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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 larg ... [...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] |
Ferdinand VII Of Spain
, house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_place = El Escorial , religion = Roman Catholicism , signature = Ferdinand VII of Spain signature.svg Ferdinand VII ( es, Fernando VII; 14 October 1784 – 29 September 1833) was a King of Spain during the early 19th century. He reigned briefly in 1808 and then again from 1813 to his death in 1833. He was known to his supporters as '' el Deseado'' (the Desired) and to his detractors as '' el Rey Felón'' (the Felon/Criminal King). Born in Madrid at El Escorial, Ferdinand VII spent his youth as heir apparent to the Spanish throne. Following the 1808 Tumult of Aranjuez, he ascended the throne. That year Napoleon overthrew him; he linked his monarchy to counter-revolution and reactionary policies that produced a deep rift in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill
General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, (11 August 1772 – 10 December 1842) was a British Army officer who served in the Napoleonic Wars as a brigade, division and corps commander. He became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1828. Background and early career Hill was born on 11August 1772 at Prees Hall in Prees, Shropshire. He was the second son and fourth child of Sir John Hill, 3rd Baronet, a landowner, and Mary, co-heir and daughter of John Chambré of Petton, Shropshire. Educated at The King's School in Chester, Hill was commissioned into the 38th Foot in 1790. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 January 1791. On 16 March 1791, after a period of leave, he was appointed to the 53rd Regiment of Foot. He was asked to raise an independent company and given the rank of captain on 30 March 1793. He served at the Siege of Toulon in Autumn 1793 as '' aide-de-camp'' to General O'Hara from where he carried the dispatches to London. He then transferred to one of ... [...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 Por ... [...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 people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 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 Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. He was commissioned as an Ensign (rank), 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 (United Kingdom), member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. He was a colonel by 1796 and saw Flanders Campaign, action in the Netherlands and in India, where he fought in the Fourth Angl ... [...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 (lieute ... [...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 importa ... [...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 Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ... jail. Soon afterward, a group of militiamen broke into the jail and murdered him. The commander of the British invasion force, Sir Arthur Wel ... [...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 ... [...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 regu ... [...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 th ... [...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 h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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