Transcript

1807-09: How The Peninsular War Began

From Timeline - World History Documentaries · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 50 min · 7,065 words · 67 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "1807-09: How The Peninsular War Began", an episode of Timeline - World History Documentaries published January 9, 2026 (50 min, about 7,065 words). It mentions 10 people, works and ideas, including Peninsula War, Sir John Moore, Sir Arthur Wellsley, British Army, Battle of Coruna.

What this episode is about

The discussion centers on the origins of the Peninsular War (1807-09), illustrating how Napoleon's seemingly straightforward invasion of Portugal spiraled into a protracted and brutal conflict that ultimately undermined his ambitions. Contrary to the conventional narrative of British triumph, it emphasizes the significant resistance and suffering experienced by the Portuguese and Spanish people, revealing the complexities and harsh realities of the war beyond the romanticized heroics of fictional characters.

Key takeaways

  • Napoleon's miscalculation: a 'quick' war turned into the messy Peninsula War, proving that nothing is ever simple.
  • Portugal, a pawn in Napoleon’s game, ended up igniting a fierce nationalism, turning occupiers into the aggressors.
  • The illusion of British heroism in the Peninsula belies the fact that locals did most of the heavy lifting.
  • Napoleon’s 'Continental System' fought trade wars while underestimating the power of local resistance. History rarely plays by the book.
  • Prince Ferdinand's rise from a smear campaign to a puppet king reveals the volatility of power in the face of invasion.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: Peninsula War, Bernard Cornwell
  2. – 10:00: Peninsula War, Manuel de Godoy
  3. – 15:00: Francisco Goya, Saragosa
  4. – 20:00: Peninsula War, British Army, Sir Arthur Wellsley
  5. – 25:00: Peninsula War
  6. – 30:00: British Army, Sir John Moore
  7. – 35:00: Sir John Moore
  8. – 40:00: British Army, Sir John Moore
  9. – 45:00: Sir John Moore, British Army
  10. – 49:31: Sir John Moore, British Army, Saragosa

Notable quotes from "1807-09: How The Peninsular War Began"

  • Green jackets, of the brown best and the baker rifle. It's the era of Hornblower and Jack Aubry. It is indeed the war that Richard Sharp fought.
    about Peninsula War · at
  • Millions of people all over the world have thrilled to the adventures of Richard Sharp, Bernard Cornwell's great fictional hero.
    about Bernard Cornwell · at
  • Unopposed conquest of Portugal was made against the backdrop of everinccreasing political turmoil in Spain. The chief figure in Spain in 1808 was the royal favorite Manuel de Godoy.
    about Manuel de Godoy · at
  • The Spanish artist Francisco Goya in two powerful works entitled the 2nd of May and the 3rd of May captured the bloody scenes during the Dost Deo uprising.
    about Francisco Goya · at
  • Sir Arthur Wellsley was very much a political soldier. He was still under secretary of state for Ireland when he was appointed to command in the peninsula.
    about Sir Arthur Wellsley · at
  • The British army landed at Mondo Bay in Portugal, some 80 mi south of Lisbon on the 1st of August 1808.
    about British Army · at
  • In many ways a softer approach to everything than rather well as they ever did. Moore was a man of the enlightenment and Moore actually believed that human beings were perfectable and he had this grand idea that the British soldier.
    about Sir John Moore · at
  • Although French armies were rampant across Spain, the Spanish people were still resisting fiercely, nowhere more so than in the blood soaked streets of Sarraosa.
    about Saragosa · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Sir John Moore — Person · Key British commander (referenced) · 8 mentions · first at
    Leads the British advance into Spain and the famous retreat to Corunna; portrayed as a reformer/trainer and a heroic casualty at Corunna.
  • Sir Arthur Wellsley — Person · Key British commander (referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Introduced as the talented British general sent to the Peninsula; his early victories and tactical approach (reverse slope, infantry line) are highlighted.
  • Manuel de Godoy — Person · Spanish political actor (referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Described as the royal favorite and reformer whose fall (via Ferdinand’s faction) destabilizes Spain and intersects with Napoleon’s intervention.
  • Bernard Cornwell — Person · Referenced author (fictional framing) · 1 mention · first at
    Named as the creator of Richard Sharpe; used to contrast popular myth/romance with the episode’s claim to tell the ‘true story’ behind Sharpe’s war.
  • Francisco Goya — Person · Referenced artist / eyewitness chronicler (via art) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited for artworks depicting the Dos de Mayo uprising and executions, reinforcing the episode’s emphasis on Spanish popular resistance and brutality.

