Eyewitness Accounts from the Napoleonic Wars: Spain and Portugal 1808-1814

In 1808, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte  launched a war against Spain – until then, one of France’s closest allies. But Napoleon saw a country that was  backward, in thrall to its priests and ruled by an incompetent, dissolute monarchy. He intended to sweep away these corrupt  institutions, and bestow upon Spain the benefits of Napoleonic rule – reform,  modernisation, efficient government.

The Spanish people, pious  and loyal, reacted with fury. The result was a savage war that lasted nearly  six years – costing half a million lives, and helping to bring down Napoleon’s empire. For the Spanish, it was their  ‘War of Independence’ – for their British allies, ‘the Peninsular War’.

These are the voices of witnesses  to those momentous days. In the spring of 1808, French  troops – posing as Spain’s allies – occupied many Spanish cities by stealth. But as it became clear Napoleon intended to depose  the Spanish royal family, opposition mounted.

In Madrid, on 2nd May, a tense situation between locals and French troops exploded into  violence – the famous ‘Dos De Mayo’. A local priest witnessed the uprising. “Blind with rage and fury, some fired on the  French from windows and street corners .

. . others flung themselves on their very ranks.

Still others  hurled stones, pieces of furniture and pots and pans from the balconies, where they were joined  by women armed with cauldrons of boiling water. It really seemed as if there was not  a single person who did not want to water the streets with French blood  . .

. even at the cost of their own. ” For all its fame, French losses  in this revolt were only 31 dead, and 114 wounded.

But stern French reprisals saw  around 300 Spanish prisoners shot, and set the tone for a war that was to be fought ‘to the  knife’, with terrible cruelty on both sides. As Napoleon announced that his brother  Joseph would be the new King of Spain, fighting spread across the country. At Zaragoza, Spanish soldiers and civilians joined  forces to defend the city against the French.

“About one o'clock the French  troops approached the city. . .

whereupon we immediately opened fire on them. This was accompanied by a display of valour on  the part of the inhabitants that has few equals: seeing that the French were inside the walls,  they rushed to confront them with no other protection than their own noble breasts, and  forced them to retreat in a hail of fire. ” Captain Jozef Mrzinski was a Polish  officer serving in Napoleon’s army, and took part in the assault.

“A bloody fight began, and the defenders of  Zaragoza for the first time saw their enemies checked. This cheered them, and whole mobs  of them now began to rush towards the gate. Crowding into the houses that overlooked it, they opened fire from the windows and roofs on  our men, who could not see them to fire back.

With a hail of fire criss-crossing our columns  from all directions, General Lefebvre recognised the need to fall back from the walls of  the city, and gave the order to retreat. ” “The people were in great confusion, but this in no way interfered with  the unmatched heroism they displayed. This was especially true of the women, who from  the very beginning kept the defenders supplied with water, wine and brandy and, mingling  among their ranks, reanimated their spirits, and helped them to defeat an enemy  who was as daring as he was ferocious.

The destruction that we suffered was very great. ” That summer, Napoleon’s most  stubborn enemy – Britain – sent forces to aid Spain and Portugal,  which the French had also invaded. In July, around 14,000 British  troops landed at Mondego Bay.

Among them, Private Harris of the  95th Rifles, thrust into action at Roliça just days after disembarking. “The Rifles, indeed, fought well  this day, and we lost many men. .

. Joseph Cochan was by my side loading  and firing very industriously. .

. Thirsting with heat and action, he lifted  his canteen to his mouth; "Here's to you, old boy,” he said, as he took a pull at  its contents. As he did so a bullet went through the canteen, and perforating  his brain, killed him in a moment.

Another man fell close to him almost  immediately, struck by a ball in the thigh. Indeed we caught it severely just  here. I saw a man named Symmonds struck full in the face by a round shot, and  he came to the ground a headless trunk.

” British and French regiments were  accompanied by a number of women, who provided services from laundry to nursing, and often married men in the regiment. They  knew any battle might bring dreaded news. .

