At the signing of the Treaty of Fontainebleau on October 27, 1807 between Manuel Godoy, favorite of the Spanish king Carlos IV , and Napoleon Bonaparte , the joint military invasion of Portugal - an ally of England - was agreed upon and, for this, French troops would be allowed to pass through Spanish territory... which would be the seed of the subsequent French invasion of the Iberian Peninsula and the War of Independence.
In 1808 a contingent of 2,000 French soldiers commanded by General D'Armagnac, they crossed Roncesvalles and, after a hard march and adverse weather conditions, on February 8 they arrived in Pamplona to rest and then continue on their way to Portugal. Although in theory, and according to the signed Treaty, they were allies of the Spanish, the population of Pamplona was suspicious of that peaceful invasion and in which, in addition, they had to contribute with supplies and accommodation. And they were right… D´Armagnac had received orders from Marshal Murat to take the Citadel.
When D'Armagnac met with the Marquis of Vallesantoro , Viceroy and Captain General of Navarre , to be able to quarter part of his troops, which already reached 4,000 troops, inside the Citadel, he put off saying that for this he needed authorization from Madrid. Seeing that French diplomacy was not enough, D'Armagnac himself decided on strategy. He met with Captain Robert and they planned the plan of attack.
On the night of February 15-16, Robert and a group of 100 soldiers, apparently unarmed, chosen from the best of the French troops, went, as they did every day, to collect their bread rations at the gates of the Citadel. . Taking advantage of the fact that the snowfall had settled, half of them started a snowball fight. The garrison defending the Citadel, a small contingent of volunteers unwilling and less prepared for the arts of war, scoffed at this unusual battle; moment that the rest of the French took advantage of to disarm the defenders and take the Citadel without a single shot.
Citadel
Thanks to Aritz Iñiguez R . Sources:Diario de Navarra, Curiosities of Pamplona