Companies & orgs

  • British Army — Company · 10 mentions · first at
  • Spanish Army — Company · 2 mentions
    Perpetuate a myth. The myth is that we won the war. We didn't. The Portuguese and the Spanish people turned Napoleon's occupation of their countries into a nightmare. The…

Places & events

Full transcript with timestamps

It's fatally easy to start a war, especially if you think it will be a short, simple affair. But let loose the dogs of war, and things can go horribly wrong. That's what happened to the emperor Napoleon in 187. He decided to invade Portugal, which was virtually the last nation on the European mainland, still trading with the real enemy, Britain. And it should have been a pushover. Spain was France's ally. The Portuguese army was scarcely formidable and Portugal itself was in political turmoil. All the French army had to do was cross that bridge behind me, march into Portugal, and it should all have been over. It should have been a short summer's campaign. Instead, it turned into the longest, most vicious conflict of the Napoleonic era. We call it the Peninsula War.

We think of that war as a great British triumph, a heroic saga of red coats and green jackets, of the brown best and the baker rifle. It's the era of Hornblower and Jack Aubry. It is indeed the war that Richard Sharp fought. Yet what Sharp does, what I do, is to perpetuate a myth. The myth is that we won the war. We didn't. The Portuguese and the Spanish people turned Napoleon's occupation of their countries into a nightmare. The Spanish ulsa, the French called it. That Spanish affair, Napoleon said on Saint Alina, is what killed them.

We British did help, but at first that help was hesitant and ineffective. Meanwhile, at Madrid, the real horrors are just beginning. Millions of people all over the world have thrilled to the adventures of Richard Sharp, Bernard Cornwell's great fictional hero. This though is the story behind the swashbuckling of the romance. This is the true story of the peninsula war. Sharp's war.

In the year 1807, the emperor Napoleon Bonapart was at the very peak of his powers. His fearsome armies had defeated all the major continental European powers. He was the virtual master of Europe. By 187, Napoleon had defeated Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Now, for all intents and purposes, he either controlled or had influence over the entire Eurasian land mass. There was only one major power who now stood out against him. That was Britain. And Napoleon knew that an invasion of Britain was simply not going to be possible. At least it was not going to be possible for many years. So he decided on an alternative policy which was the continental system. The continental system was a a system by which Britain would be blockaded into submission. The ports of Europe would be closed to British trade. The one nation which actually stood out against the continental system was Portugal.

Portugal had to be brought to heal. According to Napoleon, Britain was a nation of shopkeepers. And prior to the beginning of the Peninsula War, its only, if you like, major customer was Portugal. In order for Napoleon to enforce his continental system by which he hoped to bar Britain trading with Europe, he needed to close down the port of Lisbon. It was quite as simple as that. Uh which is why he sent Zuno to go and arrest the Portuguese royal family and to enforce his will on Portugal to close British trade to Portugal and to enforce his blockade right the way across the continental coast of Europe.

In October 1807 with the cooperation of Spain, Napoleon sent an army under General Jean Andosh Juno to invade Portugal. The arduous march decimated the French army. But although they were severely weakened, they still occupied Lisbon on the 30th of November. Jano's practically bloodless and unopposed conquest of Portugal was made against the backdrop of everinccreasing political turmoil in Spain. The chief figure in Spain in 1808 was the royal favorite Manuel de Godoy. One of the things he wanted to do was to strengthen Spain's military power so she could break away from France and stand on her own two feet.

But the very fact that he was a reformer made him unpopular and a faction therefore formed against Gdoi and seized upon the heir to the throne, Prince Ferdinand, the future Ferdinand IIth, as a figurehead.

Prince Ferdinand wasted no time in launching a smear campaign against Gdoi with the aim of making him too unpopular to remain in office. But Ferdinand needed a trump card to crush Gdoi once and for all. So the prince called on the support of the emperor Napoleon. The timing was perfect for while Spain's political game was being played out, Napoleon had been waiting for the right moment to make his own move. Dismayed by the bickering of the Spanish court, Napoleon decided to take matters into his own hands. In February 1808, he sent his troops over the Pyrenees. For Gdoi, time was fast running out.

Gdoi now realizes that Napoleon is actually set on taking over Spain, and he frantically tries to organize resistance. This, of course, is regarded with absolute horror by Prince Ferdinand and his supporters. They realize that a breach with Napoleon could very well lead to the complete overthrow of the Borwan monarchy. They therefore organize a coup.

It finally dawned on Ferdinand that the unrest in Spain was providing the perfect conditions for a French invasion. He also realized that unless the matter was resolved quickly, the Burbon monarchy might itself be overthrown. Gdori was arrested and imprisoned, much to the joy of the Spanish public, who were convinced by this time that he was the source of all Spain's evils. King Ferdinand, on the other hand, had been painted as a savior who would lead Spain into a new golden age. And so when he arrived in Madrid in March, Ferdinand was given a rapturous reception.

