Editing Peninsular War (section)

==1810==
===Joseph I's régime===
{{Main article|Spain under Joseph Bonaparte}}

[[File:Joseph-Bonaparte.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Portrait of Joseph Bonaparte]]'' by [[François Gérard]], 1808]]

Joseph contented himself with working within the apparatus extant under the old regime, while placing responsibility for local government in many provinces in the hands of royal commissioners. After much preparation and debate, on 2 July 1809 Spain was divided into 38 new provinces, each headed by an [[Intendant]] appointed by King Joseph, and on 17 April 1810 these provinces were converted into French-style [[prefecture]]s and [[sub-prefecture]]s.

The French obtained a measure of acquiescence among the propertied classes. [[Francisco de Goya]], who remained in Madrid throughout the French occupation, painted Joseph's picture and documented the war in a series of 82 prints called ''[[The Disasters of War|Los Desastres de la Guerra]]'' (''The Disasters of War''). For many imperial officers, life could be comfortable.{{sf|Brandt|1999|p=87}} Among the liberal, republican and radical segments of the Spanish and Portuguese populations there was much support for a potential French invasion. The term ''[[afrancesado]]'' ("turned French") was used to denote those who supported the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], [[Secularism|secular ideals]], and the [[French Revolution]].{{sfn|McLynn|1997|pp=396–406}} Napoleon relied on support from these ''afrancesados'' both in the conduct of the war and administration of the country. Napoleon removed all feudal and clerical privileges but most Spanish liberals soon came to oppose the occupation because of the violence and brutality it brought.{{sfn|McLynn|1997|pp=396–406}} Marxians wrote that there was a positive identification on the part of the people with the Napoleonic revolution, but this is probably impossible to substantiate by the reasons for collaboration being practical rather than ideological.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=239}}

===Emergence of the guerrilla===
{{main|Guerrilla warfare in the Peninsular War}}
[[File:Juan Martín Díez.jpg|thumb|[[Juan Martín Díez]], ''El Empecinado'', a key guerrilla leader]]

The Peninsular War is regarded as one of the first people's wars, significant for the emergence of large-scale guerrilla warfare. It is from this conflict that the English language borrowed the word.{{sfn|etymology|2021}} The guerrillas troubled the French troops, but they also frightened their own countrymen with forced conscription and looting.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Chartrand |first=Rene |title=Spanish Guerrillas in the Peninsular War 1808–14 |publisher=Osprey Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-1841766294 |edition= |location=Oxford |language=en}}{{page?|date=June 2023}}</ref> Many of the partisans were either fleeing the law or trying to get rich.<ref name=":0" /> Later in the war the authorities tried to make the guerrillas reliable, and many of them formed regular army units such as [[Francisco Espoz y Mina|Espoz y Mina]]'s "Cazadores de Navarra". The French believed that [[enlightened absolutism]] had made less progress in Spain and Portugal than elsewhere, and that resistance was the product of a century's worth of what the French perceived as backwardness in knowledge and social habits, Catholic [[obscurantism]], superstition and counter-revolution.{{sfn|Rocca|Rocca|1815|p=126}}

The guerrilla style of fighting was the Spanish military's single most effective tactic. Most organized attempts by regular Spanish forces to take on the French ended in defeat. Once a battle was lost and the soldiers reverted to their guerrilla roles, they tied down large numbers of French troops over a wide area with a much lower expenditure of men, energy, and supplies{{citation needed|date=June 2012}}<ref name=":0" /> and facilitated the conventional victories of Wellington and his Anglo-Portuguese army and the subsequent liberation of Portugal and Spain.{{sfn|Glover|2001|p=10}} Mass resistance by the people of Spain inspired the war efforts of Austria, Russia and Prussia against Napoleon.{{sfn|Chandler|1995|p=746}}

Hatred of the French and devotion to ''[[dios, rey y patria|God, King and Fatherland]]'' were not the only reason to join the Partisans.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=270}} The French imposed restrictions on movement and on many traditional aspects of street life, so opportunities to find alternative sources of income were limited{{mdash}}industry was at a standstill and many ''señores'' were unable to pay their existing retainers and domestic servants, and could not take on new staff. Hunger and despair reigned on all sides.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=271}} Because the military record was so dismal, many Spanish politicians and publicists exaggerated the activities of the guerrillas.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=280}}