. “When the roll was called after the battle, the  females who missed their husbands came along the front of the line, to inquire of the survivors  whether they knew anything about them. Amongst other names, I heard that of Cochan called  in a female voice, without being replied to.

As I looked at the poor sobbing creature before  me, I felt unable to tell her of his death. ” For all the horrors of battle, it was the ferocity of Spanish and Portuguese partisans  that alarmed French soldiers most. French convoys and messengers were  particularly vulnerable to ambush by these guerrilla fighters, and  never travelled without an escort.

Captain Marbot was one such messenger,  sent out at night with urgent despatches. . .

“The officer commanding our advanced guard  gave me a troop horse and two orderlies, and I went on my way in brilliant  moonlight. When we had gone two or three leagues we heard several musket  shots, and bullets whistled close past us. We could not see the marksmen,  who were hidden among the rocks.

“ But the most terrifying fate was to  be taken alive by the guerrillas. “A little further on we found the corpses  of two French soldiers, recently killed. They were entirely stripped, but their shakos  were near them .

. . Some little distance further we saw a horrible sight.

A young officer of the  Tenth, still wearing his uniform, was nailed by his hands and feet, head downwards, to a barn  door. A small fire had been lit beneath him. Happily, his tortures had  been ended by death, but, as the blood was still flowing from his wounds,  it was clear the murderers were not far off.

” Such sickening discoveries led to savage French reprisals – fuelling a cycle  of atrocities by both sides. “A few Grenadiers and a woman canteen-keeper,  having dropped behind, stopped in a village to pass the night. Next day they were given a  guide who led them into a prepared ambush.

There, their throats were all cut. . with refinements  of cruelty.

The commandant of the battalion, informed of this horrible ambush, marched  on the village, had it burned to the ground, seized all the able-bodied men, and  announced he would have them all put to death if they did not point out  the murderers. Four refused to confess, and were shot. But the fifth revealed the  assassins.

They were present. They were shot. ” “All the élite companies were got together:  the aim was to drive off the brigands who from time to time raided our lines, and  cut us off from every supply of food.

. . We found the brigands barricaded  in a little town called Alcañiz.

After a sharp fight we got into the place, and  it was given over to us for pillage . . .

Having murdered everyone and looted everything in  sight, we stayed on for another six weeks. The brigands attacked us several times,  but they could achieve nothing . .

. However, whenever they caught someone from our  side, they subjected him to martyrdom. Their tongues and nails were torn out,  and then they were roasted alive.

” In 1809, one British naval officer watched from his ship as French troops sacked  the Spanish town of Corcubión. “We observed the French soldiers pouring into  the wretched town from both sides of the valley. Many of the inhabitants rushed to  the fishing boats on the beach, and, leaping into them indiscriminately, pushed  into the stream.

As we rowed up the harbour, we met hundreds of these poor people,  half-dressed, screaming, and struggling hard to get beyond the reach of shot. Others fled  along the sides of the hills towards the bay, hoping to be picked off the shore by boats  or to conceal themselves amongst the rocks. Of these fugitives, great numbers were  brought down by the fire of the enemy.

So completely hemmed in were these wretched  people that escape was almost impossible. The horror and confusion of this frightful spectacle  were increased by the conflagration of the town, in the streets of which deeds of  still greater atrocity were going on. ” The war in Spain had begun disastrously  for the French.

They faced unexpected and ferocious resistance across  the country – forcing Napoleon to intervene personally, with massive reinforcements. The Spanish armies were defeated. Their British  allies scrambled to escape – beginning a desperate winter retreat through the mountains  towards the port-city of Corunna.

“It became everyone for himself. The load we  carried was too great, and we staggered on, looking neither to the right nor the left.  If a man dropped, he found it no easy matter to get up again unless his companion  assisted him, and many died of fatigue.

