The Peninsular War

In 1808 Napoleon forced the Spanish Bourbons to abdicate and made his brother Joseph King of Spain. Many Spaniards rose against French rule. On 2 May 1808 an uprising in Madrid was suppressed, followed by executions the next day, later depicted by Francisco Goya in The Third of May 1808. In July a French army surrendered at Bailén, the first major French defeat on land.

British forces, eventually led by Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, fought alongside Spanish and Portuguese armies, while irregular fighters waged a 'little war', or guerrilla, against French troops. The conflict involved atrocities on all sides. Spanish liberals meeting in Cádiz drew up a constitution in 1812. The war tied down hundreds of thousands of French troops for years; Napoleon later called it his 'Spanish ulcer'. It showed that conquered peoples could resist and inspired nationalist movements elsewhere.