The blockade of Barcelona, from August to December 1808, was the failed attempt by Spanish troops to recapture the French occupied

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

during the

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 ...

Background

The French under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme had occupied Barcelona on 29 February 1808. In the Dos de Mayo Uprising in Madrid, citizens revolted against the French on 2 May 1808, and three days later, pressure from Napoleon forced

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_plac ...

to return the crown to his father, who handed it over to Napoleon who, in turn handed it over to his brother

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

on 10 May. But Spanish-occupied Girona kept on blocking the connection from Barcelona to

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

in France as Duhesme besieged Girona on 20–21 June 1808 unsuccessfully and on 24 July–16 August, his second siege of Girona failed again.

Blockade

Meanwhile on 23 July, one day before the start of the second siege of Girona, the Marquis of Del Palacio landed at

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

at the head of a division of regular Spanish troops. French Barcelona was defended by only 3,500 Swiss and Italian remaining troops under the command of General Lecchi. On 31 July the last of the French outposts, the castle of Mongat, surrendered and the blockade of Barcelona started. After the failed second siege of Gerona, Duhesme returned to Barcelona on 20 August and the blockade turned into a siege.

Relief

On 5 November, General St. Cyr with his troops, now 23,680 strong, was marching towards Barcelona. His siege of Roses, from 7 November to 5 December 1808, ended with a French victory. The decisive

Battle of Cardadeu The Battle of Cardadeu on 16 December 1808 saw an Imperial French corps led by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr assault a Spanish force commanded by Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu and Theodor von Reding. Saint-Cyr won the engagement by forming most o ...

on 16 December 1808 ended with a French victory. On 21 December, St. Cyr defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Molins de Rei, driving the Catalan army away from Barcelona.

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