As for myself, I was nearly floored by this  march; and on reaching a town one night, which I think was called Zamora, I fell at  the entrance of the first street we came to; the sight left my eyes, my brain  reeled, and I came down like a dead man. The enemy, I should think, were at this  time frequently close upon our trail; and I thought at times I heard their  trumpets come down the wind as we marched. Towards the dusk of the evening of this day I  remember passing a man and woman lying clasped in each other's arms, and dying in the snow.

I knew  them both; but it was impossible to help them. ” British forces did manage to escape by  sea, despite heavy losses. And later that year – under the command of the future Duke of  Wellington – they joined forces with the Spanish, and defeated the French in battle, at Talavera.

Lieutenant Simmons of the 95th Rifles missed  the battle, but saw its grim aftermath. “The horrid sights were beyond anything  I could have imagined. Thousands dead and dying in every direction,  horses, men, French and English, in whole lines who had cut each  other down.

And, I am sorry to say, the Spaniards butchering the wounded Frenchmen  at every opportunity, and stripping them naked, which gave admission to the attacks of myriads of  pernicious flies and the heat of a burning sun. ” The fate of captured soldiers –  in a country were all armies were continually short of water and  supplies – could also be dire. Spanish Private Juan Manuel Sarasa was  taken prisoner near Badajoz in 1811.

“It would have been difficult to conduct  the journey in a worse manner. It really seemed as if they wanted to starve us to  death: when we set out each morning we left behind the bodies of friends and  comrades who had died in the night. Meanwhile, from the rear of the column, alas,  there would come a constant rattle of shots.

It was the French finishing off the poor men who  could not drag themselves along any further. Reduced to mere spectres, we  did our best to help one another along, for to fall behind meant  certain death. But one by one we were forced to abandon our friends  and bid them farewell for ever.

” Just a few months into the  war, Napoleon left Spain, never to return. As he occupied himself  with affairs in central Europe – and his plans to invade Russia - French forces  in Spain were left badly neglected. It was a sorry situation for proud soldiers  of the Grande Armée, such as Colonel Noël, who in 1811, was part of Marshal  Masséna's retreat from Portugal.

“Our supply situation was deplorable; we lacked everything - food,  clothing, boots, money and horses. Six months of deprivation in a country without  any supplies, and depending on marauding to live, had not lessened the army's courage. .

but had  exhausted it and destroyed its discipline. We had left sad memories behind us  with the Portuguese and they would curse the name of France for a long  while. Survival had been necessary, it is true, but bad soldiers had behaved like  brigands towards the unfortunate peasantry.

. . If, in their turn, the Portuguese  showed themselves to be savage towards our prisoners and wounded, this  can be understood, although not excused.

The failure of this campaign in Portugal has  been blamed on the commanding general. This is quite wrong. The responsibility must  lie with Napoleon, who, alone, wanted this war and forced it upon his generals without  giving them the means of ensuring success.

” Yet, despite their retreat from Portugal, the French would continue to  fight tenaciously in Spain. . .

As the British discovered the following year,  when they attacked the fortified city of Badajoz. “On our arriving at the breach, the French  sentry on the wall cried out, "Who comes there? " three times, or words to that effect  in his own language.

On no answer being given, a shower of shot, canister and grape, together  with fire-balls, was hurled at random among us. I myself received two small slug shots in  my left knee, and a musket shot in my side, which must have been mortal had it not been  for my canteen: for the ball penetrated that and passed out, making two holes in  it, and then entered my side slightly. Still I stuck to my ladder, and got into the  entrenchment.

Numbers had by this time fallen, but the cry from our commanders being, "Come on,  my lads! " we hastened to the breach; but there, to our great surprise and discouragement, we  found a chevaux de frise had been fixed and a deep entrenchment made, from behind which  the garrison opened a deadly fire on us. Vain attempts were made to  remove this fearful obstacle, during which my left hand was dreadfully  cut by one of the blades.

. . but finding no success in that quarter, we  were forced to retire for a time.

My wounds were still bleeding, and I  began to feel very weak. My comrades persuaded me to go to the rear; but this  proved a task of great difficulty. .

