By 1808 Napoleon had almost complete dominance over most of Europe. Time and again the great powers of Europe had united against the French but had been defeated. He had annexed huge chunks of Prussia and signed a treaty with Russia, which left him secure as the supreme ruler of continental Europe. However, there was a thorn in his side which he was determined to eradicate and that was Britain. Having his navy defeated at both the battle of the Nile and Trafalgar, he had lost the ability to invade, so the option he chose was an economic one. As things stood, Britain was covertly funding insurrection all over Europe and this wealth was down to the vast trade she did around the world, especially in Europe. Napoleon decided to strangle that trade by introducing what became know as the continental system. Every country on the continent was forbidden to trade with Britain under the threat of force. Napoleon’s embargo was aiming to cause unbearable hardship and sow the seeds of insurrection and rebellion in Britain, thus instituting a government in London which was open to his ideas and ‘powers of persuasion.’ To achieve this aim every nation had to follow suite, as otherwise there would always be the provision for Britain to trade and for their goods to be smuggled all over Europe. All nations did comply, except for one, Portugal, England’s oldest ally, having signed a treaty as far back as 1386, a treaty that still stands to this day and is the oldest in the world. In 1807 Napoleon issued the Portuguese King Joao VI an ultimatum that he would declare war if Portugal did not submit to his policy. The King, under this threat decided to submit to most of Napoleon’s demands but he refused to seize Royal Navy ships, for the simple reason that it would amount to a declaration of war against Britain. Napoleon was furious at this and so despatched an army, under the command of General Junot to persuade him to comply. At the last moment, the King relented but it was too late, Junot was at the border with his Franco Spanish army and determined to take the country for his Emperor. 

General Jean Andoche Junot was an interesting character, who served Napoleon for probably longer than any other of his Generals. He was brave and resourceful and rose from the very bottom. He first met Napoleon at the siege of Toulon, the campaign which was to make Napoleon’s name. By then he had served three years in the army, been promoted to sergeant and came close to death following an injury. His career took off after that and he rose right to the top, almost. Napoleon never promoted him to the heights of his other Generals  and his campaign to Portugal was a case in point. Napoleon had promised Junot a title and rank of Marshall of the Empire, a promise he never carried out and this was always a festering sore to Junot. In a long military career he fought in Africa, Europe and Russia. He was able, rather than inspirational as a leader but as a soldier he was a fearless warrior. He was once wounded in an attack in Russia, in which he killed six of his opponents and was known to have taken part in two duels, one in which he was badly wounded.  It was following a head wound in the Italian campaign that he began to act erratically at times. One of his infamous claims to fame was that he became Wellington’s second defeated general of the war at the battle of Vimero, which was to follow after his invasion of Portugal after Wellington's army landed. He survived the debacle that was the Russian campaign but came in for the blame for letting the Russian army escape following the battle of Smolensk. Some put this down to his continuing mental deterioration but just a month later he shone at the battle of Borodino. Following the Russian campaign he was retired from active service and made a provisional governor but following further mental deterioration, he committed suicide in 1813.

There is an incidence at Toulon which gives an insight into how the young Napoleon's ability to manipulate or inspire soldiers, whichever you choose to take, was demonstrated. To breech a wall he needed to get a large siege canon closer to the action, so close that he called for volunteers to man it. After a number of his volunteers had been quickly killed he soon ran out of them, so he had a large sign put up by the canon which read, "the canon with the men that know no fear." He'd no problem manning it after that. You can imagine the type flocking to it, can't you? As we've all been there..... young, dumb and full of cum.

