The Battle of Tudela (23 November 1808) saw an Imperial French army led by

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...

Jean Lannes Jean Lannes, 1st Duke of Montebello, Prince of Siewierz (10 April 1769 – 31 May 1809), was a French military commander and a Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was one of Napoleon's ...

attack a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

army under

General Castaños A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...

. The battle resulted in the complete victory of the Imperial forces over their adversaries. The combat occurred near Tudela in Navarre,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spai ...

, part of a wider conflict known as the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

Background

Napoleon's invasion of Spain The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, ...

had started with the

Battle of Zornoza The Battle of Zornoza fought on 31 October 1808, was one of the opening engagements in Napoleon's invasion of Spain. The battle was intended to encircle and crush the left wing of the Spanish front. The Spanish infantry was swiftly thrown bac ...

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

's strategy was to make a strong attack towards

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence o ...

splitting off the army of Blake from the others and to outflank them by then swinging both north and south.

Preliminaries

On 21 November 1808 Castaños was around

Calahorra Calahorra [] ( an, Calagorra, la, Calagurris) is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During Ancient Rome, Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris ...

on the Ebro between

Logroño Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...

and Tudela. On this day the French III Corps crossed the Ebro at Logroño and headed east towards Calahorra while at the same time Marshal

Michel Ney Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, 1st Prince of the Moskva (; 10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one o ...

with the

VI Corps 6 Corps, 6th Corps, Sixth Corps, or VI Corps may refer to: France * VI Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry formation of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VI Corps (Grande Armée), a formation of the Imperial French army du ...

reached the Upper

Douro The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part o ...

Valley and headed towards Tudela. Esquema posiciones224

These movements threatened Castaños with entrapment between these two armies. To avoid this Castaños withdrew to Tudela. He decided to defend a line long stretching west from Tudela along the Ebro, then along the Queiles River to

Cascante Cascante is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, northern Spain. During the Roman period, Cascante was known as Cascantum. Notable people * Kike Sola, footballer * Álex Remiro, footballer * Lu ...

and finally to

Tarazona Tarazona is a town and municipality in the Tarazona y el Moncayo comarca, province of Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. It is the capital of the Tarazona y el Moncayo Aragonese comarca. It is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tarazona. ...

at the foot of the Moncayo Massif. Castaños had insufficient men to hold a line of this length so he asked General Juan O'Neylle, who had two divisions at

Caparroso Caparroso is a town and municipality located in the province and autonomous community of Navarre, in the north of Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_mo ...

on the east bank of the Ebro, for help. As O’Neylle was under the command of Palafox he refused to move without an order from Palafox. This did not arrive until noon on 22 November 1808. O’Neylle moved promptly to the east bank of the Ebro opposite Tudela but decided not to cross the river until the next day. By nightfall on 22 November 1808 Castaños had almost 45,000 soldiers in the vicinity of Tudela but very few of them actually in position. Castaños placed General

Manuel la Peña Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name) * Manuel (Fawlty Towers), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Charlie Manuel, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manu ...

's 4th Division of 8,000 men, mostly

Andalusians The Andalusians ( es, andaluces) are a European ethnic group, native to Andalusia, an autonomous community in southern Spain. Andalusia's statute of autonomy defines Andalusians as the Spanish citizens who reside in any of the municipalitie ...

who had participated in the

Battle of Bailén The Battle of Bailén was fought in 1808 between the Spanish Army of Andalusia, led by Generals Francisco Castaños and Theodor von Reding, and the Imperial French Army's II corps d'observation de la Gironde under General Pierre Dupont de l ...

, at

and General Grimarest at the head of three divisions totaling 13,000 to 14,000 soldiers at Tarazona. General Roca's division was on the east bank of the Ebro plus the two divisions from Aragon of O’Neylle and Felipe Augusto de Saint-Marcq. Most of the fighting in the battle of Tudela would involve only the three divisions of Roca, O’Neylle, and Saint-Marcq – totaling about 23,000 infantry. For the French only the III Corps was involved in the Battle of Tudela. Prior to 22 November 1808 this force had been commanded by Marshal Moncey. However, Napoleon transferred command to Marshal

when the advance began. This corps was just under 34,000 men consisting of four infantry divisions and three cavalry regiments. To this was added General of Division

Joseph Lagrange Joseph-Louis Lagrange (born Giuseppe Luigi LagrangiaGeneral of Brigade Pierre David de Colbert-Chabanais's cavalry brigade from Ney's corps. On the night of 22 November the French Army camped at Alfaro – 17 kilometres up the Ebro from Tudela.