Meanwhile, French troops were dispatched to key Spanish provinces and an army of nearly 120,000 men under Marshall Mirat was sent supposedly to reinforce Juno in Portugal. but which to no one's great surprise actually occupied Madrid in March 1808. But Napoleon had gravely misjudged the Spanish people. Unlike the rest of Europe, which had easily succumbed to the emperor's power, the French presence in Spain provoked fear, anger, and more dangerously, an unquenchable desire for retribution. Napoleon got his first taste of what lay in store when the population of Madrid launched itself upon Marshall Murad's French garrison.

This was the infamous dosto do uprising, the revolt of Madrid that began and ended in May 1808 and was brutally suppressed with the loss of more than 500 Spanish lives. The French had very light forces in Madrid. Mura had an army of 10,000 outside. But what happened is that rumors began spreading throughout Madrid that the last of the Spanish royal family were being removed to def France and French soldiers, isolated French soldiers began being attacked in the streets.

Then the French opened fire. There were a number of Spaniards killed. Um the Spaniards went back to their houses. They got hold of whatever weapons they could lay their hands on and open fire on the French. When news got out to to Mura that there was a revolt in the city, the French entered in force and they fought their way through the streets gradually hurting the insurgents into the center of the city into the Pueta del Sol and there took place a massacre. About 200 Spaniards were killed. Another 300 were made prisoner and those 300 were executed during the night.

The Spanish artist Francisco Goya in two powerful works entitled the 2nd of May and the 3rd of May captured the bloody scenes during the Dost Deo uprising. Even today, these momentous events are still commemorated and reenacted by the people of Madrid.

The whole of Spain erupted in furious rebellion, fueled by the news that Napoleon had placed his own brother, Joseph Bonapart, on the throne. Provinces all over the country rose to fight the French invaders, and Napoleon's armies responded in typically robust fashion. Several towns were put to the torch. In most cases, the Spanish forces that tried to fight back were no match for the French armies. There were exceptions, however. In July 1808, French forces attacking Saragosa were fought to a standstill by a mob of armed civilians.

Worse still, during the same month, the French general Dupon surrendered his entire army of nearly 20,000 men to a Spanish force under General Castonus at Ben in Ander Lucia. Dupont's problem is that he was retreating from Kdoba. Uh he had a very large baggage train which is filled of loot from from Kdoba and he was caught in the worst possible way that for an army to be caught. It was spread out in in column stretched over many many miles and Yupon's forces near Balen ran into a roadblock. Now Yupont fed his troops in peace meal to try and break this roadblock. By the late afternoon, Dupont's men were short of ammunition.

He'd not been able to break through. Spanish forces were closing in on on his rear. A complete disaster for Dupont. He had no alternative but to seek an armistice. Now, what Dupont should have done was to have concentrated his forces before attacking, moved up his reserves, and in all probability, he could actually have smashed through the roadblock. But we've actually got to remember that that Dupont's forces were not first rate. We're talking about really second to third rate French forces here. And Dupont was the chap who actually had to carry the can for this disaster.

The French capitulation at Bilen was a highly significant moment. It was unheard of for an army of Napoleon soldiers to lay down their arms in open battle. Almost at a stroke, the veneer of French invincibility was stripped away. Napoleon received the news with a combination of anger and disbelief and left little doubt as to where he felt responsibility for the debacle lay. There has never been anything so foolish, so stupid, or so cowardly since the world began. It is perfectly clear from Dupont's own report that everything was the result of the most inconceivable incapacity on his part, the emperor raged.

No sooner had Spain risen in revolt, then it occurred to a number of Spaniards that their obvious friend in need was Great Britain. And very quickly a number of emissaries are sent to Britain with requests for help. When the news reaches England, there is there is disbelief and then overwhelming joy and the British government uh very quickly makes plans uh to send an expeditionary force and considerable aid to the Iberian Peninsula. Napoleon of course is in a state of complete rage about this and becomes focused on the Iberian Peninsula in a way which is ultimately going to be disastrous for him.

What made the bilen campaign still more significant was the emergence of guerilla warfare organized by the local authorities. Bands of Spanish irregulars had harassed Dupon's communications with Madrid and unleashed a series of terrible atrocities. The effect on the Spanish is both good and bad. It increases the Spanish resolve to to fight on, but also gives them a wholly exaggerated idea of their own military prowess. They believe that Dupont's army had in fact been a first rate French army. They were soon to discover this was not the case when they came up against real first rate French troops.