Junot’s army reached Lisbon to find the King had fled with his family only a few hours earlier. He had boarded a ship for Brazil, which must have agreed with him, as he didn’t return until 1826. His army underwent a torrid time for a while, as supplies ran out and some soldiers even died of malnutrition but Napoleon’s aim had been achieved and all ports in Europe had been cut off from the Brits. Eventually Junot ventured back into Spain, where he began to militarily map it, occupying towns and forts throughout the country and creating a ring of steel around it. Although technically allied to France, before they knew where they were, the Spanish suddenly discovered they were living in an occupied country. It was not hard for the French to achieve such a state of affairs as their King, Carlos IV, was only interested in the perks of the job, not the job itself and left the running of the country to the biggest crook in it, his PM Codoy. Codoy was a brilliant opportunist, who rose from nowhere to become the Queen’s favourite and had actually got himself proclaimed a Prince, as well as having more titles than a library. By now Napoleon had decided that he was in the market for new real estate and decided to topple the Spanish government. Fact was, he didn’t see Spain as secure enough for his southern border. Fortunately the Spanish supplied him with the very excuse he needed when a group of noblemen launched a coup de etat with the aim of putting the King’s son, Fernando, on the throne and Codoy on the scaffold. Codoy actually ended up in exile, where he continued along his flamboyant way until 1841, when he was finally given permission to return to Spain and given back his few dozen titles. He died in 1851 aged 84. So, King Carlos and his son were summoned to France to see the Emperor, who persuaded them both to renounce the Spanish throne in favour of his brother Joseph. Enter King Joseph.

Now that Napoleon had Spain, he began to tax the population for their own occupation. This didn’t last long before open revolt swept the country and Madrid itself almost fell to the mob. Very soon the unrest had spread into Portugal too. The response from the French to this was swift and particularly brutal, a policy which the Spanish reciprocated and soon the savagery escalated on both sides. The French scorched the countryside, torture became endemic and no prisoners were ever taken by either side. In Portugal, Junot realised he couldn’t hold the whole country with just 20,000 men, so he retreated into Lisbon with the idea of consolidating his position, until reinforcements arrived and he could retake the country. When conditions were right he despatched an army under the command of General Loisan to open up the country to the Spanish border. On that border sat the town of Evora, where a combined force of Portuguese and Spanish awaited them, many of them peasants. Instead of fighting from behind the walls of the town they decided to confront the French regulars in the open with only half the numbers and inferior weapons. They were quickly routed and fled back into the town of Evora, where they made a stand but the French soon overpowered them and once into the town a total massacre ensued. Figures vary, with up to 2000 soldiers being killed and 8000 civilians. The French lost just 90. To rub salt in the wounds, the retreating Spanish soldiers sacked the countryside of their ally with as much brutality as the French. The French continued the pursuit until a message arrived from General Junot arrived from Lisbon telling Loisan to return as soon as possible as a British army under the command of Arthur Wellesley had landed on the coast.

Paradoxitally, although the French displayed a shocking appetite for murder and torture of the Spanish and Portuguese, they acted totally different towards the British, even though it was the British who would rack up the largest French body count. British prisoners were treated civil, as were their wounded, who recieved food treatment and care. Outlying sentries of both sides were known to converse and share food and tobacco on the night before battle. The French would never apologise for their behaviour, indeed they would almost show it off at times in a form of macabre humour. When the Brits entered one village they found it totally deserted except for one person. That person was a young woman, who was lying dead beneath a weighted down door. She had been tied up, a door placed on top of her with just enough rocks to slowly crush her to death. 

A little more on the Portuguese Royal Family. When they fled to Brazil in 1807 the ruler was the mad Queen Maria I, who had reigned under the Regency of her son Joao since 1792, he did not become King in name until his mother's death in 1816. Even after the French had been expelled from Portugal the Portuguese Royal Famiy preferred to remain in Brazil, it took an ultimatum from the government in Lisbon, return or we'll depose you, before King Joao VI came back in 1821. His son Pedro stayed in Rio de Janeiro as Regent of Brazil until he proclaimed himself Emperor of Brazil a year later in defiance of his brother far away in Europe.

When King Joao died in 1826 Pedro became King of Portugal as well as Emperor of Brazil, but abdicated the Portuguese Throne as soon as he heard of his father's death in favour of his young daughter Maria who was sent off to Lisbon to take up the throne aged seven.