Battle

On the morning of 23 November 1808 Lagrange's infantry and two cavalry brigades were sent towards Cascante. The rest of the force was sent along the Ebro towards Tudela. At this time O’Neylle was trying to get his three divisions across the Ebro. Roca's was across first and reached its position on the right of the Spanish line just as the French attacked. Saint-Marcq's division was second across and also took up position before the attack. Batalla224

By the time O’Neylle's own division was crossing it had to fight French skirmishers who were at the top of the Cabezo Malla ridge. The initial French attack was carried out in a piecemeal fashion by the vanguard when it was realised that the Spanish were not in position. Although this attack was repelled it showed the weakness of the Spanish positions, especially the gap between Castaños and La Peña's force at Cascante. The battle would ultimately be decided by La Peña and Grimarest. By noon on 23 November 1808 they had received orders to move: La Peña to close the gap at Tudela and Grimarest to Cascante. Both men failed to carry out these orders other than La Peña moving two battalions and a detachment of provincial Grenadiers to Urzante. La Peña's lack of initiative allowed the two French cavalry brigades of Colbert and General of Brigade

Alexandre, vicomte Digeon Alexander Elisabeth Michel vicomte Digeon, (27 June 1771 – 2 August 1826) fought in the French Revolutionary Wars in the cavalry. He became a general officer during the Napoleonic Wars, fighting in a number of important battles. After 1814, he ...

to pin him in place. The second French attack was made with much greater force. On the French left General of Division

Antoine Morlot Antoine Morlot (5 May 1766 – 23 March 1809) was a French division commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. After almost eight years of service in the French Royal Army, he became an officer in a local volunteer batt ...

's division attacked Roca's division on the heights above Tudela. On the French right General of Division

Maurice Mathieu David-Maurice-Joseph Mathieu de Saint-Maurice de La Redorte or Maurice Mathieu (20 February 1768 – 1 March 1833) was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars. Biography Mathieu was born into a French noble family and entered the French R ...

's division made a frontal assault on the smaller O’Neylle division while also making outflanking moves. The attacks on both left and right were successful with both Spanish divisions being pushed off the ridges they occupied. Then the French cavalry under General of Division Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes charged the gap between Roca and Saint-Marcq causing the collapse of the Spanish right. La Peña and Grimarest finally united at Cascante late in the day giving them a total of 21,000 men against Lagrange's division which was 6,000 strong plus Colbert and Digeon. After the defeat of the rest of the Spanish army however La Peña and Grimarest withdrew after dark. Their poor performance was also reflected in the casualties of only 200 on the Spanish left compared to 3,000 on the right plus 1,000 prisoners.

Casualties

Spanish casualties were estimated to be about 6,000 out of a total force of 45,000. The French, in all, lost no more than 700 dead and wounded out of a total of 35,000.

Aftermath

proceeded with the

Battle of Somosierra The Battle of Somosierra took place on 30 November 1808, during the Peninsular War, when a combined Franco-Spanish- Polish force under the direct command of Napoleon Bonaparte forced a passage through a Spanish Divison stationed at the Si ...

. The Spanish armies of the left and right escaped from Tudela in two directions. The Aragonese forces on the right made for Zaragoza where they would assist in the Second Siege of Zaragoza starting on 20 December 1808. The virtually intact Spanish left moved towards Madrid to defend that city. Napoleon however moved more quickly, and after defeating a small Spanish army at the

on 30 November 1808, arrived in Madrid on 1 December 1808. Napoleon's strategy ultimately ended successfully with the occupation of Madrid. Moore was killed at the end of the

Corunna campaign The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the war, military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying ...

starting with the

Battle of Cardedeu The Battle of Cardadeu on 16 December 1808 saw an Imperial French corps led by Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr assault a Spanish force commanded by Juan Miguel de Vives y Feliu and Theodor von Reding. Saint-Cyr won the engagement by forming most ...

. The Second Portuguese campaign began with the

Siege of Chaves The siege of Chaves refers to the French siege and capture of Chaves, Portugal from 10 to 12 March 1809, and the subsequent siege and recapture of the town by Portuguese forces from 21 to 25 March 1809, during the second invasion of Portuga ...

In popular culture

The battle was engraved on the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

Notes

References

* * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tudela

Battle of Tudela The Battle of Tudela (23 November 1808) saw an Imperial French army led by Marshal Jean Lannes attack a Spanish army under General Castaños. The battle resulted in the complete victory of the Imperial forces over their adversaries. The com ...

Battles involving Spain Battles involving France Battles involving Poland Battles of the Peninsular War

November 1808 events Battles inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe