Peninsular War Begins
Napoleon's forced abdication of the Spanish Bourbon king Charles IV and the installation of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain in May 1808 triggered an immediate and ferocious popular uprising. On 2 May — the Dos de Mayo — Madrileños attacked French troops in the streets; Goya's paintings of the massacre of civilians and the firing-squad executions became enduring images of the conflict. Within weeks guerrilla resistance had spread across the peninsula, supported by British forces under Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) who landed in Portugal in August 1808. The war lasted six years (1808–1814) and was unlike anything the French army had faced before. Spanish and Portuguese irregular fighters — guerrilleros, lending their name to a form of warfare — harassed supply lines, ambushed couriers, and massacred isolated detachments, while Wellington fought a careful campaign of strategic retreat and counter-stroke anchored on Lisbon's Torres Vedras lines. Napoleon himself campaigned in Spain in winter 1808–09, briefly stabilising the position, but withdrew to face Austria and never returned. The war tied down between 200,000 and 300,000 French troops, consumed enormous resources, drained veteran units, and provided a template for national resistance that spread across Europe. Napoleon himself would call it his 'Spanish ulcer.'
- Year: 1808 CE
- Category: Military
