|
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. The war started when the French and Spanish armies invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 by transiting through Spain, and it escalated in 1808 after Napoleonic France occupied Spain, which had been its ally. Napoleon Bonaparte forced the abdications of Ferdinand VII and his father Charles IV and then installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne and promulgated the Bayonne Constitution. Most Spaniards rejected French rule and fought a bloody war to oust them. The war on the peninsula lasted until the Sixth Coalition defeated Napoleon in 1814, and is regarded as one of the first wars of national liberation. It is also significant for the emergence of large-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of French domination over most of continental Europe. The wars stemmed from the unresolved disputes associated with the French Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars consisting of the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). The Napoleonic Wars are often described as five conflicts, each termed after the coalition that fought Napoleon: the Third Coalition (1803–1806), the Fourth (1806–1807), the Fifth (1809), the Sixth (1813–1814), and the Seventh (1815) plus the Peninsular War (1807–1814) and the French invasion of Russia (1812). Napoleon, upon ascending to First Consul of France in 1799, had inherited a republic in chaos; he subsequently created a state with stable financ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Evacuation Of La Romana's Division
The evacuation of La Romana's division in August 1808 was a military operation in which a division of troops belonging to the Kingdom of Spain and commanded by Pedro Caro, Marquis of La Romana defected from the armies of the First French Empire. The Spanish troops were part of the Imperial forces in Denmark, which were under the leadership of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. Most of the Spanish troops were successfully spirited away by the British navy and shipped to Santander, Spain to fight against France in the Peninsular War. In 1807, the Spanish Division of the North was sent to northern Europe to participate in the planned Franco-Danish invasion of Sweden. Formerly loyal to the alliance with Imperial France, the Spanish officers and men found in 1808 that Emperor Napoleon I of France had overthrown King Charles IV of Spain and Prince Ferdinand and placed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne. The British sent an agent to contact La Romana and found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford
General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, (; 2 October 1768 – 8 January 1854) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. A general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army, he fought alongside The Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War and held the office of Master-General of the Ordnance in 1828 in Wellington's first ministry. He led the 1806 failed British invasion of Buenos Aires. Background Beresford was the illegitimate son of the 1st Marquess of Waterford. He was the brother of Admiral Sir John Beresford, 1st Baronet (who was also illegitimate), and the half-brother of the 2nd Marquess of Waterford, Archbishop Lord John Beresford and General Lord George Beresford. Peninsular War Commander in Chief of the Portuguese Army In that same year Beresford was sent to Madeira, which he occupied in name of the Queen of Portugal, remaining there for six months as Governor and Commander in Chief. The exiled Portu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of the United Kingdom. He is among the commanders who won and ended the Napoleonic Wars when the coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Wellesley was born in Dublin into the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. He was commissioned as an ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive lords lieutenant of Ireland. He was also elected as a member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796 and saw action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Seringapatam. He was appointed governor of Seringapatam and Mysore in 1799 and, as a newly appointed major-general, won a decisive victory over the Maratha Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miguel Pereira Forjaz, Count Of Feira
Dom Miguel Pereira Forjaz Coutinho, 10th Count of Feira (1 November 1769 – 6 November 1827), was a Portuguese general and War Secretary in the Peninsular War.Otto Von Pivka The Portuguese Army of the Napoleonic Wars 1977 -- Page 17 "The chivalrous ardour of the marechal-de-camp, Marquis d'Alorne, the activity and firmness of Gomez Freire de Andrada, the analytical and cool mind of Colonel Don Miguel Pereira Forjaz, were highly extolled. There were but few veterans left ..." Life He was the son of Diogo Pereira Forjaz Coutinho (23 May 1726) and the great grandson of the 9th Count of Feira, D. Álvaro Pereira Forjaz Coutinho (c.1656-?) and his wife Inês Antónia Barreto de Sá (c.1670-?). He was married twice, to Joana Eulália Freire de Andrade and to Maria do Patrocínio Freire de Andrade e Castro who died at childbirth. He entered the army in 1785, as a cadet in the Regiment of Peniche, in which he met many members of his family. In 1787 he was promoted to alferes (lieutena ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francisco Da Silveira Pinto Da Fonseca Teixeira, 1st Count Of Amarante
Francisco da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca Teixeira, 1st Count of Amarante (1 September 1763 – 27 May 1821), was a Portuguese army officer who fought in the War of Oranges and other campaigns of the Peninsular War, as an offshoot of the Napoleonic Wars. Biography Francisco da Silveira was born in the town of Canelas, the son of Manuel da Silveira Pinto da Fonseca and D. Antónia Silveira. Career He became a cadet in the Almeida Cavalry Regiment on 25 April 1780, from which his career developed in subsequent years: he was promoted to ensign by 27 February 1790; then lieutenant in the 6th Cavalry Regiment, then called the ''Light Regiment of Chaves'', on 17 December 1792, before becoming a captain and adjunct-aide to the Field Marshall of the Province of Beira, João Brun da Silveira, on 17 December 1799. He succeeded his father as the Majorat of Espírito Santo on 22 February 1785. During the war between France and Spain (in 1801), Francisco da Silveira, along with other importan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernardim Freire De Andrade