9,000 British troops were sent to the peninsula under the command of one of Britain's most talented generals. His name was Sir Arthur Welsley, later to become the Duke of Wellington. And it was he who would become the dominant figure of the entire peninsula war.

Sir Arthur Wellsley was very much a political soldier. He was still under secretary of state for Ireland when he was appointed to command in the peninsula. He'd seen action in the low countries in the 1790s where as he said he learned not what to do but what not to do. He served with great distinction in India and was the victor of the battle of Asay in 1803 and was 24 years old when he was a left tenant colonel. So he was a swift rise to uh his position and would become by the end of the Peninsula War and certainly after Walteru one of the greatest soldiers we'd ever produced.

Welssley was a a brilliant mathematician and also a a a gifted musician. Uh he had a mind that that operated like a computer. he could actually work out the the the rate of march and where a battalion could be with within the next 15 or or 20 minutes faster than than anybody else could. His mind was just that much faster. The British army landed at Mondo Bay in Portugal, some 80 mi south of Lisbon on the 1st of August 1808. Two weeks later, it was in action against the French at Rolika. The battle of Rolika was a small affair, particularly when compared to the bloodbaths to come, but it demonstrated to the French that the British army were willing and more than able to fight.

Well's army defeated the French in a very, very small, by later standards a skirmish at Risa on the 17th of August 1808. The French there under Delabort outnumbered massively outnumbered were easily driven from their position. This opens the way of course to Lisbon where the rest of the French army are marching north because they're penned in with the Atlantic on one side on the other and it's essential that they defeat Wellsley or they're going to find themselves in a really sticky situation from which there is no real escape.

Welssley's victories to this date, Copenhagen and Rica had, you know, been commendable, but but not particularly impressive. And the first indication we have that that this man is is is something quite extraordinary that when we're now dealing with with a a a British general who has got the the beating of the French is at Vimeier and this is the first time we actually see Welssley adopt the classic reverse scope position. Welssley had ensured that the British troops were in possession of the higher ground. And it was up the steep slopes outside Vimeo that the French had to make their attacks each time they ran into withering British infantry fire.

One of the questions that it's frequently asked is why did the French persist in attacking British lines in column? And and I what that means is a column is a great battering ram of men. A typical column was perhaps 40 men wide and 60 deep and it's a solid formation. I it's just a solid brick of men and the British line is too deep. The Portuguese also adopted a two deep line. Now what that means is is that you know 40 by 60 men only the guys in the front rank can use their musketss. 40 musketss and a few guys down the side files whereas everybody in the British line five six 700 men can use their musketss and it's obvious that the British line is going to collapse the column with sheer firepower. So why did they do it? I think the real answer is it's the only formation the French know that will break through enemy armies. And of course what they were not used to fighting British infantry and British

infantry was ideally suited to defeat the column. There is no doubt that at the time British infantry in the hands of a fine commander such as Welssley were superior to their French counterparts. John Mills of the Cold Stream Guards writing at the time said that for 365 days in a year, a French soldier is better than a British soldier. He said, "Our movements to theirs are like dung carts to male coaches, but when it came to the crunch on the battlefield, we beat them every time." This was not necessarily a a tribute to their individual qualities. It was a tribute to the the disciplinary system which had been imposed on this army which had actually taken this this this rag tag collection often the the sweepings of the the slums of London and and Manchester and and the the growing industrial cities and it was this draconian disciplinary system which actually gave the British their coherence under fire. Now, now

individually, the British soldier was probably a worse man than the French soldier. He was probably less capable of of looking after himself than the French soldier. But but when it came to to to actually standing in line on a battlefield, the British soldier was more afraid of his own non-commissioned officers and his own officers than he was of the French. Private Charles O'Neal of the 28th Regiment of Foot fought at Vimeo, and he later recalled the French attacks on the British lines. Their attacks were simultaneous and like that of men determined to conquer or perish. The battle raged with equal fury on all parts of the field.

The possession of the road leading into Vomero was disputed with persevering resolution, and especially where a strong body had been posted in the churchyard. Juno knows that the British are in all probability in greater strength than he is. Nevertheless, he organizes his his small army, only about 14,000 men, into columns, and he tries four times during that day to to break the British line. His skirmishes go forward and they're met by clouds of of British skirmishes. When his columns finally crest the ridges and come down the reverse slope, they are met by the devastating fire of of British lines.

