The battle of Bailén also written in French battle of Baylen is the culmination of the uprising of Andalusia against the French invader. It was a decisive victory for the Spaniards, and the first major failure of the Napoleonic armies.
The context
In May 1808 in Bayonne, Napoleon deposed King Charles IV and dismissed his son Ferdinand VII, whose abdication he demanded. He replaced them on July 7 with his brother Joseph (Joseph I). To the weakness of the Spanish Bourbons, we must oppose the courage and nationalism, even the fanaticism of their people. The Dos de Mayo uprising (May 2 uprising) and its repression the following day by Murat bloodied Madrid, marking the beginning of the Spanish War of Independence.
While most of Spain was in open revolt, General Dupont de l'Étang was sent to Cadiz to break the encirclement of what remained of Admiral François de Rosily's fleet and, incidentally, bring back the calm in Andalusia. The II Gironde Observation Corps, under the command of General Dupont de l'Étang, includes three divisions placed under the command of Generals Barbou, Vedel and Frère, as well as a cavalry division commanded by Fresia.
On May 24, Dupont's army left Toledo. It is strong of about twelve thousand men, that is to say the six thousand men of the Barbou division, the two thousand men of the Fresia cavalry division, four hundred men of the battalion of sailors of the Guard, plus those of the artillery and the genius. To this number must be added about three thousand men from the Swiss regiments of Reding the Younger and Preux, in the service of Spain and conscripted by force. On June 7, the French troops encountered and defeated at the bridge of Alcolea, about ten kilometers from Cordoba, a Spanish detachment composed of volunteers, commanded by Don Pedro Agustin Echavarri. That same day, the French took Cordoba and sacked it for four days, sparking a thirst for revenge throughout Andalusia.
On June 14, Admiral de Rosily surrendered to the Spaniards. Part of Dupont's mission thus becomes obsolete. This one leaves Cordoba on June 16 and retrogrades towards Andújar where he establishes his camp on June 18. Isolated in a hostile province and in a state of uprising, Dupont sent several calls for help to Madrid. On June 19, General Vedel left Toledo with five thousand infantry, four hundred and fifty cavalry and ten cannons. On June 26, he overcame two thousand guerrillas waiting for them after the parade of Despeñaperros, in the Sierra Morena. He leaves a battalion to defend the defile, and joins Dupont's army with the rest of his forces.
On Savary's orders, Gobert's division, which belonged to the Ocean Coast Observation Corps, replaced that of General Frère, sent to support Moncey in Valence. She left Madrid on July 2 both to reinforce Dupont and to ensure communication between Andújar and Madrid. A good part of its workforce will be distributed along the Camino Real, the main road between the capital and the province. Thus, General Dupont's forces find themselves very dispersed:Gobert is in La Carolina, Vedel in Bailén and Dupont himself occupies the town of Andújar with the strongest contingent, not to mention the detachments in charge of securing strategic places. /P>
Battle progress
General Castaños assembled an army of thirty thousand six hundred men, comprising four divisions:the first under the command of General Théodore de Reding, the second under the Marquis de Coupigny, of Walloon origin, the third under General Felix Jones, of Irish, and the fourth by General Manuel la Peña, the only Spaniard. To this must be added the mountain division commanded by Colonel Cruz Mourgeon and the Freikorps of the Count of Valdecañas. On July 16, an important battle opposed at Mengibar, on the banks of the Guadalquivir, part of the Vedel division and Gobert's troops, who had come to reinforce, to Reding's division. Gobert is killed during the assault. The French retreat to Bailén and La Carolina. Meanwhile, Vedel joined Dupont who called him to Andújar; he was sent back to Bailén in pursuit of General Reding, whom he did not find, which prompted him to continue his search in the direction of La Carolina.
On the evening of July 18, taking advantage of the darkness, Dupont left Andújar to escape the threat of the troops of Castaños, established nearby. On the 19th, around three o'clock, the French vanguard came into contact with a Spanish detachment at the Rumblar bridge, five kilometers from Bailén. The actual fighting begins at four o'clock in the morning, when Dupont has joined the head of the column. Between four o'clock and noon, Dupont will launch five assaults against the Spanish troops that Reding and his second Coupigny have deployed at the western exit of the village of Bailén. At noon, only two thousand men remained on the French side in a condition to fight; the others died or were wounded or left the battlefield also overcome by the intense heat and thirst. Seeing the desperate situation, Dupont decides to ask for a suspension of the fighting, which is accepted by Reding.
During the morning, two notable absentees weighed on the course of the battle in different ways. Castaños, commander-in-chief of the Spanish troops, did not move, contenting himself with sending La Peña and his division to the aid of Reding and Coupigny at eight o'clock; these reinforcements will only show up at Rumblar after the truce. Vedel, meanwhile, will not arrive until 5 p.m. in Bailén. He did not take seriously the first sounds of the battle he heard from La Carolina and did not set the start until seven o'clock; his soldiers will have taken ten hours to cover the twenty-three kilometers separating La Carolina from Bailén. When he arrived, Vedel did not believe in the French defeat and rushed towards the Spanish troops who were watching the road from Madrid to the northeast of Bailén. He must soon face the facts:Dupont de l'Étang has also included him in the truce and he must lay down his arms.
The next day, negotiations, following the truce, begin between Castaños, Tilly and Escalante on the Spanish side, Chabert (chosen by Dupont, injured and ill, to represent him), Marescot and Villoutreys on the French side. These negotiations will lead to French surrender, pure and simple.
On July 22, the II observation corps capitulates and the Andujar Convention is signed but will not be respected. Dupont and his generals will be transported by boat to Marseilles and Toulon. The rest of the French army, nearly sixteen thousand men, will first be transported to Cadiz and guarded on pontoons (the remains of buildings that survived the Battle of Trafalgar and stripped of their superstructures). From February 1809, some will be transported to the island of Cabrera in the Balearic Islands, others to the Canary Islands. In 1810, the officers will continue their captivity in England. A minority of soldiers survived until 1814, when they were finally released.
Consequences
The Spanish victory demonstrates that the French army is not invincible. It will encourage the countries occupied, threatened or allied by force to return to war against France.