The third siege of Girona occurred in northern
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
from 6 May to 12 December 1809, during 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 ...
. A significant event 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 ...
, France's
Grande Armée lay siege to the town 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 ...
for seven months. Girona was strategically important because it controlled the main road between France and Spain.
![Mariano Alvarez de Castro](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Mariano_Alvarez_de_Castro.jpg)
Some 32,000 French and
Westphalian troops besieged the town. General
Laurent de 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 ...
was in command of the French during much of the siege.
Marshal Pierre Augereau
Charles Pierre François Augereau, 1st Duke of Castiglione (21 October 1757 – 12 June 1816) was a French military commander and a Marshal of the Empire who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. After serving in ...
took command after 12 October. The Girona defense was under General
Mariano Álvarez de Castro, with about 9,000 regular troops and militiamen. Girona held out until disease and famine compelled it to capitulate.
Though badly outnumbered, the Spanish defenders forced a lengthy siege, and a large French army was pinned down for an entire campaigning season. The battle became legendary over the course of Spain's War of Independence, and Álvarez became a national hero.
Background
In 1808
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 ...
acceded to the throne of Spain, effectively making Spain a client state to
Napoleonic France
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...
. Spain's resistance to France precipitated 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 ...
1808-1814. In 1809 General Álvarez, commander of
Montjuïc Castle
Montjuïc Castle ( ca, Castell de Montjuïc, es, Castillo de Montjuich) is an old military fortress, with roots dating back from 1640, built on top of Montjuïc hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It currently serves as a Barcelona municipal faci ...
in
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 ...
, was ordered by his superiors to surrender the castle to the French, although he had been preparing to resist. Álvarez left Barcelona and joined the Spanish rebels against French rule.
The Spanish Government in
Cadiz named him commander of the Army of
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...
and Governor of Girona. The city of Girona was on the main road between France and Spain, hence it was strategically important. The French had twice besieged the town the year before, first in the
Battle of Girona 20–21 June, and then in the three-week
Second siege of Girona
The second siege of Girona was the second unsuccessful French attempt to capture the city of Girona (spelled "Gerona" in Castilian) during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Girona is located halfway between the Franco-Spanish ...
from 24 July to 16 August, both times having to retreat. The French had captured the nearby coastal city of
Roses and its citadel in the
Siege of Roses in late 1808.
Taking command of the city on 1 February 1809, Álvarez immediately started preparing its defense, requesting provisions for 7,000 men. The city of Girona at that time had a population of between 13,000 and 14,000, and it was defended by a garrison of about 5,700. The defenders of Girona included Irish
mercenaries belonging to the
Ultonia Regiment. The women of the town organized into a Company of Santa Barbara to care for the sick and wounded, transport ammunition, and other tasks. On 1 April, Álvarez proclaimed his famous edict, to the effect that if the city were attacked, he would immediately execute anybody that mentioned surrender or capitulation. On 3 May, arms were distributed to 1717 volunteers.
The fortifications of Girona were antiquated since nothing had been done to modernize them since the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
a hundred years earlier. The medieval walls were thin, so they often could not support artillery. The area of the Mercadal, to the west of the River Onyar, was particularly weakly fortified. The French did not attack there, however, fearing the dangers of artillery fire from the heights of Girona and the difficulty of street fighting after their recent experience in the
second siege of Zaragoza earlier in the year. Moreover, the siege works for an attack on the Mercadal would have had to be dug on the flood plains of the River Ter, and flooding was not uncommon. The wall fortifications were augmented by surrounding bastions such as La Merced and Santa Maria by the Onyar to the south and north of Girona, respectively, and the several forts and redoubts (Capuchins, Chapter, Calvary, etc.) along the crest of the mountain behind Girona. Although
Montjuïc Castle
Montjuïc Castle ( ca, Castell de Montjuïc, es, Castillo de Montjuich) is an old military fortress, with roots dating back from 1640, built on top of Montjuïc hill in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It currently serves as a Barcelona municipal faci ...
, just to the north of Girona, was well-supplied with cannon, there were less than 300 men who were experienced with artillery. Nevertheless, Álvarez made the most of the defenses.
Siege
![Map of the Third Siege of Gerona 1809](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Map_of_the_Third_Siege_of_Gerona_1809.jpg)
At the beginning of May 1809, General Saint-Cyr began setting up artillery batteries and fortifications, mounting 40
gun batteries. The French forces consisted of over 17,000 men led by general
Honoré Charles Reille
Honoré Charles Michel Joseph Reille (; 1 September 1775 – 4 March 1860) was a Marshal of France, born in Antibes.
Reille served in the early campaigns of the French Revolutionary Wars under Dumouriez and Masséna, whose daughter Victoire he m ...
, soon superseded by general
Jean-Antoine Verdier
Jean-Antoine Verdier (2 May 1767 – 30 May
1839) was a French General during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Service
Born in Toulouse, he enlisted into the Régiment de la Fère on 18 February 1785. He served as Aide-de-camp to Augerea ...
, engaged in the siege, and an additional 15,000 men in a covering army led by Saint-Cyr, used to protect and reinforce the siege. On 12 June, Álvarez rejected the terms of a truce offered, and Saint-Cyr ordered bombardment to commence after midnight 13–14 June. Over the next seven months some 20,000 bombs and grenades and 80,000 cannonballs were fired into the city and the adjacent Montjuïc Castle.