Benjamin Harris, a Hampshireborn private who served with the 95th Rifle Regiment, left to us one of the most lucid and personal accounts of the war to date. Here he conveys a vivid impression of the heat of battle. I myself was soon very hotly engaged. Loading and firing away, I became enveloped in the smoke I created. Such was a cloud which hung about me from the continual fire of my comrades, the white vapor clinging to my clothes, that for a few moments I could see nothing but the red flash of my own peace. It is a great drawback of the present system of fighting that whilst in such a state and unless some friendly breeze clears a space around a soldier can know no more of his position, what is about to happen in front or what has happened even amongst his own companions than the dead lying around.

French attack had broken. The French grande were falling back. And it was at this point that Wellington unleashed his cavalry. or at least he would have unleashed his cavalry, except that the Portuguese cavalry refused to advance. The 20th light draons did go forward, jeering at the Portuguese as they rode towards the retreating mass of the French. And then something occurs which we're going to see again and again during the Peninsula War. French cavalry counterattack. They catch the the 20th light in in a completely disorganized and scattered state.

They got over excited with themselves and charged right into the midst of the French infantry. Were cut off and were pretty badly cut up. In fact, so badly were they cut up they were forced to come back to England to recruit and will never play another part in the Peninsula War.

More than 2,000 French troops had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner during the fight. Several senior officers had been wounded or captured. British casualties were far lighter at 720 in total. But they had been shaken by the strength of the counterattack. A marvelous opportunity hard one with many a brave man's blood now presented itself. Welssley knew that if he could pursue the beaten Frenchmen, their army would be completely destroyed. But Sir Harry Bard and Sir Hugh Dal Rimple, two elderly commanders that had been sent to supersede Welssley, refused to order the British advance. Consequently, the British army, which had committed only half its total strength to the Battle of Vimro, stood champing at the bit, but forbidden to move forward by the new less than dynamic British commanders.

Welssley was barely able to contain his disgust. Well, gentlemen, he told his subordinate officers, since there is no fighting to be done, we may as well go and shoot red-legged snipe. It was a sure sign of the total disarray in the French army that only 2 days later, General sent a delegation under a flag of truce to negotiate terms for an armistice. He had little choice. He commanded a beaten army trapped in Portugal with only the prospect of a long and hazardous retreat into Spain as an alternative. Juno knew it and so did Welssley. But sadly for the British, Barard and Del Rimple did not. Barard was firmly from the old school and decided that no further action was necessary. And rather than follow up and smash the French infantry, he thought it was time to conclude an armistice. And so we get on to the very contentious and controversial convention of CRA.

The convention of CRA was very much an 18th century document. These were the armies that they played by rules which were well understood. And so under the terms of the convention of CRA that the French were allowed to evacuate through Lisbon in British ships taking with them all their loot. And this was the the part of the of the convention which actually stuck in the in the crawl not not just of the of the Portuguese but but of the of the British public. The convention of CRA certainly did not go down well with the British troops.

Rifleman William Green could barely conceal his anger. The French army marched down to the harbor with bands playing, colors flying, bayonets fixed, and with all the honors of war. Although the convention of CRA rid Portugal of the French at the stroke of a pen, the agreement caused public outrage at home. Such was the Ferrari that all three commanders, Bard, Dal Rimple, and Welssley, were recalled and invited to explain themselves. As a result, Bard and Del Rimple were shunted off into the backwaters of military life and Welssley, while being cleared of all blame, returned to his political career.

Commander of the British army in the peninsula was left in the hands of the experienced Sir John Moore. Sir John Moore, he's the sort of lost hero of the early 19th century, a soldier soldier. He he began his career, in fact, in the American Revolution. He was president of an extraordinary battle called Ponobscot Bay where 300 British troops he was a left tenant there defeats an army of 10,000 sent by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. But of course what really made him famous was training the light division.

He's renowned for his work in the training of light infantry which he carried out down at Shacliffe in Kent and really laid the foundations for Robert Crawford's light brigade and his light division. his reformations in terms of the interior economy and discipline of the British army still exist and it's he's done legendary work very caring soldier in many ways a softer approach to everything than rather well as they ever did. Moore was a man of the enlightenment and Moore actually believed that that human beings were perfectable and and he had this this grand idea that that the British soldier taken from from very very unpromising material could actually be perfected. He he could be trained. He could be educated. And this could be done by by appealing to the man's sense of honor to his his better feelings. And that became the the basis of Moore's system of training.

Fine soldier though he was, the task ahead for Moore was a difficult one. His orders simply called for him to take his men into Spain where he was to defeat Napoleon's armies and push them out of the country. To help him achieve this, Moore was ordered to cooperate with the many Spanish hunters that had sprung up in defense of their country. Under these difficult circumstances, and with no overall plan agreed with his Spanish allies, Moore began his march from Lisbon on the 26th of October 1808. The government ordered him to put his troops on ships, to sail them up the coast to Laarunia, to the province of Galysia in the northwest of Spain, to concentrate his forces and wait to see what happened.

