Editing Peninsular War (section)

===British intervention===
{{further|British Army during the Napoleonic Wars}}
[[File:Batalha do Vimeiro.jpg|thumb|Portuguese and British troops fighting the French at [[Battle of Vimeiro|Vimeiro]]]]

Britain's involvement in the Peninsular War was the start of a prolonged campaign in Europe to increase British military power on land and liberate the Iberian peninsula from the French.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=87}} In August 1808, 15,000 British troops—including the [[King's German Legion]]—landed in Portugal under the command of [[Lieutenant-General]] [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Sir Arthur Wellesley]], who drove back [[Henri François Delaborde]]'s 4,000-strong detachment at [[Battle of Roliça|Roliça]] on 17 August and smashed Junot's main force of 14,000 men at [[Battle of Vimeiro|Vimeiro]]. Wellesley was replaced at first by [[Sir Harry Burrard, 1st Baronet, of Lymington|Sir Harry Burrard]] and then [[Sir Hew Dalrymple, 1st Baronet, of High Mark|Sir Hew Dalrymple]]. Dalrymple granted Junot an unmolested evacuation from Portugal by the Royal Navy in the controversial [[Convention of Cintra]] in August. In early October 1808, following the scandal in Britain over the Convention of Cintra and the recall of the generals Dalrymple, Burrard and Wellesley, [[John Moore (British Army officer)|Sir John Moore]] took command of the 30,000-man British force in Portugal.{{sfn|Richardson|1921|p=343}} In addition, [[Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet|Sir David Baird]], in command of an expedition of reinforcements out of [[Falmouth, Cornwall|Falmouth]] consisting of 150 transports carrying between 12,000 and 13,000 men, convoyed by HMS ''Louie'', [[HMS Amelia (1796)|HMS ''Amelia'']] and [[HMS Champion|HMS ''Champion'']], entered Corunna Harbour on 13 October.{{sfn|Gay|1903|p=231}} Logistical and administrative problems prevented any immediate British offensive.{{sfn|Chandler|1995|p=628}}

Meanwhile, the British had made a substantial contribution to the Spanish cause by helping to evacuate some 9,000 men of [[Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana|La Romana]]'s [[Division of the North]] from Denmark.{{sfn|Esdaile|2003|p=106}} In August 1808, the British Baltic fleet helped [[Evacuation of La Romana's division|transport the Spanish division]], except three regiments that failed to escape, back to Spain by way of [[Gothenburg]] in Sweden. The division arrived in Santander in October 1808.{{sfn|Oman|1902|pp=367–375}}