Editing Badajoz (section)

=== The Storming of Badajoz (1812) ===
{{Main|Siege of Badajoz (1812)}}
[[File:Sir Thomas Picton at the Siege of Badajoz, 6 April 1812, by J. J. Jenkins.jpg|thumb|General Sir [[Thomas Picton]] storming the Castle of Badajos. 31 March 1812]]
[[File:Siege of Badajoz, by Richard Caton Woodville Jr.jpg|thumb|right|Siege of Badajoz. Watercolour en grisaille by [[Richard Caton Woodville Jr.]]]]

In 1812, [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Arthur Wellesley]], [[Earl of Wellington]] (and future duke), again attempted to take Badajoz, which had a French garrison of about 5,000 men.{{sfn|MacFarlane|2004|p=127}} Siege operations commenced on 16 March; by early April, there were three practicable breaches{{efn|A "practicable breach" was one where two soldiers could get through side by side without needing to use their hands.<ref name="Melón 2012 242–244">{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://www.historiauex.es/data/catalogues/142/docs/1375529077.pdf|pages=242–244|first=Miguel Ángel|last=Melón|title=Los sitios en la guerra de la Independencia: La lucha en las ciudades|year=2012|editor-first=Gonzalo|editor-last=Butró Prída|editor-first2=Pedro|editor-last2=Rújula|chapter=Badajoz (1811–1812) La resistencia en la frontera|publisher=[[University of Cádiz|Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz]]|isbn=978-84-9828-393-8|location=Cádiz}}</ref>}} in the walls. These were assaulted by two British divisions on 6 April, reputed to be "Wellington's bloodiest siege", with a loss of some 5,000 British soldiers out of 15,000.{{Sfn|Fletcher|2012|p=74}} After a five-hour onslaught the storming of the breaches failed.{{sfn|Press|Slater|2006|p=180}} The French also lost some 1,200 of their 5,000 soldiers in the battle.{{Sfn|Fletcher|2012|p=74}} Despite the failure at the breaches, the castle and another section of undamaged wall had been attacked and the town was successfully taken by the British. After the capture of the city, the victorious troops (after getting drunk on stocks of captured alcohol) sacked the city, killing and raping numerous civilians. In the view of British historian [[Ronald Fraser (historian)|Ronald Fraser]], this was the worst night of the Peninsular War.<ref name="Melón 2012 242–244"/> It took three days before the men were brought back into order. When order was restored some 200–300 civilians had likely been killed or injured.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Badajoz-1812 Siege of Badajoz] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226023614/https://www.britannica.com/event/Siege-of-Badajoz-1812 |date=December 26, 2017 }}". Encyclopaedia Britannica.</ref> Wellington wrote to [[Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool|Lord Liverpool]], "The capture of Badajos affords as strong an instance of the gallantry of our troops as has ever been displayed, but I anxiously 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|Treneer|1963|p=133}}

[[Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana]], died at Badajoz on 23 January 1811 in a fit of apoplexy, seized at the moment when he was leaving his house to concert a plan of military operations with Lord Wellington. In the Siege of Badajoz, a detachment of the [[45th (Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot|45th Regiment of Foot]] (later amalgamated with the [[95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot|95th]] to form the [[Sherwood Foresters]] Regiment) succeeded in getting into the castle first and the red [[coatee]] of Lt. James MacPherson of the 45th regiment was hoisted in place of the French flag to indicate the fall of the castle. This feat is commemorated on 6 April each year, when red jackets are flown on regimental flag staffs and at [[Nottingham Castle]]. Volume 23 of the ''Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art'', published in 1833, described Badajoz as "one of the richest and most beautiful towns in the south of Spain, whose inhabitants had witnessed its siege in silent terror for one and twenty days, and who had been shocked by the frightful massacre."<ref>{{cite book|title=Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tsXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA612|access-date=9 July 2013|year=1833|publisher=E. Littell|page=612|archive-date=June 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610020032/https://books.google.com/books?id=0tsXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA612|url-status=live}}</ref> On 5 August 1883 there was an attempted [[mutiny]] by elements of the [[Spanish Armed Forces]] when a climate of confusion and chaos prevailed.<ref name=History/>