Moore, however, would have none of this. He was itching for glory. He didn't want to take his his troops on a long diversion to the north. Instead of obeying orders from London, he marched directly for the heart of Spain. So John Moore's plan when he left Lisbon was to march into Spain from Portugal, marching north of Madrid in the direction of Burgos. And by doing that, of course, he was threatening French communications with France. He hoped that by doing this, the French would march north from Madrid to tackle him.

that would give the people of Madrid time to defend themselves and get themselves into some sort of order. There has been no reconnaissance of the roots. Uh intelligence is extremely faulty. Uh his artillery, his cavalry and his infantry have to advance on on separate routes. Mo thus takes enormous risk. He violates one of the the fundamental principles of war separating his forces in this way. Nevertheless, he is lucky and and eventually manages to assemble his forces in the general area of Salamanca. With all the difficulties ranged before him, probably the last news that Sir John Moore wanted to hear was that Napoleon had decided to take personal command of the French armies in Spain.

He arrived in Spain on the 4th of November 1808 with his best marshals including Nay and Sult and lost little time in making his presence felt. Within 10 days, French forces were at Valadolid, having swept all Spanish resistance away as they raced towards Madrid. The cliche, of course, is that Napoleon was worth 40,000 men on the battlefield. Uh, the minute Napoleon was was in a theater, morale just soared and and Napoleon was like a tonic to the French armies. But additionally and even more importantly was was the fact that Napoleon imposed command and control on these these feuding marshals these these feuding generals who had been messing up this campaign. Now Napoleon was there things were going to happen.

While Napoleon was making these rapid gains, Sir John Moore had arrived at Salamanca. The march had been exhausting as rifleman Harris remembered. Our marches were long and fatiguing. I do not know how many miles we traversed, but some of my companions said that we had come 500 m since leaving Lisbon. After bidding a jur to Portugal forever, having fought and conquered, we felt elated. Spain was before us, and every man in the rifle seemed anxious to get a rap at the French again. On and on we toiled until we reached Salamanca.

It was not until the end of the month that Moore learned of the extent of Napoleon's victories. The Spanish forces had, for the most part, crumbled before the French army, and no help could be expected from them. Their sufferings had been terrible. Many Spanish soldiers had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner, whilst the remainder were starving and disease-ridden. Madrid had not yet fallen, and in the hope of reviving Spanish resistance, Moore resolved to advance on Napoleon's communications at Old Castile. It was on Christmas Eve that Moore finally learned of his perilous situation, and only then by way of a captured dispatch.

Madrid had fallen anyway, and Napoleon's imperial army had braved the deep snows of the Guadama pass and was heading directly for Moore's army. He was outnumbered by nearly 3 to1. The situation that Moore found himself in at the end of 188 was just about as perilous as any British commander has ever been in. If he were to try and fight it out with the French, advanced deeper into Spain, uh he was almost certainly going to to lose his army. And this after all was the only expeditionary force that Britain had at the time. There were really only two lines of retreat. One was to the southwest towards Lisbon, but he had a very good idea that the French were already a thwart that line of retreat and that he probably wouldn't make it.

The other was safer but but much more perilous because it would take him over the Galysian Mountains in in the depths of winter and this was to retreat to the northwest uh towards Kana. The only option really was to march north back to VGO and to Corona where he'd already deposited vaults of supplies along the route and and hope for the best. It was simple as that. He really didn't have many options as the campaign began to cave on him in a very very quick rain.

So began a momentous episode in British military history when Sir John Moore ordered the retreat to Corona in the northwest of Spain. The appalling conditions of the march, a combination of freezing weather, the mountainous terrain, atrocious roads, led to an epic ordeal for the British army, which it nearly did not survive.

When Moore gives his orders to his army to to begin the retreat on Christmas Day, uh their mood is is resentful, their mood is sullen. Uh as far as they're concerned, they've got the beating of the French. They've advanced into Spain. They want to have that battle of the French. Now they're going to have to turn around and run away. The army was not well fed. Commissaria was virtually non-existent within a few days of the retreat. The terrain certainly from Villa Franer and Benibbra where there'd been massive outrages. The wine stocks have been looted, drunkenness, hundreds of prisoners taken by the French. And from there right the way to Lugo is tremendous mountains. The glissian mountains, goat tracks, narrow paths and roads. We must imagine them at the at the beginning of winter. The wind is coming from from the northwest. There is fog and mist over the mountains. It is raining more or less incessantly.