===Revolution under siege===
{{further|Siege of Cádiz}}
[[File:Cortes de cadiz.jpg|thumb|''The Proclamation of the Constitution of 1812'' by [[Salvador Viniegra]]]]
The French invaded Andalusia on 19 January 1810. 60,000 French troops{{mdash}}the corps of Victor, Mortier and Sebastiani together with other formations{{mdash}}advanced southwards to assault the Spanish positions. Overwhelmed at every point, [[Juan Carlos de Aréizaga|Aréizaga]]'s men fled eastwards and southwards, leaving town after town to fall into the hands of the enemy. The result was revolution. On 23 January the Junta Central at Seville decided to flee to the safety of Cádiz.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=220}} It then dissolved itself on 29 January 1810 and set up a five-person Regency Council of Spain and the Indies, charged with convening the Cortes.{{sfn|Martínez|1999|p={{page needed|date=February 2014}}}} Soult cleared all of southern Spain except Cádiz, which he left Victor to blockade.{{sfn|Southey|1828d|p=396}} The system of juntas was replaced by a regency and the [[Cortes of Cádiz]], which established a permanent government under the [[Spanish Constitution of 1812|Constitution of 1812]].

Cádiz was heavily fortified, while the harbour was full of British and Spanish warships. [[José María de la Cueva, 14th Duke of Alburquerque|Alburquerque's]] army and the Voluntarios Distinguidos had been reinforced by 3,000 soldiers who had fled Seville, and a strong Anglo-Portuguese brigade commanded by General William Stewart. Shaken by their experiences, the Spaniards had abandoned their earlier scruples about a British garrison.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=282}} Victor's French troops camped at the shoreline and tried to bombard the city into surrender. Thanks to British naval supremacy, a naval blockade of the city was impossible. The French bombardment was ineffectual and the confidence of the ''[[gaditanos]]'' grew and persuaded them that they were heroes. With food abundant and falling in price, the bombardment was hopeless despite both hurricane and epidemic{{mdash}}a storm destroyed many ships in the spring of 1810 and the city was ravaged by yellow fever.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=283}}

Once Cádiz was secured, attention turned to the political situation. The Junta Central announced that the ''cortes'' would open on 1 March 1810. Suffrage was to be extended to all male householders over 25. After public voting, representatives from district-level assemblies would choose deputies to send to the provincial meetings that would be the bodies from which the members of the ''cortes'' would emerge.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=284}} From 1 February 1810, the implementation of these decrees had been in the hands of the new regency council selected by the Junta Central.{{sfn|Argüelles|1970|p=90}} The viceroyalties and independent captaincies general of the overseas territories would each send one representative. This scheme was resented in America for providing unequal representation to the overseas territories. Unrest erupted in [[Quito]] and [[Sucre|Charcas]], which saw themselves as the capitals of kingdoms and resented being subsumed in the larger "kingdom" of [[Viceroyalty of Peru|Peru]]. The revolts were suppressed (See [[Luz de América]] and [[Bolivian War of Independence]]). Throughout early 1809 the governments of the capitals of the viceroyalties and captaincies general elected representatives to the Junta, but none arrived in time to serve on it.

===Third Portuguese campaign===
{{further|Lines of Torres Vedras}}
[[File:1000 reis Manuel 1910 - Peninsula War.png|thumb|[[Silver coin]]: 1000 reis [[Manuel II of Portugal]], 1910 – commemorating the Peninsular War]]

[[File:FortOlheiros1.jpg|thumb|right|alt=View of gun emplacements|[[Fort of Olheiros]], site of the [[Battle of Sobral]].]]

