The Napoleonic Wars (2): Empires Fight Back 1808-1812

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The ensuing war was to play a major part in Napoleon's downfall.

The Napoleonic Wars: The Empires Strike Back 1808-1812

The War: Consolidation, The road to war began in the autumn of when Napoleon moved French troops through Spain to invade Portugal. After feeding more than , troops into Spain under the pretext of supporting the invasion, Napoleon deposed the existing Spanish monarch in April in order to place his own brother Joseph on the throne. Although the ensuing Spanish uprising can hardly have come as a surprise to Napoleon, he failed to see that the revolt could never be completely suppressed.

Britain now had a new ally in Spain and in August landed an expeditionary force under the command of Lt.

The Napoleonic Wars (2): The empires fight back 1808–1812

Sir Arthur Wellesley at the mouth of the Mondego river in Portugal. The Battle of Vimeiro was the first occasion on which Napoleonic offensive tactics combining skirmishers, columns and supporting artillery fire failed against the British infantry line and Wellesley's defensive skills. Junot was defeated, though an opportunity to inflict further damage on the French was lost as the out-ranked Wellesley was replaced first by Burrard and then by Dalrymple.

Wellesley's victory was still sufficient to persuade the French to evacuate Portugal as part of a controversial agreement which became known as the Convention of Sintra. Moore struck towards Burgos and the northern flank of Napoleon's army, succeeding in drawing French forces away from southern Spain before being forced to retreat westwards.

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Napoleon meanwhile had transferred command of the pursuit to Soult and returned to Paris, never again to lead an army in the Peninsula. In April Wellesley, freed from criticism over the Convention of Sintra, returned to Portugal and assumed command of all British-Portuguese forces. Immediately, he implemented three innovations in army organization: the infantry were for the first time divided into autonomous divisions, each infantry brigade was provided with at least one company of riflemen, and - to mutual benefit - one battalion of Portuguese infantry was placed in each of five British brigades.

After defeating Soult at Porto on 12th May, Wellesley crossed the border into Spain, joined forces with the Spanish general Cuesta, and marched eastwards. On 27thth July, French armies under Joseph attacked the allies north of Talavera. The British-Portuguese lines held throughout the Battle of Talavera , finally compelling Joseph to abandon the battlefield. The victory had, however, been costly and, with Soult threatening to cut the road to Portugal, Wellesley was forced to fall back.

A further bloody battle took place at Albuera on 16th May as Soult's move north was intercepted by a combined British-Portuguese-Spanish force under Beresford. Although Beresford's handling of the battle - in which the French made the largest single infantry attack of the War - attracted much criticism, Soult was finally forced to retreat. French armies continued to threaten Wellington throughout the latter months of , but at no time were able to catch him at a disadvantage.

The turning point of the war had been reached.

Ciudad Rodrigo fell on 19th January followed, after a costly assault, by Badajoz on 6th April. Wellington's ability to push on eastwards in the face of an enemy that was numerically far superior was made possible by Spanish regular and guerrilla forces pinning down French armies elsewhere in Spain.

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On 17th June, Wellington entered Salamanca with only Marmont's army in the vicinity. The two armies shadowed each other over the next few weeks until Marmont attempted to out-flank Wellington on 22nd July. Wellington seized the opportunity to attack and in the ensuing Battle of Salamanca won a crushing victory.

Wellington entered Madrid on 6th August and penetrated as far as Burgos before being forced to withdraw to Salamanca and then to Ciudad Rodrigo when threatened by a combined French force under Soult, Joseph and Suchet. Napoleon's invasion of Russia in June had ended in disaster, and by March French armies in east Europe were falling back to the Elbe river.

With Prussia re-entering the war against France on 16th March, Napoleon was unable to spare fresh troops for the Peninsula as he prepared to counter-attack in the east. At the same time reinforcements continued to be fed into Wellington's army. The difficulties facing the French commanders, Joseph and Jourdan, mounted as their armies became increasingly pinned down by allied regular and guerrilla forces.

Introduction

In May Wellington returned to the offensive, striking northwards towards Burgos without allowing the French armies the chance to concentrate. From Burgos, Wellington outflanked Joseph by wheeling through the mountains to the north. Joseph finally took up a defensive position in the valley of the Zadorra river, only to see his forces routed on 21st June in the Battle of Vitoria. Vitoria essentially sealed Napoleon's fate. Although a counter-offensive by Soult was briefly successful at Maya and Roncesvalles, Wellington's victory at Sorauren on 28th July restored the initiative to the allies.

On 7th October Wellington crossed the Bidassoa into France; on 10th November the French defences along the line of the Nivelle were broken. Soult counter-attacked again on 10th December after Wellington had crossed the Nive. About this Product.

In Napoleon dominated Europe, but the peace was not to survive for long. Todd Fisher continues his detailed account of the Napoleonic Wars with Austria's attack against Napoleon in Despite being defeated at Aspern-Essling, Napoleon rallied his forces and emerged triumphant at Wagram. With glorious victory behind him Napoleon now turned his attention to Russia and invaded in Yet the army was not the Grand Armee of old, and even the capture of Moscow availed him nothing.

The foe remained elusive, the decisive battle remained unfought. This book tells the full story of the now legendary retreat from Moscow, as the fighting force that had vanquished Europe perished in the snows of the Russian winter. Biographical Note.

Napoleonic Wars

He is a founding member of the International Napoleonic Society. Todd Fisher has a life-long fascination with the Napoleonic period, and is Chief Executive Officer of Emperor's Press and Napoleon Journal, both of which specialize in Napoleonic history. You may also be interested in the following product s.

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