That the road is has turned to to a muddy stream. It sucks away their legs. Men lose their boots. The Spanish villagers that they meet on on the route are hostile in the extreme. Here are the British running away, the British who who came to help them and they jeer. They throw things at the British and and the British reciprocate. There's widespread looting, there's rape, there are some cases of murder and Moore has to break his resolutions to clamp down in in a a traditional draconian way. The British army at that time was famed for its iron discipline, and harsh punishment was meed out to those who fell out of line. But Moore's army was inexperienced, with fewer than half of the 35 battalions of infantry having had any real battle experience. What these men went through would have tested an army of veterans, let alone the relatively raw soldiers who struggled to escape Napoleon.

The shadow of the lash hung over all those who aired. One brigade commander, General Robert Crawford, known as Black Bob, was a notorious disciplinarian who was determined not to allow order to break down despite the shocking weather conditions and hardships faced by the men. Rifleman Harris tells of how he had men flogged, one receiving 300 lashes as his wife watched on. Many who read this may suppose this punishment to be cruel and unnecessary given the dreadful and harassing circumstances of the retreat. But I, who was there and a common soldier of the regiment to which these men belonged, say it was quite necessary.

No man but one formed of stuff like General Crawford could have saved the brigade from perishing altogether. And if he flogged too, he saved more from death by his management. I detest the sight of the lash, but I am quite convinced the British army can never go without it. These events taught us the necessity of such measures. the stories of that retreat. I mean, the women, the soldiers women falling out and and freezing to death beside the road and and the French always coming on and behind them this thin line of green jackets and red coats who somehow hold them off and hold them off and hold them off and and of course there's the wonderful story of the of the the red coats getting into this town which is full of booze and they all get drunk as lords and the officers next morning going around trying to get them on their feet. Some officers were probably drunk as well. I mean, kicking them, booting

them, getting them up, stumbling on, stumbling on, until of course they finally get to Corana, turn around and inflict this huge defeat on on the French, but it's it's not it's not a glorious moment of British history, even though we tried to celebrate it as like another Dunkerk. that Moore's frozen exhausted army ever reached Karana at all was thanks in great part to the brave rear guard actions fought by the light brigade under Brigadier General Crawford and Major General Padet. They heroically beat off all attempts by the French to destroy the rear positions of the British force. Without them, many more would have died on the terrible retreat to Corona.

Moore and his troops finally arrived at the port of Kurana on the 11th of January 1809 with French forces in hot pursuit. Moore now hoped to find that ships which had been ordered up from VGO were waiting in the harbor to evacuate his battered troops. They were not there. But now fortune took a hand. Napoleon had by now returned to France as a fresh crisis threatened his position in central Europe. The job of finishing off what Napoleon considered an already beaten British army, he left to marshall Sult. But after arriving at Karana, the French commander chose not to order an immediate attack.

Instead, he spent nearly 2 days deploying his troops. And while he did so, the British ships arrived. Moore used the unexpected resppite to begin a steady evacuation of the army back to Britain. Despite the conditions on the retreat to Kurana, which were terrible, the British soldiers retreating, very few of them with shoes, their feet are bleeding. They're in a right state, but they were galvanized very quickly at the prospect of an action at the gates of Corona. The march to Lacarunia was just as exhausting for the French as it was for the British.

When Sult's forces arrived the Lacarunia, they too were very tired. They were in no fit state for a fight and so in consequence there was a delay of several days. it gives more enough time to to organize his his rear guard into into defensive positions and begin the the imbarcation. In fact, at at one point in the morning of the 16th of January, Moore is becoming overconfident. And he actually says with a nearshot of of a number of his officers, uh, a few more hours and we shall be away. At that point, salt attacks.

It was not until the 16th of January, 2 days after his arrival, that Sult's 20,000 Frenchmen began their attack on the British positions. The Battle of Corona was finally underway. S believed that that he could actually drive right through the the British lines and end into Corona and take the town. His first attack is actually stopped by intense British fire. And so he goes left flanking. He moves off to the west and then he runs into two reserve divisions under General Edward Patrick. And and the shock of this is so great that the French begin to retire. And and so instead of the the British fighting a a a defensive battle to hold Corona, suddenly the French are retreating.

The main action ebbed and flowed around the village of Elvenia which was taken retaken taken again and then retaken by Mo's troops. And of course it was during one of these actions where he was bringing forward the guards and the Highlanders that he was struck by a cannonball which lifted him out of the saddle and gave him the mortal wound in his shoulder. As the battle of Karana raged, Sir John Moore was, as usual, at the forefront of the action, riding to every British position on the battlefield, directing the battle and encouraging his men.

