1. The Peninsular War-
Napoleon’s first
defeat

2. Napoleon was master of
Europe. Only one country
stood in his way- Britain.

3. Napoleon installed his
brother, Joseph
Bonaparte, on the
throne of Spain. The
Spanish rebelled.
Britain saw their
chance and took it.

4. They sent Sir Arthur
Wellesley, the future
Duke of Wellington, to
Spain to defeat the
French armies there.
Wellesley’s first major
victory was against
Marshal Junot at
Vimiero.
He then liberated
Portugal by
defeating Marshal
Soult at Oporto. He
then moved into
Spain.

5. The tide turned at
Talavera, where 20,600
British troops and 35,000
Spanish soldiers, led by
Wellesley and Cuesta,
defeated 46,000
Frenchmen, led by King
Joseph.
Unfortunately, the Spanish
broke and ran, leaving the
British infantry to do most of
the work.

6. After liberating western Spain by
taking the fortresses of Ciudad
Rodrigo and Badajoz, Wellesley
moved north-east. His aim- to
invade France.

7. Just north-east of
Ciudad Rodrigo,
Wellesley won a
crushing victory near
Salamanca against
Marshal Marmont.

8. With this final victory
against King Joseph, the
French were driven out
of Spain. Wellesley
moved into France.
Wellesley defeated 3
French armies at
Vitoria, in 1813.

9. After winning
several victories
on the Franco-
Spanish
frontier, Wellesley
won the final
victory of the
Peninsular war in
1814, at the city
of Toulouse.