21 June 1813. At Vitoria, Spain, The Duke of Wellington, British, Portuguese, and Spanish forces routs the French, effectively ending the Peninsular War. On February 16, 1808, under the pretext of sending reinforcements to the French army occupying Portugal, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain. Thus began the Peninsular War, an important phase of the Napoleonic Wars that was fought between France and much of Europe between 1792 and 1815. During the first few weeks after their 1808 invasion of Spain, French forces captured Pamplona and Barcelona and on March 19 forced King Charles IV of Spain to abdicate. Four days later, the French entered Madrid under Joachim Murat. In early May, Madrid revolted, and on June 15 Napoleons brother, Joseph, was proclaimed the new king of Spain, leading to a general anti-French revolt across the Iberian Peninsula. In August, a British expeditionary force under General Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, landed on the Portuguese coast to expel the French from the Iberian Peninsula. By mid-1809, the French were driven from Portugal, but Spain proved more elusive. Thus began a long series of seesaw campaigns between the French and British in Spain. Finally, on June 21, 1813, 80,000 allied troops under The Duke Of Wellington routed the 66,000-man army of Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jourdan at Vitoria, 175 miles northeast of Madrid. By October, the Iberian Peninsula was liberated, and The Duke of Wellington launched an invasion of France. The allies had penetrated France as far as Toulouse when news of Napoleons abdication reached them in April 1814, ending the Peninsular War. Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba of the coast Tuscany Italy and on 26 Feb 1815, he escaped. The 100 days campaign began ending at the Battle of Waterloo 15-18 June 1815. Napoleon was exiled the second time to the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, 1,162 miles from the west coast of Africa. The Times published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death, and he often complained of the living conditions in letters to the governor and his custodian, Hudson Lowe. The Times reported a false rumour of Napoleons escape and said the news had been greeted by spontaneous illuminations in London. There was sympathy for him in the British Parliament: Lord Holland gave a speech that demanded the prisoner be treated with no unnecessary harshness. Napoleon kept himself informed of the events through The Times and hoped for release in the event that Holland became prime minister. He also enjoyed the support of Lord Cochrane, who was involved in Chiles and Brazils struggle for independence, and wanted to rescue Napoleon and help him set up a new empire in South America, a scheme frustrated by Napoleons death in 1821.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 14:44:33 +0000
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