Napoleon: The Peninsular Campaign- Total War

The Peninsular War was a series of blunders, oversights, and misjudgments made by Napoleon. It was his biggest folly.

The Continental System. This was Napoleon's plan to stop Britain's' trade with Europe. The plan did hurt Britain but was a disaster for Napoleon. It deprived Europe of the luxury goods from the British colonies, turning the European people against Napoleon. The plan forced Napoleon to invade Russia and fight the Peninsular War.

Napoleon was determined to make his Continental System effective and crush Britain. One part of Europe that he had no control over was the coastline of Portugal, so he set out to conquer Portugal. To get to Portugal he had to pass through Spain. The weak Spanish King Charles IV was no match for Napoleon. He agreed to allow the French army to pass through his country.

In 1807 Napoleon sent 20,000 troops to capture Lisbon. The Portuguese family immediately left the country for their colony Brazil. Even though there were only 1500 French soldiers left after a forced march of 600 miles. It took only one day for Portugal to surrender.

Napoleon had little faith that King Charles IV of Spain would continue to implement his Continental System plus he was fearful of Queen Maria Luisa, a vicious lady and her lover First Minister Godoy, who was really the back-door ruler of Spain. Napoleon sent in French armies to conquer the country.

King Charles IV abdicated the throne and Ferdinand his son became King. The country was delighted with the prospects of the new young king. Then Napoleon summoned the royal family to meet him in Bayonne, where he persuaded them to hand over the Spanish throne and he installed his brother Joseph as the King of Spain. This resulted in riots throughout Madrid and the surrounding provinces.

Frenchman and supporters of the French regime were massacred. Napoleon underestimated the Spaniards, and believed he could quickly put down these uprisings with his disciplined soldiers. However, his army soon found itself surrounded and was forced to surrender at Baylen in July 1808.

About the same time, a small British force had landed in Portugal. Under the command Sir Arthur Wellesley. He was young officer who had recently made his name in India. He marched southward toward Lisbon and defeated the French at the Battle of Vimiero in August of 1808.

Napoleon was furious with the news of this loss but again was occupied elsewhere with his Continental System. Alexander, the Czar of Russia had begun to regret agreeing to support Napoleon's Continental System. The Czar's mother despised Napoleon and convinced her son that alliance was such a man was not good for their country. Napoleon set up a conference with Alexander to try to persuade him otherwise but came away with less than full support.

The rebellion in Spain continued with the Spaniards setting up a loose central junta governing committee. In the provinces the French armies had little success in dispersing the insurgents. Napoleon marched into Spain, with a fresh Army of 150,000 men to stamp out this resistance. This force crashed its way through to Madrid where Joseph once again was installed as king.

The Emperor then turned to the provinces to quell the rebellion. He was surprised by the attack of a small force of British troops commanded by Sir John Moore. Napoleon turned his full fury on them, determined to "drive the leopards into the sea." Moore made a forced march back to the coastline, losing 6000 men in the process, and his own life. But the rest of his army was safely loaded onto the British ships waiting for them.

Sir Arthur Wellesley returned from Britain to take command of the British troops after a couple smashing victories over the French he was given the title of Viscount Wellington. He proved to be the man for the job.

Napoleon's preoccupation with making his Continental System work was his downfall in the peninsular wars. If he had taken personal command of the troops, he could have stopped the squabbling among his generals and been there to see firsthand the difficulties they were up against. He would not have underestimated the strength of the British and the veracity of the Spanish people.

Napoleon never recovered from his defeats in the peninsular wars. Wellington's crushing defeat of the French army at Vitoria proved that the Emperor's army was not invincible. This certainly leads to the Prussian- Russian alliance, and Napoleon's defeat when he invaded Russia.