Blockade of Barcelona

French troops being bombarded by English ships at Barcelona, November, 1808 (Pronostich catala historic, geografic, astronomic, instructiu y religios per lo any 1847)

Date	1 August – 17 December 1808^[1]
Location	Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 41°24′16″N 2°09′39″E / 41.4044°N 2.1608°E / 41.4044; 2.1608
Result	French victory^[1]

Belligerents

French Empire

Kingdom of Spain

Commanders and leaders

Guillaume Duhesme

Joan Miquel de Vives

Strength

8,000 infantry
1,400 cavalry

19,551 infantry
780 cavalry

v t e Peninsular War Napoleon's campaign, 1808–1809
Barcelona Zornoza Valmaseda Roses Battle of Burgos/Gamonal Espinosa Tudela Somosierra Cardedeu 1st Molins de Rei Sahagún Benavente 2nd Zaragoza Castellón Mansilla Cacabelos Corunna

Perpignan(France)

Girona(Spain)

Barcelona(Spain)

Roses(Spain)

Tarragona(Spain)

Cardadeu(Spain)

Blockade of Barcelona (Catalonia)

The blockade of Barcelona, from August to December 1808, was the failed attempt by Spanish troops to recapture the French occupied Barcelona during the Peninsular War.^[1]

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/1
Views:
5 177

Transcription

Background

The French under Guillaume Philibert Duhesme had occupied Barcelona on 29 February 1808.^[1]

In the Dos de Mayo Uprising in Madrid, citizens revolted against the French on 2 May 1808, and three days later, pressure from Napoleon forced Ferdinand VII of Spain to return the crown to his father, who handed it over to Napoleon who, in turn handed it over to his brother Joseph Bonaparte on 10 May.

But Spanish-occupied Girona kept on blocking the connection from Barcelona to Perpignan in France as Duhesme besieged Girona on 20–21 June 1808 unsuccessfully and on 24 July–16 August, his second siege of Girona failed again.^[1]^[2]

Blockade

Meanwhile on 23 July, one day before the start of the second siege of Girona, the Marquis of Del Palacio landed at Tarragona at the head of a division of regular Spanish troops. French Barcelona was defended by only 3,500 Swiss and Italian remaining troops under the command of General Lecchi. On 31 July the last of the French outposts, the castle of Mongat, surrendered and the blockade of Barcelona started. After the failed second siege of Gerona, Duhesme returned to Barcelona on 20 August and the blockade turned into a siege.^[1]^[2]

Relief

On 5 November, General St. Cyr with his troops, now 23,680 strong, was marching towards Barcelona. His siege of Roses, from 7 November to 5 December 1808, ended with a French victory.^[1]

The decisive Battle of Cardadeu on 16 December 1808 ended with a French victory. On 21 December, St. Cyr defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Molins de Rei, driving the Catalan army away from Barcelona.^[1]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Rickard 2008.
^ ^a ^b Oman 1902, pp. 70–71.

References

Rickard, J. (2008). "Siege of Barcelona, 1 August-17 December 1808". Archived from the original on 9 March 2022.
Oman, Sir Charles William Chadwick (1902). A history of the Peninsular War. Vol. I. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Retrieved 24 July 2022.

External links

Guerra de la Independencia
Media related to Blockade of Barcelona at Wikimedia Commons

This page was last edited on 9 June 2023, at 20:53

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia