Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu or Joan Miquel Vives i Feliu (died 24 April 1809) was a Spanish general who commanded a division during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

and briefly led an army in the

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 Fren ...

. He was described as a native of

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in 2020. Girona is the capital ...

. In 1794 he capably led a division against the French in the

War of the Pyrenees The War of the Pyrenees, also known as War of Roussillon or War of the Convention, was the Pyrenean front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. It pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portug ...

. He led his division at the battles of Boulou and the Black Mountain in the eastern Pyrenees. In 1796 he was posted to Cartagena and in 1799 he became

Captain General Captain general (and its literal equivalent in several languages) is a high military rank of general officer grade, and a gubernatorial title. History The term "Captain General" started to appear in the 14th century, with the meaning of Comma ...

of Mallorca. Soon after the outbreak of 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 ...

in 1808, the Spanish Junta named him

Captain General of Catalonia The office of Captain General of Catalonia ( es, Capitán general de Cataluña; ca, Capitá general de Catalunya) was created in 1713 by the Nueva Planta decrees of King Philip V of Spain to replace that of Viceroy of Catalonia This is a list of ...

. In the summer and fall of 1808, de Vives was in charge of the blockade of Barcelona and its French Imperial garrison led by

Guillaume Philibert Duhesme Guillaume Philibert, 1st Count Duhesme (7 July 1766 in Mercurey (formerly ''Bourgneuf''), Burgundy – 20 June 1815 near Waterloo) was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars. Revolution Duhesme studied law and in 1792 was made colonel o ...

. He failed to take vigorous action against Barcelona and was defeated by a second column of French troops under

Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, 1st Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr (; 13 April 1764 – 17 March 1830) was a French military commander in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who rose to the rank of Marshal of the Empire. He is regarde ...

at the battles of Cardadeu and Molins de Rey in December. Replaced in army command by Theodor Reding, he was appointed to another post when he died at

Ciudad Rodrigo Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right ban ...

Commentary

When writing about his

service, historian David G. Chandler called Vives "an aged, overcautious, Anglophobic booby".Chandler (1966), 625

Notes

References

* * * * * Spanish soldiers Spanish generals Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Spanish commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People from Girona 1809 deaths Captains General of Catalonia Year of birth unknown {{mil-hist-stub