After three weeks of heavy bombardment, on 7 July the French attempted to take the castle by frontal assault. Verdier employed 2500 men in the attempt, and although the cannons of the fort had been silenced, he still lost over a thousand men to unrelenting musket fire. The French were forced to retreat. They resumed bombardment of the fort, reducing three sides of the castle to ruins. With little water left and the French siege works arriving at the castle moat, on 11 August the remaining defenders of the castle took what supplies they could, evacuated to Girona, and blew up the castle. There was little left of the castle when the French took possession. Álvarez then barricaded and entrenched the city, and the siege continued for another four months. Attempts to relieve the city by General
Joaquín Blake
Joaquín Blake y Joyes (Vélez-Málaga, 19 August 1759 – 27 April 1827) was a Spanish military officer who served with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Peninsular wars.
Early military career
Partially of Irish descent his mother ...
were weak and only minimally successful. Reinforcements of only 3,600 troops were able to enter Girona during the siege.
![Ramon Martí Alsina El gran dia de Girona](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Ramon_Mart%C3%AD_Alsina_El_gran_dia_de_Girona.jpg)
The French strategy had been to take Montjuïc, after which Girona was expected to surrender, but in September another entreaty from the French for the Spanish to surrender was rejected. The French began their first direct assault on the city on 19 September. The incessant bombardment, now also from nearby Montjuïc, had breached several holes in the city's northern defensive walls. After bloody hand-to-hand combat and repeated assaults were repulsed, the French finally abandoned the attempt and retreated. The French lost 624 soldiers in the attack, while the Spanish lost 251. The event demoralized the French and rallied the Spanish.
Towards the end of September, General Saint-Cyr left his command, angered by the fact he was to be replaced as the head of the French and Allied force. He left the troops without an overall commander for several days, in clear disobedience of orders received in June. He was replaced by
Marshal Augereau, who assumed command of the siege on 12 October. After the bloody engagements of August and September, the French adopted a more patient strategy, attempting to force surrender by starvation and disease.
In December Álvarez, seriously ill and delirious, handed over command to Brigadier Juan Bolivar. The French had taken several important fortifications of the city, and the Spanish were in retreat within the city itself. Two days later, on 12 December, the town finally capitulated. On the Spanish side, it is estimated that some 10,000 soldiers and civilians died during the siege, mostly from disease or famine. Only about 8000 of the original 14,000 inhabitants of the city survived, while about 3000 emaciated soldiers remained to surrender. French losses were approximately 14,000, over half of those to disease.
Aftermath
After the extensive bombardment by artillery and 7 months of siege, the town of Girona was virtually uninhabitable. There was little of value left in the city for the French. As described by
Charles Oman
Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman, (12 January 1860 – 23 June 1946) was a British military historian. His reconstructions of medieval battles from the fragmentary and distorted accounts left by chroniclers were pioneering. Occasionally his ...
in his ''
A History of the Peninsular War (1908),'' Girona
![Survivors of the 1809 Siege of Girona in 1864](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Survivors_of_the_1809_Siege_of_Girona_in_1864.jpg)
In spite of Álvarez's poor health, the French imprisoned him and the other officers from Girona at
Perpignan, France on 23 December. After a month, he was taken to stand trial for treason at the
Sant Ferran Castle
The Sant Ferran Castle ( ca, Castell de Sant Ferran; es, Castillo de San Fernando) is situated on a hill in Figueres, Catalonia at the end of Pujada del Castell. It is a large military fortress built in the eighteenth century under the orders of ...
in
Figueres
Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain.
The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...
. On 21 January 1810, the day after his arrival at the castle, Álvarez was found dead in his cell.
Owing to the long delays and heavy losses suffered by the French, the town's resistance served Spanish purposes, however. The siege had pinned down the French army for an entire campaigning season. The battle became legendary over the course of Spain's War of Independence, rallying national resistance, and Álvarez became a national hero.
In popular culture
![Girona 007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Girona_007.JPG)
The success of the Spanish in repelling the 19 September attack was commemorated in 1864 by a painting by
Ramón Martí Alsina entitled ''
The Great Day of Girona
''The Great Day of Girona'', originally ''El gran dia de Girona'' (), is a large oil painting (4.96 × 10.82 m) by Ramon Martí Alsina depicting an important victory of Girona's defenders over the French during the Third Siege of Girona in 1809. Co ...
''. Roughly 5m by 11m in size, this large painting is the property of the Catalan National Art Museum. On 14 September 2010 it was put on permanent display in an auditorium of the government of Catalonia in Girona.
In Girona today, the ''Plaça de la Independència'', is a town square that honors the defenders of Girona during this war. A monument at the center of the square is dedicated to these defenders. Located in the Mercadal district, it is one of the best known and busiest places in Girona.
Notes
References
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See also
A History of the Peninsular War.
External links
Voluntarios de AragónÁlvarez's 1 April 1809 edict. In Spanish.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Girona
Sieges of the Peninsular War
Sieges involving Spain
Sieges involving France
Siege of Girona (1809)
Siege of Girona (1809)
Battles in Catalonia
Battles inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe