Opposing Armies
Wellesley's British army consisted of four infantry divisions, three cavalry brigades and 30 cannon. The infantry included the 1st Division under John Coape Sherbrooke (6,000), the 2nd Division led by Rowland Hill (3,900), the 3rd Division commanded by Alexander Mackenzie (3,700) and the 4th Division (3,000) under Alexander Campbell. Henry Fane led a brigade of heavy cavalry (1,100), while Stapleton Cotton (1,000) and George Anson (900) commanded light cavalry brigades. There were three British (RA: Lawson, Sillery, Elliot) and two King's German Legion (KGL) batteries (Rettberg, Heise) with six guns apiece.
Cuesta's Spanish army was organized into five infantry and two cavalry divisions, plus about 30 artillery pieces. The 28,000 infantry were in José Pascual de Zayas y Chacón's 1st Division (7 battalions) and Vanguard (5 bns.), Iglesias's 2nd Division (8 bns.), Portago's 3rd Division (6 bns.), Manglano's 4th Division (8 bns.) and Juan Procopio Bassecourt y Bryas's 5th Division (7 bns.). Henestrosa and the Duke of Albuquerque led the 6,000 horsemen of the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions.
While Joseph nominally led the French Army, his military adviser Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan actually exercised command over their 37,700 infantry and artillerymen, 8,400 cavalry and about 80 cannon. Victor's I Corps included the infantry divisions of François Amable Ruffin (5,300), Pierre Belon Lapisse (6,900) and Eugene-Casimir Villatte (6,100), plus Louis Chrétien Carrière Beaumont's 1,000-man light cavalry brigade. Sebastiani's IV Corps consisted of his own infantry division (8,100), Jean Baptiste Cyrus, Comte de Valence's Poles (1,600) and Jean François Leval's German-Dutch division (4,500). Jean Baptiste Gabriel Merlin led the IV Corps light cavalry brigade (1,200). Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg (3,300) and Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud (2,350) commanded the two heavy dragoon divisions of the Cavalry Reserve. The Madrid Garrison included part of Jean-Joseph, Marquis Dessolles's division (3,300), the King's Spanish Foot Guards (1,800) and two regiments of cavalry (700).
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Talavera
Famous quotes related to opposing armies:
“The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)