Napoleonic Wars
In 1801, the Spanish Prime Minister, Manuel de Godoy, Prince of the Peace, invaded Portugal with backing from Napoleon. He was later forced to abandon the campaign that same year. Though the Spanish ceased their invasion, the Treaty of Badajoz on 6 June 1801 forced Portugal to cede Olivença and part of Guyana to Spain. This cession is not recognized by the present government and Portugal officially considers those territories to still be Portuguese.
The refusal of the Portuguese government to join the Continental Blockade against Britain culminated in the 1807 Franco-Spanish invasion led by General Junot.
The ultimate Napoleonic plan for Portugal was to split it into three sections. The northern parts of Portugal, from the Douro to the Minho, would become the Kingdom of Northern Lusitania, and its throne was promised to King Carlo Lodovico II of Etruria. The Alentejo Province and Kingdom of the Algarve would be put together to form the Principality of the Algarves, of which Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy would be sovereign. The remaining portion of Portugal would have been directly ruled by France.
Read more about this topic: Maria I Of Portugal
Famous quotes containing the word wars:
“Which is better: to have Fun with Fungi or to have Idiocy with Ideology, to have Wars because of Words, to have Tomorrow’s Misdeeds out of Yesterday’s Miscreeds?”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)