The citadel of Madrid was a star fort with three fortified enceintes [1] constructed by the French Army during the Peninsular War, in the grounds of the Palacio del Buen Retiro, on the Retiro heights, [note 1] outside the eastern gate of the city of Madrid. [1]
Napoleon, on approaching Madrid, considered the vantage-ground of the heights of the Retiro key to taking the capital of Spain. He therefore set up, under cover of darkness, thirty guns opposite the earthworks which the Spanish troops had built there and other, smaller artillery in front of the other gates of the city, to distract the attention of the garrison. Before dawn, the Emperor sent another summons to surrender. [2] The Captain-General, Marquis of Castelar, suggested a suspension of arms for twelve hours, in answer to which the Napoleon ordered an immediate assault. Considerable damage was done to Madrid's other defences, but the real assault was delivered against the Retiro heights and, once breaches had been made, Villatte's division of Victor's corps stormed the position with ease. The Spanish garrison of this section of Madrid's defences consisted of a single battalion of new levies—the Regiment of Mazzaredo—and a mass of armed citizens. [2]
Joaquín Murat, the commander of the French Army in Spain, occupied Madrid in March 1808 with more than 40,000 veteran troops. While he was lodged at Chamartín, his chief of staff, Augustin Daniel Belliard, was commissioned to prepare Madrid's headquarters for 25,000 men [3] by "taking charge of the Retiro and considering it a citadel of Madrid, under the orders of Grouchy". [3]
The palace at the Retiro was converted into the French Army's headquarters. [4] The gardens and trees were removed to build the enceintes [1] and several buildings were demolished or converted into arsenals. [4]
Apart from the artillery and Moncey's brigade of dragoons stationed at the Retiro, the rest of the French troops based in and around Madrid were stationed at the convent of San Bernardino, located where the current Ciudad Universitaria was built, in the streets of Leganitos and Fuencarral, and the districts of El Pardo and Carabanchel. [3]
Prior to the Battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809), King Joseph left Madrid 23 July, at the head of some 5,800 troops, to meet up with Victor's 23,000 troops, and Sebastiani's 17,500, to take the offensive against Cuesta at Torrijos, rather than letting him advance on Madrid. [5]
Left behind was only one brigade of Dessolles's division, with a few Spanish levies, with which Belliard, the governor of the city, was expected to hold the capital; some 4,000 men, in all. Belliard had to be prepared to retreat into the Retiro fort, with his troops and the whole body of the Afrancesados and their families, if there was an insurrection, or if Venegas managed to reach the city from the east, or possibly Wilson, whose column was at Escalona (Toledo), just thirty-eight miles from Madrid, [5] with a force that was believed to be much larger than it actually was. [note 2]
Following the Battle of Majadahonda (11 August 1812), fought on the outskirts of the city, Wellington was able to liberate Madrid when, on 14 August 1812, the French garrison at the citadel, under Lafon Blaniac, the governor of the province of La Mancha, with some 2,000 men, mainly of the Army of Andalusia, and mostly conscripts, surrendered. [1] Although the double enceinte and the star fort in the interior would have been effective against guerrilleros or insurgents, the place could not hold out for long against siege-guns. [1]
The French fortifications and most of the remains of the palace were demolished during the reign of Fernando. The only buildings left standing of the original palace. [4] were the Casón [note 3] and the Salón de Reinos [note 4] and the land was converted into gardens, until 1868–1869, when it was handed over to the Council of Madrid, [4] as the public park of El Retiro.
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 large-scale guerrilla warfare.
The Battle of Gamonal was fought on 10 November 1808, during the Peninsular War in the village of Gamonal, near Burgos, Spain. A French army under Soult overwhelmed the outnumbered Spanish troops under General Belvedere, opening central Spain, including Madrid, to invasion.
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Jean-Joseph Paul Augustin, 1er Marquis Dessolles was a French soldier and statesman. He was the Prime Minister of France from 29 December 1818 to 18 November 1819.
The Buen Retiro Park, Retiro Park or simply El Retiro is one of the largest parks of the city of Madrid, Spain. The park belonged to the Spanish Monarchy until the late 19th century, when it became a public park.
Augustin Daniel Belliard, comte Belliard et de l'Empire was a French general.
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The Dos de Mayo or Second of May Uprising took place in Madrid, Spain, on 2–3 May 1808. The rebellion, mainly by civilians, with some isolated military action by junior officers, was against the occupation of the city by French troops, and was violently repressed by the French Imperial forces, with hundreds of public executions.
Francisco López Ballesteros (1770–1833) was a Spanish general.
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António de São José de Castro was a Bishop of Porto, Patriarch of Lisbon, and Governor of Portugal during the Transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil following Napoleon's Invasion of Portugal (1807).
The Battle of Cogorderos took place at Cogorderos, in the Province of León, Castile-León, on 23 June 1811, between a French force under Brigadier General Jean-André Valletaux and a Spanish force commanded by General Francisco Taboada y Gil during the Peninsular War. After seven hours of battle, the French were defeated and retreated to León. Despite the victory, Taboada, threatened by the bulk of General Jean Pierre François Bonet's army, retired to Astorga. However, Bonet and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessières decided against sending more troops to Extremadura, which favored the advance of Wellington in the south.
The second siege of Girona was the second unsuccessful French attempt to capture the city of Girona during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
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The following list shows the sequence of events of the Peninsular War (1807–1814). It includes major battles, smaller actions, uprisings, sieges and other related events that took place during that period.
The Spanish Army of the Peninsular War refers to the Spanish military units that fought against France's Grande Armée during a period which coincided with what is also termed the Spanish War of Independence.
Ramón Patiño, Count of Belvedere was a Spanish military commander during the Peninsular War.
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