One of Napoleon’s largest allies against Britain was Spain. However Spain's neighbor Portugal was failing to comply with the Continental System, which ordered neutral nations not to trade with Britain. To go along with this, Spain’s royals were corrupt and unpopular. Seeing them unfit to rule, Napoleon decided to invade Spain and take it for himself. He expected the people to rejoice at the ousting of their old corrupt leaders. He assumed that the Spanish would be overjoyed at the change he was bringing, not only politically, but also socially. He considered Spain to still be in the Dark ages because of the dominance of the church and lack of enlightenment period ideas. However the reaction he received was quite different than what he had anticipated. He brought several hundred thousand troops into Spain and attempted to install Napoleon’s brother, Joseph II, as king, but the Spanish people rose up. On May 2, 1808, they rebelled in Madrid and became the first martyrs of their cause, igniting the people to fight the French invasion. They showed a passionate love for their country and a great will for independence that Napoleon had not even considered. As a guerrilla army they could never defeat the powerful French and drive them out of Spain completely, but they held and were a constant nuisance to Napoleon’s army. The Spanish Guerrillas along with the British troops who had successfully liberated Portugal kept the French pinned down in Spain for years. Spain was an open wound that refused to go away and so it was called “the Spanish ulcer”. Spain was the first showing of defiance to the French and was a sign, which Napoleon failed to see, that Europe was not so ready for Napoleon’s enlightened rule.
The Second of May 1808 was the beginning of the popular Spanish resistance against Napoleon (image via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:El_dos_de_mayo_de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg) |
Main points:
- Napoleon invaded Spain to gain the upper hand against Britain as well as to take more territory for himself
- His rule was met by guerrilla military opposition, aided by the British
- The war that followed resulted in a stalemate, but it had a heavy cost for the French because they were forced to keep a large amount of troops and resources in Spain which were greatly needed on the other fronts across central Europe
- Spain was an open wound which crippled the French and that they were unable to close, hence "The Spanish Ulcer"
Napoleon's critical Errors:
- ”bearing the words 'Liberty and Emancipation from Superstition,'" he said, "I shall be regarded as the liberator of Spain."
As you can see from the quote above, Napoleon expected to be see as a hero and that the people would be glad that he was abolishing the old regime. The reaction he received was much different. - Although the French crushed the Spanish in the revolt of May 2, 1808, this provided martyrs to the people's cause which fed the flames of rebellion rather than stifling it.