. I was so weak myself that I could scarcely walk, so I crawled on my hands and knees till I  got out of reach of the enemy's musketry. ” “We rushed forward to the breaches, where a  most frightful scene of carnage was going on.

The ditch was covered with dead and  dying soldiers. If a man fell wounded, ten to one that he ever rose again, for  the volleys of musketry and grape shot that were incessantly poured upon us made our  situation too horrid for description. I had seen some fighting, but nothing like this.

We  remained passively here to be slaughtered, as we could do the besieged  little injury from the ditch. ” The British assault on  Badajoz did finally succeed. Its fall paved the way for Wellington’s advance into Spain in 1812.

. . where he met  the French in battle at Salamanca.

British morale was sky high. “There assuredly never was an army so anxious as  ours was to be brought into action. .

. . They were a magnificent body of well-tried soldiers, highly  equipped, and in the highest health and spirits, with the most devoted confidence in their leader,  and an invincible confidence in themselves.

” When the British advance began, that  confidence was soon put to the test. “A craggy ridge on which the French infantry  were drawn up rose so abruptly that they could fire four or five deep . .

. The fire of musketry  was by far the heaviest I have ever experienced, and was accompanied by constant discharges  of grape. An uninterrupted blaze was then maintained so that the crest of the hill  seemed to be one long streak of flame.

. . At the very first volley that  we received, about eighty men of the right rear of my regiment fell to the  rear in one group.

The commanding officer immediately rode up to know the cause,  and found that they were all wounded. ” “The enemy's shot and shell were now making  dreadful havoc. A Portuguese cadet who was attached to our regiment received a shell in the  centre of his body, which, bursting at the same instant, literally blew him to pieces.

Another  poor fellow receiving a grape shot across his belly, his bowels protruded, and he was obliged to  apply both his hands to the wound to keep them in: I shall never forget the expression  of agony depicted in his countenance. ” Salamanca was a great allied victory.  And though Wellington had to retreat back to the Portuguese frontier that winter  – his next advance, in 1813, was decisive.

The French abandoned southern Spain and Madrid, and retreated to Vitoria. Here King Joseph  and Marshal Jourdan made their stand. But the allied attack proved irresistible.

“We advanced through the tumultuous scene  with a battery in our front, dealing out dire destruction … Men and officers fell in every  direction, and their wounds were most dreadful, being all inflicted with cannon balls  or shells, except that of our colonel, who received a musket shot in his stomach.  Our front had to contend with a French regiment on the right of the battery, but, after  politely receiving us with a few sharp volleys, which we as politely returned, they retreated  into a thicket. Towards this we advanced firing, and drove them furiously before us  till they were completely routed.

” “I came across a poor wounded Frenchman crying to  us English not to leave him, as he was afraid of the bloodthirsty Spaniards. The poor fellow  could not at most live more than two hours, as a cannon-ball had completely carried off  both thighs. He entreated me to stay with him, but I only did so as long as I found it  convenient: I saw that he could not last long, and very little sympathy could be expected from  me then; so I ransacked his pockets and knapsack, and found a piece of pork ready cooked  and three or four pounds of bread, which I thought would be very acceptable.

The  poor fellow asked me to leave him a portion, so I cut off a piece of bread and meat  and emptied the beans out of my haversack, which I left by his side. I then  continued on my way up the hill. ” For soldiers on the losing side, the aftermath of  battle could be a terrifying and uncertain time.

“We retreated through a mass of wagons, horses,  and overturned cannon which littered the field. I crossed a ditch that was completely  filled with dead and wounded. Two enemy cavalrymen came close to me, and as I  could not fire with my wet ammunition, I put my musket over my shoulder  and hung my head, awaiting my fate.

But the cavalrymen went off to cut down  some scattered Frenchmen on the field. Dusk fell, and I was at a loss as to  which way to go. In the darkness a whistle directed me to a nearby bush.