The museum in Rio de Janeiro that burnt down a few days ago was the Palace occupied by the Portuguese Royal Family during their stay in Brazil and remained so after Pedro proclaimed himself Emperor. 

Wellington was only in temporary command at the time, awaiting two senior generals to arrive, Burrard and Dalrymple. Without waiting for his troops to acclimatise, he set off for Lisbon. The temperatures of a Portuguese summer were not something British people were used to and laden with heavy packs and long marches, they initially suffered quite badly with heat exhaustion and sunburn. His army was badly off for cavalry, which made effective reconnaissance difficult but he knew that there was a French army under General Delaborde awaiting him ahead. The very first action of the war came when a detachment of the 95th (The Rifle Brigade, of Sharpe’s fame) came across the French outposts and drove into them but enthusiasm got he better of them and they went too far and found themselves facing an army. They lost one officer and 26 men to this and Captain Pakenham, Wellesley’s brother in law, was wounded and almost captured. From a church tower in the town of Obidos Wellington got to see his first French army awaiting him at Rolica, about six miles ahead, he positioned his men for battle and the first encounter of the Peninsular war, the battle of Rolica was about to begin.

Contrary to reputation, Wellington launched straight into the attack. It was during this initial phase that Wellington was to first encounter the exasperating habit of his cavalry for over extending themselves. Time and time again during his career his cavalry would would turn initial success into unnecessary wastage by not knowing when to call it a day. His light cavalry, following initial success, carried on into the heart of the French and were cut to pieces, losing their commander. This prompted Wellington to launch a general attack across the whole front, whereby Delaborde conducted a skilful retreat, but left his canon behind, which became British souvenirs. It was not the decisive victory the Brits were looking forward to but it was a victory and proved that Wellington was as brilliant an attacking general as a defensive one.

Further British reinforcements arrived, which now boosted Wellington's army to 17.000 men, including his Portuguese contingent. General Burrard now arrived and took overall control of British forces, although it was Wellington who remained at the coal face, so to speak. They were awaiting the arrival of another British force under the command of Sir John Moore but before that could arrive a French army, under Junot, suddenly appeared and Wellington positioned his army for battle by the village of Vimero, which was to give this battle its name. Here we first get a sample of Wellington's signiature tactics, that of keeping men over the ridges, protected from canon fire and deceiving his enemy as to the strength he holds there. The French attacked in column, supported by skirmishers (marksmen) but they were to get their first sample of a British line, the Baker rifle, carried by British skirmishers and the use of shrapnel shells for the first time in Europe. The French started with an attack on Wellington's right and following three attacks, which were all repulsed, the French fell back and Wellington sent in his cavalry to cut them up but once again, they had their blinkers on and went too far, causing Wellington to curse thier over enthusiasm once more. The French then attacked on the left but with the same result. Junot was guilty of contempt, as he thought the British were no match for his all conquering French and it cost him 2000 casualties and the battle. As they retreated Wellington rode to the side of General Burrard, who had arrived at the battlefield earlier, but left the command of the battle in Wellington's hands. Wellington implored him to move on Torres Vedras and keep the French on the retreat, "we shall be in Lisbon in three days" he said, but Burrard was having none of it and ordered the whole army back to their camp. General Dalrymple arrived the following day and took command from him. Junot realised Portugal was now lost and entered into an infamous treaty called the Convention of Cintra. Junot's reputation never quite recovered from this, as the invincible French army had lost.

The Baker rifle was the brainchild of a master gunsmith from London called Ezekiel Baker. It was produced in many variations in 1800 and would remain in service for 30 years. During its trial for service, it put 12 shots within a 6ft circle at 300 yards, which was exceptional accuracy at the time. It was restricted to rifle regiments at first, men who were sharpshooters, skirmishing on the flanks with the aim of causing disruption by killing the officers. it proved to be a devastating weapon in the right hands and having the ability to carry a 2ft long bayonet, it was deadly at close quarters too.