This was, however, to be Sir John Moore's last battle. Charles O'Neal remembered the scene as he received his mortal wound. Sir John Moore, who was earnestly watching the result of the battle in the village of Alvvenia, received his death wound. A spent cannibal struck him on his breast. The shock threw him from his horse with violence, but he rose again in sitting posture. His countenance unchanged and betraying no signs of pain. Then was seeing the dreadful nature of his hurt. His shoulder was shattered to pieces.

The arm was hanging by a piece of skin. The ribs over the heart were broken and bed of flesh and the muscle of the breast was torn into long strips.

Moore was lifted from the saddle by a cannonball that shattered his shoulder and exposed all of his chest. And those around him who saw it thought it wasn't anything particularly bad at the time, but when they actually saw what happened to him and saw the gaping wound in his side, they knew that that was pretty much it for more. But as he was carried off, he had the satisfaction of knowing that his troops swept the French out of Alvenia at all various points and were driven back. And this would allow the British troops long enough to get away.

The battle for Corona gave the British enough time to actually complete their evacuation. But we have to remember that the evacuation would not have been successful if it had not been for the fact that that the Spanish continued to hold the town. And it wasn't until the last British transports had pulled out of the harbor carrying the the 19,000 remnants of of of Mo's army that the Spanish actually surrendered. On the face of it, Kurana appeared to be a disaster for the British. 6,000 men and a vast quantity of equipment had been lost, and Moore's battered army had been chased out of Spain.

Naturally, the politicians did their best to deflect all blame from the government to the military and onto Moore in particular, although they had to tread carefully. Moore was a popular figure among the public, and he had died a hero's death on the battlefield.

In many ways, he was made a scapegoat, but that was largely for political reasons. He being a very stiff opponent of the government. He had his supporters, the opposition. His reputation recovered fairly quickly much due to the efforts of his brother who began to write a history of the campaign. So you know even today we we revere the memory of Saj Mo by retreating to the coast he pulled large numbers of French forces away from their central objectives. He prevented an immediate march on Lisbon. He prevented an immediate march on Seville.

It gave the Spaniards the time that they needed to pick up the pieces after Napoleon's great victories in November and December 1808. The impact of of of Corona was profound right throughout the the the the British political establishment because 19,000 men returned in the late winter of 189 and they were in a dreadful state. They were ill. They were emaciated that they were dressed in ranks. This is what continental warfare is like without an ally. This is what happens when you take chances. This is what happens when you don't take war seriously and and you get a a real shift in in emphasis after this that Britain realizes after the return of the remnants of Mo's army that that it is actually in what is going to be called total war.

The retreat to Kurana and the miraculous escape of the British army had a significance that no one then could foresee. Although French armies were rampant across Spain, the Spanish people were still resisting fiercely, nowhere more so than in the blood soaked streets of Sarraosa. And the British had saved themselves to fight again. They would return under the commander who had already defeated the French twice in battle, Sir Arthur Welsley. By early 189, the simple French plan to occupy Portugal and so pressure Britain into making peace had gone horribly wrong. French troops had been evicted from Portugal thanks to Rollikica Vimeierro and the shameful convention of Cra, but the British were far from secure in Lisbon. The British field army had already been expelled from the peninsula once, and despite Sir John Moore's stubborn victory at Karana, there was no real reason to believe that the Red Coats would not be driven out of

the peninsula again. Losing glaci's poor ma. The Portuguese said the English are for the sea. Well, they weren't. The British will turn their lodgement at Lisbon into an unassalable fortress. But while they're doing that, the Spanish are engaged in a ghastly guerilla war that will kill hundreds of thousands. And that war reached its most terrible depth at the city of Saragosa. That tale is a savage epic, but it must wait for our next episode. Are you

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Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "1807-09: How The Peninsular War Began"?

Sir Arthur Welsley, Sir John Moore, General Jean Andoche Junot, Manuel de Godoy.

What is "1807-09: How The Peninsular War Began" about?

The discussion centers on the origins of the Peninsular War (1807-09), illustrating how Napoleon's seemingly straightforward invasion of Portugal spiraled into a protracted and brutal conflict that ultimately undermined his ambitions. Contrary to the conventional narrative of British triumph, it emphasizes the significant resistance and suffering experienced by the Portuguese and Spanish people,…

What is mentioned in this Timeline - World History Documentaries episode?

10 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Peninsula War, Sir John Moore, Sir Arthur Wellsley, British Army, Battle of Coruna, Manuel de Godoy. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "1807-09: How The Peninsular War Began"?

The episode runs 50 min; the transcript is about 7,065 words in 67 timestamped sections.

More from Timeline - World History Documentaries

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.