Peninsular War - Origins

Origins

For more details on this topic, see Enlightenment Spain.

After its defeat in the Pyrenees War the now subdued Spain became an "ally" of France. In 1806, while in Berlin, Napoleon declared the Continental Blockade, forbidding British imports into continental Europe. Of the two remaining neutral countries, Sweden and Portugal, the latter tried in vain to avoid Napoleon's ultimatum (since 1373, it had had a treaty of alliance with the English which became an alliance with the United Kingdom). After the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, which cemented French dominance over Central and Eastern Europe, Napoleon decided to capture the Iberian ports. The decision went against Napoleon's own advice earlier in his career, once remarking that a conquest of Spain would be "too hard a nut to crack"

On 27 October 1807, Spain's Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy and France signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau, agreeing that after Spain and France had defeated Portugal, it would be split into three kingdoms: the new Kingdom of Northern Lusitania, the Algarve (expanded to include Alentejo), and a rump Kingdom of Portugal. In November 1807, after the refusal of Prince Regent John of Portugal to join the Continental System, Napoleon sent an army into Spain under General Jean-Andoche Junot with the task of invading Portugal.

Godoy initially requested Portugal's alliance against the incoming French armies, but later secretly agreed with France that, in return for Spain's cooperation, it would receive Portugal's territories. Spain's main ambition was the seizure of the Portuguese fleet, and it sent two divisions to help French troops occupy Portugal.

The Portuguese army was positioned to defend the ports and the coast from a French attack, and on 1 December Lisbon was captured with no military opposition. The escape on 29 November of Maria I of Portugal and Prince Regent John, together with the administration and the Court (around 10,000 people and 9,000 sailors aboard 23 Portuguese war ships and 31 merchant ships) was a major setback for Napoleon and enabled the Prince Regent to continue to rule over his overseas possessions, including Brazil. The Portuguese Royal Family established itself at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil for the next 13 years.

Under the pretext of reinforcing the Franco-Spanish army occupying Portugal, French Imperial troops began filing into Spain; the populace greeted them with enthusiasm in spite of growing diplomatic unease. In February 1808 Napoleon ordered the French commanders to seize key Spanish fortresses, and in doing so he had officially turned on his ally. A French column, disguised as a convoy of wounded, took Barcelona on 29 February by persuading the authorities to open the city's gates. Many commanders were not particularly concerned about the fate of the ruling regime, nor were they in any position to fight. (When Mariano Alvarez de Castro garrisoned the Barcelona citadel against the French, his own superiors ordered him to stand down.)

The Spanish Royal Army of 100,000 men found itself paralysed: under-equipped, frequently leaderless, confused by the turmoil in Madrid and scattered from Portugal to the Balearic Islands. Fifteen thousand of its finest troops, (Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana's Division of the North) had been lent to Napoleon in 1807 and remained stationed in Denmark under French command. Only the peripheries contained armies of any strength: Galicia, with Joaquín Blake y Joyes's troops, and Andalusia, under Francisco Javier Castaños. The French were consequently able to seize much of northeastern Spain by coups de main, and any hope of turning back the invasion was stillborn.

To secure his gains Napoleon pursued a series of intrigues against the Spanish royal family. A coup d'état instigated by the Spanish aristocrats forced Charles IV from his throne and replaced him with his son Ferdinand. Napoleon removed the royals to Bayonne and forced them both to abdicate on 5 May, handing the throne to his brother Joseph Bonaparte.

Amongst the liberal, republican and radical segments of the Spanish and Portuguese populations, there was much support for a potential French invasion, despite Napoleon having by 1807 noticeably and explicitly abandoned many liberal and republican ideals. Even before the invasion, the term "Afrancesado", literally "turned French" was used to denote those who supported the Enlightenment and secular ideals and the French Revolution. Napoleon was to rely on the support of these "Afrancesados" both in the conduct of the war and administration of the country. But while Napoleon – through his brother Joseph who he installed as King – made good on his promises to "sweep away" all feudal and clerical privileges, soon most Spanish liberals came to oppose the occupation for the violence and brutality it brought.