Peninsular War
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Part 1: PENINSULAR WAR 1. SUMMARY
The Peninsular War In 1808, Napoleon made a second costly mistake. In an effort to get Portugal to accept the Continental System, he sent an invasion force through Spain. The Spanish people protested this action. In response, Napoleon removed the Spanish king and put his own brother, Joseph, on the throne. This outraged the Spanish people and inflamed their nationalistic feelings. The Spanish, who were devoutly Catholic, also worried that Napoleon would attack the Church.
They had seen how the French Revolution had weakened the Catholic Church in France, and they feared that the same thing would happen to the Church in Spain. For six years, bands of Spanish peasant fighters, known as guerrillas, struck at French armies in Spain. The guerrillas were not an army that Napoleon could defeat in open battle. Rather, they worked in small groups that ambushed French troops and then fled into hiding.
The British added to the French troubles by sending troops to aid the Spanish. Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during this Peninsular War—so called because Spain lies on the Iberian Peninsula. These losses weakened the French Empire. In Spain and elsewhere, nationalism, or loyalty to one’s own country, was becoming a powerful weapon against Napoleon. People who had at first welcomed the French as their liberators now felt abused by a foreign conqueror. Like the Spanish guerrillas, Germans and Italians and other conquered peoples turned against the French. 2. THE MUTINY OF ARANJUEZ. THE ABDICATIONS OF BAYONNE.
Mutiny of Aranjuez.
It was an early nineteenth century popular uprising against King Charles IV, which managed to overthrow him and place his son, Ferdinand VII, on the throne. It was an aristocratic and clerical coup (golpe de Estado) masquerading as a popular revolt.
Ferdinand’s associates incited a riot against Godoy on the night of 17 March 1808. King Charles IV fearing
Part 1: PENINSULAR WAR 1. SUMMARY
The Peninsular War In 1808, Napoleon made a second costly mistake. In an effort to get Portugal to accept the Continental System, he sent an invasion force through Spain. The Spanish people protested this action. In response, Napoleon removed the Spanish king and put his own brother, Joseph, on the throne. This outraged the Spanish people and inflamed their nationalistic feelings. The Spanish, who were devoutly Catholic, also worried that Napoleon would attack the Church.
They had seen how the French Revolution had weakened the Catholic Church in France, and they feared that the same thing would happen to the Church in Spain. For six years, bands of Spanish peasant fighters, known as guerrillas, struck at French armies in Spain. The guerrillas were not an army that Napoleon could defeat in open battle. Rather, they worked in small groups that ambushed French troops and then fled into hiding.
The British added to the French troubles by sending troops to aid the Spanish. Napoleon lost about 300,000 men during this Peninsular War—so called because Spain lies on the Iberian Peninsula. These losses weakened the French Empire. In Spain and elsewhere, nationalism, or loyalty to one’s own country, was becoming a powerful weapon against Napoleon. People who had at first welcomed the French as their liberators now felt abused by a foreign conqueror. Like the Spanish guerrillas, Germans and Italians and other conquered peoples turned against the French. 2. THE MUTINY OF ARANJUEZ. THE ABDICATIONS OF BAYONNE.
Mutiny of Aranjuez.
It was an early nineteenth century popular uprising against King Charles IV, which managed to overthrow him and place his son, Ferdinand VII, on the throne. It was an aristocratic and clerical coup (golpe de Estado) masquerading as a popular revolt.
Ferdinand’s associates incited a riot against Godoy on the night of 17 March 1808. King Charles IV fearing