General Joachim Blake was a senior Spanish general of Irish extraction during the Peninsular War. He is widely considered to have been brave but careful, energetic, organised but unlucky
General Carlos Areizaga was an unsuccessful Spanish general during the Peninsular War.
General Francisco Ballesteros was a Spanish general during the Peninsular War, whose career began inauspiciously in northern Spain, but who became a very successful commander of small forces in the south of Spain in 1811-1812.
The battle of Zornoza of 31 October 1808 was a French victory that came just before the start of Napoleon’s campaign in Spain in November 1808.
The skirmish at Valmeceda on 8 November 1808 was a minor French victory in the aftermath of their victory at Zornoza on 31 October 1808.
The battle of Gamonel of 10 November 1808 was the first French victory during Napoleon’s November 1808 campaign in Spain.
The battle of Espinosa de los Monteros of 10-11 November 1808 was a major French victory during Napoleon’s November 1808 campaign in Spain.
The battle of Tudela, 23 November 1808, was a major French victory that sealed the success of Napoleon’s great plan of double-envelopment during the one campaign he conducted in person in Spain.
The battle of the Somosierra Pass, 30 November 1808, was the final Spanish attempt to stop Napoleon reaching Madrid during his 1808 campaign in Spain.
The siege of Madrid of 1-4 December 1808 was the final French success during Napoleon’s only campaign in Spain.
The battle of Evora of 29 July 1808 was a French victory during the Portuguese rebellion of 1808.
The sack of Cordova of 7 June 1808 was an early indication of the ferocity which would be a distinguishing feature of the Spanish uprising against French Rule
The storm of Mataro of 17 June 1808 was a minor French victory that came just before General Duhesme’s first attempt to capture Gerona in June 1808.
The first siege of Gerona, 20-21 June 1808, was the first of three French attempts to seize this city, which blocked their lines of communication between Barcelona and Perpignan
The second siege of Gerona, 24 July-16 August 1808, was a second unsuccessful French attempt to capture the city of Gerona
The action at the defile of Cacabellos, 3 January 1809, was a minor British victory during Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna.
The skirmish at Constantino of 5 January 1809 was a rear-guard action during Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna in the winter of 1808-1809.
The fighting at Lugo on 7 January 1809 was the closest that the British and French came to fighting a full scale battle during Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna over the winter of 1808-1809.
The straggler's battle at Betanzos of 10 January 1809 was an incident late in Sir John Moore’s retreat to Corunna in the winter of 1808-1809.
The battle of Corunna, 16 January 1809, was the final fight during Sir John Moore’s retreat from Spain in the winter of 1808-1809.
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The downfall of Napoleon. The nation’s people win or lose wars. The weight of a nation’s people can rally or take down a military or government. A Prussian General, Carl Von Clausewitz had these same ideas. He argued that war differed from other political expression in that it is produced and governed by three dominant tendencies know as the “paradoxical trinity”. It is composed of the elements of primordial violence, hatred, and enmity which mainly concern the people. The second is probability and chance which the army and commander must contend with. Thirdly is the element of subordination, which says that war is subordinate to political polices which the government controls. In order for success of any war, all three elements need to maintain a balance. Napoleon Bonaparte failed to keep the balance of these three magnets in his war with Spain. He lost the war in Spain, because he failed to take in account the element of the Spanish people. Napoleon’s failure of the ideals of the people of Spain, the people’s social classes, and guerrilla actions used by the people on the French caused his demise.
The struggle that Napoleon failed at was balancing the struggle of ideals between French revolutionary passion and the religious conviction with the Spanish. The majority of Spaniards shared a passionate dedication to Catholicism and passionate dismissal of the revolutionary French. The Spanish priests encouraged the peasants to believe that the French would change their beliefs and religion, and portray the French as unholy and unwholesome. The priests maintained the power and influential base on the rural population, and because of this it started the settings for the movement against the French.
In Spain they were two completely different social classes. Spanish liberals in the towns accepted French rule because they associated it with liberal reform and embraced the enlightened views and rule. Peasants in the countryside rejected French rule and had an antagonism toward the Spanish liberals in the towns. French allied itself with the Spanish urban liberals and the British allied itself with the rural peasants. The two social classes of Spain were now aligned with two different world powers, with a major war to come on Spanish soil.
Napoleon’s army was the best force on force army and was about to conquer the European continent until the fight came to Spain. Wellington by now along with the other allies could not beat the French, but they were learning and adapting. The allies needed and edge and they found it with the Spanish peasants. Wellington needed to break down the French Army by imposing a regular and irregular conflict against him. He would use Allied conventional forces to fight the French face to face and use the Spanish peasants to attack using irregular warfare. In essence the peasants became a guerilla force that Wellington could use in conjunction with his force to cause Napoleon to fight on two fronts. This guerilla warfare was the edge that the Allies needed in defeating Napoleon. This technique used by Wellington and the peasants eventually defeated and drove out the French, and the beginning of the end for Napoleon and the French Army.
Napoleon failed to use Clausewitz’s Paradoxical Trinity by balancing the magnet of people with the other two. Napoleon lost the war in Spain, because he failed to take in account the ideals of the Spanish people, their social classes, and the Spanish guerrilla actions. The French and Spanish people needed to rally by hatred, passion, or violence for France to have won the war. The French had the passion, the Spanish rural population had the hatred and the British Army along with the Spanish guerillas had the violence. Napoleon had the biggest and best army in Europe, and was defeated by the rural population in Spain. It doesn’t matter how much money or men you have if you don’t have the passion in your ideals to make war.
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