Bernardino Freire de Andrade (Lisbon, 18 February 1759 – Braga, 17 March 1809), was a Portuguese Army general officer who was assigned to command the forces of the Porto Junta in 1808 during the Peninsular War. In March 1809, Freire commanded an army composed mostly of unruly militia which was opposed to Marshal Nicolas Soult's army of professional French soldiers. Freire understood that his poorly trained men stood little chance against the French but he was afraid to order a retreat because he feared for his life. When he tried to leave the army, he was arrested and put in the Braga jail. Soon afterward, a group of militiamen broke into the jail and murdered him. The commander of the British invasion force, Sir Arthur Wellesley Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John VI Of Portugal
, house = Braganza , father = Peter III of Portugal , mother = Maria I of Portugal , birth_date = , birth_place = Queluz Palace, Queluz, Portugal , death_date = , death_place = Bemposta Palace, Lisbon, Portugal , burial_date = , burial_place = Pantheon of the House of Braganza , signature = Assinatura D. João VI.svg , religion = Roman Catholicism Dom John VI (Portuguese: ''João VI''; 13 May 1767 – 10 March 1826), nicknamed "the Clement", was King of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves from 1816 to 1825. Although the United Kingdom of Portugal ceased to exist ''de facto'' beginning in 1822, he remained its monarch ''de jure'' between 1822 and 1825. After the recognition of the independence of Brazil under the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1825, he continued as King of Portugal until his death in 1826. Under the same treaty, he also became titular Emperor of Brazil for life, while his son, Emperor Dom Pedr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
José De Palafox Y Melci, 1st Duke Of Zaragoza
José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi, 1st Duke of Saragossa ( es, José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melci, duque de Zaragoza; 28 October 1775 – 15 February 1847) was a Spanish general who fought in the Peninsular War. Early life He was born in Zaragoza, Aragon, into an old Aragonese family. Palafox was born to Juan Felipe Rebolledo de Palafox and doña Paula Melzi d'Eril and educated at the St. Thomas Aquinas College of the Pious Schools of Zaragoza. Brought up at the Spanish court, he entered the guards at an early age, and in 1808 as a sub-lieutenant accompanied King Ferdinand VII of Spain to Bayonne; but after vainly attempting, in company with others, to secure Ferdinand's escape, he fled to Spain, and after a short period of retirement placed himself at the head of the patriot movement in Aragon. He was proclaimed by the populace governor of Zaragoza and captain-general of Aragon (25 May 1808) at the beginning of the Peninsular War. Despite the want of money and of regular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juan Martín Díez
Juan Martín Díez, nicknamed El Empecinado ( es, the Undaunted), (5 September 1775 – 20 August 1825) was a Spanish military leader and guerrilla fighter, who fought in the Peninsular War. On October 8, 1808, the privilege of using the name ''Empecinado'' was granted to Juan Martín Díez, not only for himself, but also all his descendants. His nickname has given the Spanish language the verb ''empecinarse'', meaning to persist or insist on achieving one's goals. Early life Díez was born in Castrillo de Duero (Valladolid, Spain) on September 5, 1775. He was a farmer and his house still exists in its original location. Those from Castrillo are often termed "empecinados", a term which arises from several nearby streams filled with black mud (''pecina'')''pez'' in ''Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana'' vol.III, pag.762 (50), Joan Corominas, Francke Verlag - Bern, 1954. from stagnant, decomposing waters. It is believed that the local appellation was the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregorio García De La Cuesta
Gregorio García de la Cuesta y Fernández de Celis (9 May 1741 – 1811) was a prominent Spanish general of the Peninsular War. Early career Born in La Lastra, Cantabria, to a family of petty nobles, Cuesta entered military service in 1758 as a member of the Spanish Royal Guards Regiment. He saw several successes as a Lieutenant General during the War of the Pyrenees in the years 1793 to 1795. On 20 December 1795, he led 8,000 Spanish and Portuguese in a successful attack in the Battle of Collioure, capturing Collioure, Fort Saint-Elme and Port-Vendres. Cuesta's force killed or captured 4,000 of the 5,000 defenders. He led a division under José de Urrutia y de las Casas at the successful Battle of Bascara on 14 June 1795. His corps of 7,000 to 9,000 troops captured 1,500 Frenchmen at Puigcerdà on 26 July. The following day, he fell upon and seized the town of Bellver with its 1,000-man French garrison. Unknown to Cuesta, both actions occurred after the Peace of Basel had b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francisco Javier Castaños, 1st Duke Of Bailén
Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri Urioste y Olavide, 1st Duke of Bailén (22 April 1758 – 24 September 1852) was a Spanish general and politician who excelled during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. From July to September 1834, he served as the first president of the Senate of Spain, at that time called House of Peers. Castaños was one of the most important military officers during the Peninsular War, reaching the position of Chair of the Regency Council of Spain and the Indies (''de facto'' head of state) in 1810. In 1833, Queen Regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, in the name of her daughter, Queen Isabella II, granted him with the title of Duke of Bailén, to honour his actions in the Peninsular War and, specially, in the Battle of Bailén, where the Napoleonic army was defeated at open field for the first time, which also caused the flight of Spain from King Joseph Bonaparte. Biography Castaños was born at Madrid. Castaños is rememb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford")
.png "Click for more on -> John VI Of Portugal")
_Alcalá_de_Henares.png "Click for more on -> Juan Martín Díez")
.jpg "Click for more on -> Francisco Javier Castaños, 1st Duke Of Bailén")