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 Battle of Almonacid was fought on 11 August 1809 during the Peninsular War between Sébastiani's IV Corps of the French Peninsular Army, which King Joseph of Spain had withdrawn from the Battle of Talavera to defend Madrid, and the Spanish Army of La Mancha under General Venegas. After the decisive charges of Polish uhlans, the battle resulted in a French victory.
Fuengirola is a city on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is located on the central coast of the province and integrated into the region of the Costa del Sol and the Commonwealth of Municipalities of the Costa del Sol Occidental.
The Battle of Talavera was fought just outside the town of Talavera de la Reina, Spain some 120 kilometres (75 mi) southwest of Madrid, during the Peninsular War. At Talavera, a British army under Sir Arthur Wellesley combined with a Spanish army under General Cuesta fought in operations against French-occupied Madrid. At nightfall, the French army withdrew a short distance after several of its attacks had been repulsed; the allies, having suffered comparable casualties to the French, made no attempt to pursue.
The 89th Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army, raised on 3 December 1793. Under the Childers Reforms the regiment amalgamated with the 87th Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Victoria's in 1881.
Lieutenant General Andrew Thomas Blayney, 11th Baron Blayney was an Anglo-Irish peer. He ruled the Blayney estate at Castleblayney, County Monaghan for fifty years from 1784 to 1834, and was one of the most illustrious soldiers ever to come from County Monaghan.
The battle of Warsaw, also known as the battle and storming of Warsaw, was fought in September 1831 between Imperial Russia and Poland. After a two-day assault on the city's western fortifications, the Polish defences collapsed and the city was evacuated. It was the largest battle and the final episode of the Polish–Russian War of 1830–31, a conflict that became better known as the November Uprising.
The Battle of Villafranca del Bierzo took place on 17 March 1809, during the French occupation of León in the Peninsular War. After a bloody four-hour siege the small and isolated French garrison at Villafranca surrendered to Spanish regulars under Brigadier José de Mendizábal and General Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana.
The siege of Cádiz was a siege of the large Spanish naval base of Cádiz by a French army from 5 February 1810 to 24 August 1812 during the Peninsular War. Following the occupation of Seville, Cádiz became the Spanish seat of power, and was targeted by 70,000 French troops under the command of the Marshals Claude Victor and Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult for one of the most important sieges of the war. Defending the city were 2,000 Spanish troops who, as the siege progressed, received aid from 10,000 Spanish reinforcements as well as British and Portuguese troops.
Louis Emmanuel Rey was a French soldier. He joined the French royal army and won rapid promotion to general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. He continued to serve the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. He fought in the Peninsular War and led a tenacious defense of San Sebastián, Spain in 1813. His is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.
François Xavier de Schwarz or François-Xavier-Nicolas Schwartz was born in Baden but joined the French army in 1776. He became a cavalry officer during the French Revolutionary Wars, fighting with the 2nd Hussar Regiment in numerous actions including Jemappes, Fleurus, and Neuwied. After being captured in an abortive invasion of Ireland, he was promoted to command the 5th Hussar Regiment. He led the unit in the War of the Second Coalition, most notably at Hohenlinden and in the subsequent pursuit of the Austrians.
Jean-Pierre-Antoine Rey commanded a famous French infantry regiment during the Napoleonic Wars and became a general officer in 1808. He led an infantry brigade in a number of actions in Spain and France. His brother Louis Emmanuel Rey was a French general of brigade who also served in Spain during the Peninsular War. Since most sources do not distinguish between the generals named Rey, the two are easily confused.
HMS Topaze was a Royal Navy 32-gun frigate, originally completed in 1791 as a French Magicienne-class frigate. In 1793 Lord Hood's fleet captured her at Toulon. The Royal Navy took her into service under her existing name. She was broken up in 1814.
The Battle of Saguntum saw the Imperial French Army of Aragon under Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet fighting a Spanish army led by Captain General Joaquín Blake. The Spanish attempt to raise the siege of the Sagunto Castle failed when the French, Italians, and Poles drove their troops off the battlefield in rout. The action took place during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Sagunto lies a short distance from the east coast of Spain, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Valencia.
In the Battle of Baza on 4 November 1810 an Imperial French force commanded by General Milhaud fought a Spanish corps led by General Blake. When the Spanish commander allowed his forces to get spread out, Milhaud attacked with his cavalry and crushed Blake's vanguard with heavy losses. The Spanish force retreated into the province of Murcia. Baza is located on Route 342 about 80 kilometres (50 mi) north of Almería. The battle occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
Franciszek Młokosiewicz was a Polish officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars and the November Uprising. He served in the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw and participated in the Battle of Fuengirola.
The second siege of Badajoz saw an Anglo-Portuguese Army, first led by William Carr Beresford and later commanded by Arthur Wellesley, the Viscount Wellington, besiege a French garrison under Armand Philippon at Badajoz, Spain. After failing to force a surrender, Wellington withdrew his army when the French mounted a successful relief effort by combining the armies of Marshals Nicolas Soult and Auguste Marmont. The action was fought during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Badajoz is located 6 kilometres (4 mi) from the Portuguese border on the Guadiana River in western Spain.
The Invasion of Naples was a front during the War of the Third Coalition, in 1806, when an army of the French Empire led by Marshal André Masséna marched from Northern Italy into the Kingdom of Naples, an ally of the Coalition against France ruled by King Ferdinand IV. The Neapolitan army was defeated at Campo Tenese and rapidly disintegrated. The invasion was eventually successful despite some setbacks, including the prolonged Siege of Gaeta, the British victory at Maida, and a stubborn guerrilla war by the peasantry against the French. Total success eluded the French because Ferdinand withdrew to his domain in Sicily, where he was protected by the Royal Navy and a British Army garrison. In 1806, Emperor Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph Bonaparte to rule over Southern Italy as king.
The Dutch Brigade was a unit of the Royal Army of the Kingdom of Holland. King Louis Bonaparte sent the brigade in September 1808, to take part in the Peninsular War on the French side at the request of his brother Emperor Napoleon of France. The brigade was under the command of Major-General David Hendrik Chassé and was made part of the so-called "German Division". The Division also consisted of units from the Nassau, the Baden and other German allies of the French empire commanded by the French general Leval. It was, in turn, part of the IVth French Corps commanded by Marshals Lefebvre and Sébastiani, and was later part of the Marshal Victor's Ist Corps. The brigade distinguished itself initially in several major battles, and was later employed mainly in counter-guerrilla warfare. After the annexation of the Kingdom of Holland by the French empire in 1810, the brigade was formally decommissioned and its members, now French subjects, absorbed into the French 123rd Line Infantry Regiment, and later into the 130th Line Infantry Regiment. The other battalions of the 123rd remained in the Netherlands and were later reassigned to the Russian campaign of 1812.
The Battle of Saint-Malo was fought between Allied and German forces to control the French coastal town of Saint-Malo during World War II. The battle formed part of the Allied breakout across France and took place between 4 August and 2 September 1944. United States Army units, with the support of Free French and British forces, successfully assaulted the town and defeated its German defenders. The German garrison on a nearby island continued to resist until 2 September.
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