{{Location map+ |Portugal |relief=1 |float=right |width=304 |caption=Peninsular war: Portugal <br>[[File:Brown pog.svg|12px|link=]]1807 
 [[File:Red pog.svg|12px|link=]]1808 [[File:Orange pog.svg|12px|link=]]1809 [[File:Blue pog.svg|12px|link=]]1810 [[File:Green pog.svg|12px|link=]]1811 |places=
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=38.73 |long=-9.15 |label=[[Invasion of Portugal (1807)|Lisbon]] |mark=Brown pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=38.57 |long=-7.91 |label=[[Battle of Évora (1808)|Évora]] |mark=Red pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=39.31 |long=-9.18 |label=[[Battle of Roliça|Roliça]] |mark=Red pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=39.18 |long=-9.32 |label=[[Battle of Vimeiro|Vimeiro]] |mark=Red pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=41.74  |long=-7.47 |label=[[Siege of Chaves|Chaves]] |mark=Orange pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=41.54  |long=-8.42 |label=[[Battle of Braga (1809)|Braga]] |mark=Orange pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=41.03  |long=-8.58 |label='''Grijó''' |mark=Orange pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=41.16  |long=-8.62 |label=[[Second Battle of Porto|Porto]] |mark=Orange pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=40.73 |long=-6.91 |label=[[Siege of Almeida (1810)|Almeida]] |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=40.33 |long=-8.33 |label=[[Battle of Bussaco|Bussaco]] |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=39.01 |long=-9.09 |label=[[Battle of Sobral|Sobral]] |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=41.11 |long=-7.93 |label=[[Combat of Padrões de Teixeira|Teixeira]] |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=38.91 |long=-9.26 |label=[[Lines of Torres Vedras|TorresVedras]] |mark=Blue pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=39.78 |long=-8.58 |label=[[Battle of Pombal|Pombal]] |mark=Green pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=40.05 |long=-8.63 |label=[[Battle of Redinha|Redinha]] |mark=Green pog.svg |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=40.35 |long=-7.08 |label=[[Battle of Sabugal|Sabugal]] |mark=Green pog.svg |position=right |marksize=12}}
  {{location map~ |Portugal |lat=40.58 |long=-6.82 |label=[[Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro|FuentesDeOñoro]] |mark=Green pog.svg |marksize=12}}
}}
Convinced by intelligence that a new French assault on Portugal was imminent, Wellington created a powerful defensive position near Lisbon, to which he could fall back if necessary.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=217}}{{sfn|Grehan|2015}}{{full citation needed|date=September 2015}} To protect the city, he ordered the construction of the [[Lines of Torres Vedras]]—three strong lines of mutually supporting forts, [[blockhouse]]s, [[redoubt]]s, and [[ravelin]]s with fortified artillery positions{{mdash}}under the supervision of [[Sir Richard Fletcher, 1st Baronet|Sir Richard Fletcher]]. The various parts of the lines communicated with each other by [[Flag semaphore|semaphore]], allowing immediate response to any threat. The work began in the autumn of 1809 and the main defences were finished just in time one year later. To further hamper the enemy, the areas in front of the lines were subjected to a [[scorched earth]] policy: they were denuded of food, forage and shelter. 200,000 inhabitants of neighbouring districts were relocated inside the lines. Wellington exploited the facts that the French could conquer Portugal only by conquering Lisbon, and that they could in practice reach Lisbon only from the north. Until these changes occurred the Portuguese administration was free to resist British influence, [[William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford|Beresford]]'s position being rendered tolerable by the firm support of the [[Minister of War]], [[Miguel de Pereira Forjaz]].{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=313}}

As a prelude to invasion, Ney took the Spanish fortified town of [[Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810)|Ciudad Rodrigo]] after a siege lasting from 26 April to 9 July 1810. The French re-invaded Portugal with an army of around 65,000, led by [[Andre Masséna|Marshal Masséna]], and forced Wellington back through Almeida to Busaco.{{sfn|Southey|1828d|p=440}} At the [[Battle of the Côa]] the French drove back [[Robert Crauford]]'s [[Light Division]] after which Masséna moved to attack the held British position on the heights of [[Bussaco]]{{mdash}}a {{Convert|10|miles|km|adj=on}}-long ridge{{mdash}}resulting in the [[Battle of Buçaco]] on 27 September. Suffering heavy casualties, the French failed to dislodge the Anglo-Portuguese army. Masséna outmaneuvered Wellington after the battle, who steadily fell back to the prepared positions in the Lines.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=327}} Wellington manned the fortifications with "secondary troops"{{mdash}}25,000 Portuguese militia, 8,000 Spaniards and 2,500 British [[Royal Marines]] and [[Royal Artillery|Royal Artillerymen]]—keeping his main field army of British and Portuguese regulars dispersed to meet a French assault on any point of the Lines.{{sfn|Weller|1962|p=144}}

Masséna's Army of Portugal concentrated around [[Sobral de Monte Agraço|Sobral]] in preparation to attack. After a fierce skirmish on 14 October in which the strength of the Lines became apparent, the French dug themselves in rather than launch a full-scale assault and Masséna's men began to suffer from the acute shortages in the region.{{sfn|Gates|2001|pp=32–33}} In late October, after holding his starving army before Lisbon for a month, Masséna fell back to a position between [[Santarém, Portugal|Santarém]] and [[Rio Maior]].{{sfn|Weller|1962|pp=145–146}}