Wellington's exasperation of his cavalry's performance was not founded on ignorance of their role, as he had been a cavalry officer in the Light Dragoons in his early days and had once led a decisive cavalry charge himself. He knew how difficult it was to maintain control of charging forces and it was that very disadvantage that disappointed him so much but he would constantly condemn their lack of discipline through excessive enthusiasm. Many cavalry regiments took exception over the years to Wellington's lack of recognition of their invaluable duty during this war, as they were the eyes and ears of the army.

The Convention of Cintra, which followed the defeat of the French, caused outrage back in Britain and would  result in the effective end of both Burrard and Dalrymple. Wellington was exonerated and returned as the unopposed leader of British forces in the Peninsular. The Convention allowed the whole French army to leave Portugal and this was carried out on British Royal Navy ships. Not only that, they were allowed to take all of their equipment and possessions too, much of it looted from the Portuguese. It was an escape by any other name.

Meanwhile, back in Spain, an army of 20,000 men under the command of Sir John Moore had landed and made it's way into the interior, with the intention of disrupting French communications but unfortunately Napoleon arrived in the country with an army of 200,000 men with his intention of stopping them. Moore's army was forced to retreat north in the worst winter weather in living history, much of it losing its cohesion and becoming scattered. Losses through the severe cold and malnutrition were high (possibley 5000 in all) with no food to be had and the French killing most of the stragglers. They were heading for the port of Corunna for embarking by the navy, chased every inch of the way by Marshall Soult and his army. Napoleon had already returned to France. When they reached the port the navy was not there and with Soult being hot on their heels, they turned and gave battle. It was a tactical victory for the Brits, as the French could not break them and eventually they were evacuated. During the battle Sir John Moore was killed. It was a strategic victroy for the French as they now held the whole of Spain.

Sir John Moore is an iconic figure in British military circles. He was a reforming, enlightened, inventive man who transformed the army's construction, tactics and methods. He was a Glaswegian jock, who joined the army at the age of 15 and rose through the ranks to become a General, participating in numerous British colonial campaigns along the way. Having said that, nobody has ever heard of him. I doubt one in a thousand passers by has ever heard of him, let alone know of any of his achievements. In Spain they do and in Corunna, schoolchildren are taught all about him from an early age. There is an army barracks named after him. Moore introduced the Light Divisions, consisting of the 95th The Rifle Brigade, the first regiment to wear a form of camouflage uniform. The 52nd (Oxford) and 47th (Monmouthshire) regiments combined. These were independently minded, fast moving skirmishers and sharpshooters, who could cause havoc on advancing columns and especially their officers, who were prime targets. Moore also introduced better food and conditions for soldiers, aswell as a more humane way of treating their misdemeanours. Both Napoleon and especially Soult had a great respect for his talents. Napoleon credited him for saving the British army in Spain.

There are many connections throughout the British army, due to the many campaigns. I covered the battle of Aliwal in the first Sikh war back on the old history site. The man who commanded the Anglo Indian army that day to an amazing victory, although vastly outnumbered, was General Sir Harry Smith. Smith went on to fight in the Peninsular war, serving with the 95th Rifles. Whilst there he rescued, fell in love with and married a Spanish girl and as he was a Knight, she became a Lady. Following the war Smith and his wife moved to South Africa, where he created a town he named after his wife..... Ladysmith.

Also, William Morris, who led the spectacularly succesful charge of the 16th Lancers (my grandad's regiment in the Boer War) against the Sikhs found himself at the head of the 17th Lancers nine years later, looking down the valley at the Russian guns in the Crimea. If you have ever seen the more modern version of the film, Charge of the Light Brigade, there is the scene where Nolan has delivered the message that will send them the wrong way and then he rides over to the 17th and asks Morris for permission to ride with the 17th. Gladly dear friend, he replied. Nolan became the first casualty of the charge and Morris survived it.

The only Irish connection Moore has was that he led the army that crushed the 1798 rebellion in Ireland.

I'm off to Looe in Cornwall tomorrow for a week, if I do get chance, I will post something. Boy when the tide goes out there, it really goes out. Have a good trip.