I  listened and heard French being spoken. Several soldiers from the 44th Regiment  belonging to our division answered my call. ” For some allied soldiers, the aftermath  of Vitoria was the opportunity of a lifetime – as King Joseph’s entire treasury  had been abandoned by the fleeing enemy.

. . .

“About dusk, the head of our column came  suddenly on some wagons. . .

Someone called out, "There are money-carts! " No sooner were  the words uttered than the division broke, as if by word of command, and in an instant  the covers disappeared from the wagons, and nothing was seen but a mass of inverted  legs, while the arms were groping for dollars; for money it certainly was. The scene was  disgraceful, but at the same time ludicrous.

I was sent to endeavour to clear one of  these wagons, at which I at length succeeded; not, however, until the money had  disappeared; when to my surprise, I discovered an officer at the bottom,  with his hands full of the precious metal! I shall not mention either  his name or his regiment. ” Wellington’s victory at Vitoria was the final,  fatal blow to Napoleon’s empire in Spain.

There was bitter fighting still to come, at San Sebastian, and in the Pyrenees  – but French defeat was now assured. Within a few months, British, Spanish and  Portuguese troops would cross into France itself. The Peninsular War had been  a long and bloody road.

Many thousands of lives had been lost on all  sides. . .

some through violence, most from disease. Towns and villages had been laid waste. .

. cities  and churches looted. .

. civilians massacred. The terrible effects of war were  not quickly forgotten by the land.

. . Nor by those who lived through them.

The Peninsular War was a calamity for Napoleon. . .

in a career better known  for its military triumphs. And if you want to see Napoleon near his peak, in  a desperate battle that pushed him to the limit, look no further than our next  video: The Battle of Marengo. It’s a clash that looms large in  Napoleonic legend – but behind the myth, lies a less flattering reality.

So join us  as we reconstruct Marengo, hour by hour. This video isn’t out on YouTube yet  – but if you want to watch it now, you can head over to prestige  streaming service, Nebula. Nebula is a streaming service built by creators, to offer a superior experience  to other video platforms.

Here, there are no ads – just  hand-picked creators you can trust, working hard to create original, quality content. It’s the most interesting, fastest growing  independent video platform on the Internet. And because Nebula fairly rewards  its creators, your sign up actively supports channels like ours, as we strive to  create ever more ambitious history content.

There are hundreds of great creators  on Nebula, across all genres. So whether you want to learn or laugh, you’re  guaranteed to find something you’ll love. .

. From original movies and podcasts,  to documentaries, music, gaming, food, science and, of course, history. The history homepage shows just how  much Nebula has to offer.

. . including Nebula Originals, only available to subscribers.

Such as. . .

Real Science’s Archaeology Quest,  which asks – could YOU survive, if you were cast back 10,000 years to the Palaeolithic  age, without any technology to help you? ? Well, our ancestors did.

And in this series,  our two hosts compete to master some of their ancient skills. Across five episodes,  they struggle to create tools, hurl spears, forage for food and harness the power of  fire - in a true test of stone age survival. Archaeology Quest is a Nebula Original, meaning its part of a growing list of  great series available only on Nebula.

Remember, on Nebula, you can also watch our  entire catalogue ad-free, see new videos like The Battle of Marengo before they’re released on  YouTube, and know you’re supporting the channel. All this, and a massive discount  for Epic History viewers. The link in our video description gets you 40% off  the annual plan – that’s just 36 dollars a year.

Even better, the Nebula lifetime plan  offers lifetime access, no strings, for 300 dollars – and helps Nebula to fund  more of its Original, creator-owned series. Thanks to all our existing Nebula subscribers, and for everyone else watching,  we hope to see you there soon. Thanks as always to the Patreon  supporters who help to make this channel possible – from builders,  such as BGZX6R, Tye and Sam Downes.

. . To citizens such as Eoghan Kirwan,  Azores and Covfefe Dotard.

. . And heroes, like Beverly Rice.

Join their ranks by joining us on Patreon, where  you’ll get early, ad-free access to new videos.