Editing Peninsular War (section)

===Defeat of King Joseph===
{{Campaignbox Peninsular War (1813-1814)}}
[[File:Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.png|thumb|right|alt=Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.|''[[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence]]]]

By the end of 1812, the large army that had invaded the [[Russian Empire]], the {{lang|fr|[[Grande Armée]]}}, had ceased to exist. Unable to resist the oncoming Russians, the French had to evacuate [[East Prussia]] and the [[Grand Duchy of Warsaw]]. With both the [[Austrian Empire]] and the Kingdom of Prussia joining his opponents, Napoleon withdrew more troops from Spain,{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=428}} including some foreign units and three battalions of sailors sent to assist with the siege of Cádiz. In total, 20,000 men were withdrawn; the numbers were not overwhelming, but the occupying forces were left in a difficult position. In much of the area under French control—the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque]] provinces, [[Navarre]], Aragon, Old Castile, [[La Mancha]], the [[Levante, Spain|Levante]], and parts of [[Catalonia]] and [[Province of León|León]]—the remaining presence was a few scattered garrisons. Trying to hold a front line in an arc from [[Bilbao]] to Valencia, they were still vulnerable to assault, and had abandoned hopes of victory. According to Esdaile, the best policy would have been to have fallen back to the Ebro, but the political situation in 1813 made this impossible; Napoleon wanted to avoid being seen as weak by the German princes, who were watching the advancing Russians and wondering whether they should change sides.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=429}} French prestige suffered another blow when on 17 March ''el rey intruso'' (the ''Intruder King'', a nickname many Spanish had for King Joseph) left Madrid in the company of another vast caravan of refugees.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=429}}

In 1813, Wellington marched 121,000 troops (53,749 British, 39,608 Spanish, and 27,569 Portuguese){{sfn|Gates|2002|p=521}} from northern Portugal across the mountains of northern Spain and the Esla River, skirting Jourdan's army of 68,000 strung out between the Douro and the Tagus. Wellington shortened his communications by shifting his base of operations to the northern Spanish coast, and the Anglo-Portuguese forces swept northwards in late May and seized Burgos, outflanking the French army and forcing Joseph Bonaparte into the Zadorra valley.

At the [[Battle of Vitoria]] on 21 June, Joseph's 65,000-man army was defeated decisively by Wellington's army of 57,000 British, 16,000 Portuguese and 8,000 Spanish.{{sfn|Gates|2002|p=521}} Wellington split his army into four attacking "columns" and attacked the French defensive position from south, west and north while the last column cut down across the French rear. The French were forced back from their prepared positions, and despite attempts to regroup and hold were driven into a rout. This led to the abandonment of all of the French artillery as well as King Joseph's extensive baggage train and personal belongings. The latter led to many Anglo-Allied soldiers abandoning the pursuit of the fleeing troops, to instead loot the wagons. This delay, along with the French managing to hold the east road out of Vitoria towards Salvatierra, allowed the French to partially recover. The Allies chased the retreating French, reaching the Pyrenees in early July, and began operations against [[San Sebastián|San Sebastian]] and [[Pamplona]]. On 11 July, Soult was given command of all French troops in Spain and in consequence Wellington decided to halt his army to regroup at the Pyrenees.

The war was not over. Although Bonapartist Spain had effectively collapsed, most of France's troops had retreated in order and fresh troops were soon gathering beyond the Pyrenees. By themselves, such forces were unlikely to score more than a few local victories, but French troop losses elsewhere in Europe could not be taken for granted. Napoleon might yet inflict defeats on Austria, Russia and Prussia, and with the divisions between the allies there was no guarantee that one power would not make a separate peace. It was a major victory and gave Britain more credibility on the continent, but the thought of Napoleon descending on the Pyrenees with the {{lang|fr|Grande Armée}} was not regarded with equanimity.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=454}}