french advanced through hedges and over walls with heavy firing from skirmishes on both sides then the British counter-attacks the forty-second Highlanders and 50th foot charged into the village of Albania and drove the French out but in confused fighting they in turn were soon pushed back to their own lines Sir John Moore was close to the front line observing developments urging on officers and men but as he ordered up the guards brigade to reinforce the line he was hit in the shoulder by a cannonball he remained conscious but it was obvious the wound was fatal and he was carried back to the city Sault sent forward Merrill's division to support the attack on Albania Scottish general Sir John Hope had taken over command of the British Army from the dying moor and he ordered forward two battalions of infantry to meet the French attack Paget's division led by skirmishes of the 95th rifles arrived to shore up the British right flank the terrain was so bad for horses that French dragoons chose to dismount and fight on foot but were slowly pushed back by the British Paget's advance threatened the flank of mermaid's attack on Elvina and he too was forced to withdraw while an attack on the right by Della boards infantry secured a foothold in the village of Piedra longer but got bogged down in heavy skirmishing around 6 p.m. dusk fell and firing died out across the battlefield news that the British line had held reached more shortly before he died in Kiruna around 8 p.m. that night the British lit campfires and posted sentries then silently withdrew to Caronia to begin embarkation the next morning the French found the enemy positions abandoned but they were slow to take advantage it wasn't until noon that they were able to bring up six Cannon and get them into position overlooking the Bay of Caronia the British had almost completed their evacuation by the time the French guns opened fire in a hurried departure a few British transports ran aground and two were set on fire but overall losses were light a small Spanish garrison held Karuna waiting until the British fleet had escaped to sea before surrendering [Music] [Music] whether Moore's retreat to Caronia was a British disaster or miraculous escape is still debated and did he abandon Spain in its hour of need or draw off Napoleon's main force buying time for others either way Britain's only army had been saved and would return to fight another day while Napoleon now faced the prospect of a long war on the Iberian Peninsula and renewed conflict with Austria a war on two fronts that would challenge his empire like never before Napoleon had blundered in Spain but it was years before the scale of his mistake was evident then he would say I embarked pretty badly on this affair I admitted the immorality showed to obviously the injustice was too cynical the whole of it remains very ugly if you'd like to learn more about the peninsular war or any of the campaigns across Europe our sponsor Osprey publishing has nearly 200 titles on the loophole ionic Wars written by specialist historians and covering everything from the history of elite units to tactics weapons and uniforms visit their website to find out more thanks to the YouTube channel history March for the battle map and animation sequences and to the 95th rifles reenactment society for the use of their photo most of all thank you to our patreon supporters for supporting this channel if you'd like to join their ranks and get access to exclusive updates previews and polls on future topics please visit our patreon page

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Keywords: napoleon, wellington, spain, history, epic history, napoleonic, military history, peninsular, 1808, 1809, napoleonic wars, peninsular war, wellesley, dos de mayo, goya, corunna, coruna, aranjuez, spanish war of independence, spanish history, rolica, vimeiro, tudela, epic history tv

Id: _SMXT6dTwEo

Length: 19min 30sec (1170 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 16 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Daktush]

Sé que tengo un familiar que sirvió bajo Castaños y estuvo en la Batalla de Bailén - incluso que estuvo en la unidad de milicia contra la que cargó la caballería francesa y luego de reagruparse le mandaron a la unidad de artilleria

[u/Rc72]

Cabe preguntarse qué hubiese pasado si Napoleón se hubiese fiado mas de su cuñado Murat en 1808.

Veamos la situación: la familia real y Godoy en Bayona, Carlos IV y Fernando VII que ofrecen la corona a Napo, y Murat en Madrid, "manteniendo el orden" el Dos de Mayo, aceptando el cargo de presidente del Consejo del Reino, y convencidos, él y su churri Carolina Bonaparte, de que el cuñado va a hacerles reyes de las Españas.

Y va Napo, y en vez de coronar a su cuñado Murat, le pasa la corona española a su hermano José, un buen tipo, pero bastante pichafloja. José Bonaparte, en aquel momento rey de Nápoles, tiene que ceder esa otra corona a...Murat, con ambos bastante jodidos por el intercambio. Ni José se da mucha prisa en salir para España (no se presenta en Madrid hasta finales de julio), ni Murat pone mucho empeño en mantener el control sobre el país mientras tanto.

Por qué toma esa decisión Napoleón? Porque no se fía un pelo de su cuñado Murat, y aun menos de su hermanita Carolina. Murat es el general de más prestigio de su ejército, un oficial de caballería con unos huevos como sandías, que ha encabezado ya docenas de cargas por toda Europa y hasta por Egipto, sacando las castañas del fuego a Napo en mas de una ocasión, como en 1799 en Abukir, o tomando el puente Tabor a puro morro sin disparar un tiro. En cuanto a Carolina, es una ambiciosa e intrigante del calibre de Angela Channing, y una de las pocas personas verdaderamente temidas por el emperador. En el ducado de Berg, los Murat ya han dado muestras de independencia, y a lo largo del reino de Napoleón habrá más de una conjura para sustituirle por Murat. Vamos, que aunque Napoleón no tenga a los españoles en gran estima, le acojona un poco-bastante poner al mando del imperio español (que todavía dominaba las Américas y parte del Pacífico) al bestia de su cuñado y a la víbora de su hermana. Mejor dárselo al sopazas de José, que le causará menos problemas.

Excepto que claro, José Bonaparte, aunque voluntarioso, se convierte rápidamente en el hazmerreír de todo el país, incapaz de hacerse respetar por un pueblo que valora bastante más el "echarle cojones" que, por ejemplo, el abolir la Santa Inquisición.

Por eso, qué hubiese pasado si Napoleón hubiese seguido lo que claramente era su intención inicial y hubiese coronado a Murat rey de España? Un tipo que hubiese sido perfectamente capaz de saltar al ruedo a torear morlacos,vistiendo uno de sus inenarrables uniformes, para impresionar al personal ibérico? Me parece que hubiese arrasado, y hoy en España reinaría la dinastía Murat, igual que los Bernadotte en Suecia.

Le hubiesen perdonado los españoles el Dos de Mayo? Pues claro que sí. De entrada, nuestra visión del Dos de Mayo está deformada por dos siglos de propaganda, empezando por los cuadros de Goya: no olvidemos que Goya fue pintor de la corte de José Bonaparte durante toda la Guerra de Independencia y que los cuadros de la carga de los mamelucos y los fusilamientos los pintó tras la vuelta de Fernando VII (que se había pasado toda la guerra en Valençay, chupándole la polla a Napo) para hacer olvidar todos los retratos que habia hecho a José Bonaparte y a sus amiguetes...Vamos, que de haberse asentado Murat, de lo del Dos de Mayo ya se hubiesen ocupado de que nos olvidásemos, como de otras muchas cosas, que eso de la "memoria histórica" se nos da muy bien...cuando conviene.

[u/SageManeja]

Muy interesante, justo lo antes de ver este post

De las pocas veces que inglaterra se "alía" con españa, y sus tropas se dedicaron a sabotear las fábricas españolas (empezando por galicia) para asegurarse de que no les hiciesemos la competecia durante muchos años.