In a statement issued that day Murat said: “The population of Madrid, led astray, has given itself to revolt and murder. Battle of Badajoz - Conflict: The Battle of Badajoz was fought from March 16 to April 6, 1812 as part of the Peninsular War, which was in turn part of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). They dug up and looted the graves. The Duke of Wellington wrote of the murder, thefts and worse: "The British people, I'm certain, wouldn't believe the indecent behaviours of the French after their retreat. There were 36 Independent Companies of Invalids, known by their Captain's name, scattered in garrisons and forts across Great Britain. At the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, the army was a small, awkwardly administered force of barely 40,000 men. Daly has shown that low-level plunder and destruction occurred on a regular basis while British crimes escalated, on occasion, into full-scale atrocities In a statement issued that day Murat said: "The population of Madrid, led astray, has given itself to revolt and murder. It’s worth noting that the British public and Parliament were already well motivated against Napoleon as a threat towards Britain. The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought by Spain and Portugal, assisted by the United Kingdom, against the invading and occupying forces of France for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The Death of the Duke of Wellington by Marcus Cribb. As the Spanish uprisings became open revolt against their invaders and evolved into successful Guerrilla War elements to liberate their nation, the French Army used murder and fear as a weapon, under orders and spontaneously alike. Indeed, Badajoz has been likened to ‘some of the worst atrocities of the Thirty Years War’.3 F. Myatt, British Sieges of the Peninsular War (Stroud, 2008), p. 104. By January 1808 there were open executions of civilians who resisted the heavy handed demands of the French. War & Society: Vol. All those arrested in the uprising, arms in hand, will be shot.”. In the name of retaliation and example-setting, towns were leveled, civilians slaughtered, and soldiers executed. As it happened, the refugees had carried off almost half of the specie in Portugal and the French were barely able to raise enough money to maintain the occupation army. Linked via https://marcuscribb.wixsite.com/thedukeofwellington/blog & https://twitter.com/mcribb89, Charles Oman: History of the Peninsular War, https://historiana.eu/case-study/rights-civilians-and-responsibilities-armies-during-war-wwii-and-onwards/spanish-peninsular-war-1808-1814, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2281.12252. In the Autumn of 1807 Napoleon ordered General Jean-Andoche Junot along with over 24,000 men to invade the neutral nation of Portugal, to end it’s trade with Britain, which it refused to cease (this was an alliance with Britain which dated back to the the 14th Century). In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. This commission issued death sentences to all of those captured who were bearing weapons of any kind. The early years of the 19th century were messy and humiliating for Spain. The repression following the crushing of the initial rebellion was harsh. Sieges played a greater part in the Peninsular War than in any other part of the Napoleonic Wars. A difficult topic, but one that is often 'dismissed' by Francophile historians as too common, was the French Army's behaviour towards the civilian population when it invaded a country. Nevertheless, the harsh taxes caused bitter resentment among the population. The retreat to Corunna in 1809 ‘remains a dark chapter in the history of the British army’ (Charles Esdaile), and the sacking of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz and San Sebastian were abysmal incidents, which caused Wellington to fly into a rage and order the hanging of perpetrators on the spot. By January 1808 there were open executions of civilians who resisted the heavy handed demands of the French. Administered separately by the Bo… Wellington was not prone to exaggeration, nor did he often write graphic descriptions of the war he witnessed (for example the aftermath of Waterloo so deeply upset him, that he refused to talk about it), so we can presume his writing is factual. The retreat to Corunna in 1809 ‘remains a dark chapter in the history of the British army’ (Charles Esdaile), and the sacking of Ciudad Rodrigo, Badajoz and San Sebastian were abysmal incidents, which caused Wellington to fly into a rage and order the hanging of perpetrators on the spot. 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