Editing Peninsular War (section)

===Allied campaign in Spain===
[[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Wellington]] renewed the allied advance into Spain in early 1812, besieging and capturing the border fortress town of [[Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812)|Ciudad Rodrigo]] by assault on 19 January and opening up the northern invasion corridor from Portugal into Spain. This also allowed Wellington to proceed to move to capture the southern fortress town of [[Battle of Badajoz (1812)|Badajoz]], which would prove to be one of the bloodiest siege assaults of the [[Napoleonic Wars]].{{sfn|Weller|1962|p=204}} The town was stormed on 6 April, after a constant artillery barrage had breached the curtain wall in three places. Tenaciously defended, the final assault and the earlier skirmishes left the allies with some 4,800 casualties. These losses appalled Wellington who said of his troops in a letter, "I greatly hope that I shall never again be the instrument of putting them to such a test as that to which they were put last night."{{sfn|Fletcher|2003a|p=81}} The victorious troops massacred 200–300 Spanish civilians.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Badajoz-"1812 Siege of Badajoz."] ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.</ref>

The allied army subsequently took Salamanca on 17 June, just as Marshal Marmont approached. The two forces met on 22 July, after weeks of manoeuvre, when Wellington soundly defeated the French at the [[Battle of Salamanca]], during which Marmont was wounded. The battle established Wellington as an offensive general and it was said that he "defeated an army of 40,000 men in 40 minutes."{{sfn|Fitzwilliam|2007}} The Battle of Salamanca was a damaging defeat for the French in Spain, and while they regrouped, Anglo-Portuguese forces moved on Madrid, which surrendered on 14{{nbsp}}August; 20,000 muskets, 180 cannon and two [[French Imperial Eagle]]s were captured.{{sfn|Porter|1889|p=318}}

<gallery widths="200px" heights="145px">
File:Battle of Badajoz.jpg|British infantry attempt to scale the walls of [[Siege of Badajoz (1812)|Badajoz]], 1812
File:Battle of Salamanca.jpg|The [[Battle of Salamanca]]
</gallery>