|
Battle Of Alcántara (1809)
The Battle of Alcántara (14 May 1809) saw an Imperial French division led by Marshal Claude Perrin Victor attack a Portuguese detachment under Colonel William Mayne. After a three hours skirmish, the French stormed across the Alcántara Bridge and forced the Portuguese to retreat. The clash happened during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. Alcántara, Spain is situated on the Tagus river near the Portuguese border, west-southwest of Madrid. While Marshal Nicolas Soult invaded northern Portugal in early 1809, two other French forces stood ready to cooperate in the subjugation of Portugal. Pierre Belon Lapisse's division lurked near Ciudad Rodrigo while Victor's I Corps operated in the Tagus valley. A weak force under Robert Wilson watched Lapisse while Alexander Randoll Mackenzie's Anglo-Portuguese corps kept an eye on Victor. After being outgeneraled by Wilson, Lapisse marched south to join Victor. When Sir Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese army advan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. The war can be said to have started when the First French Empire, French and History of Spain (1808–1874), Spanish armies Invasion of Portugal (1807), invaded and occupied Portugal in 1807 by transiting through Kingdom of Spain (1810-1873), Spain, but it escalated in 1808 after First French Empire, Napoleonic France occupied History of Spain (1808–1874), Spain, which had been its ally. Napoleon Bonaparte Abdications of Bayonne, forced the abdications of Ferdinand VII of Spain, Ferdinand VII and his father Charles IV of Spain, Charles IV and then installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne and promulgated the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Almonacid
The Battle of Almonacid was fought on 11 August 1809 during the Peninsular War between Sébastiani's IV Corps of the French Peninsular Army, which King Joseph of Spain had withdrawn from the Battle of Talavera to defend Madrid, and the Spanish Army of La Mancha under General Venegas. After the decisive charges of Polish uhlans, the battle resulted in a French victory. Background The Spanish campaign in late 1809 started with the Battle of Talavera. Prelude After the defeat at Talavera, King Joseph retreated with his French army to the vicinity of Toledo and ordered General Sébastiani to attack the portion of the Spanish La Mancha army threatening Madrid under the command of Venegas at Aranjuez. On 5 August, however, due in large part to the hastiness of the attack and the limited number of Tagus River crossings, Sébastiani and the French forces were defeated in a short battle at Aranjuez. Sébastiani chose next to flank Venegas by moving his army west, crossing the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Of Wellington
Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (; 1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was a British Army officer and statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures in Britain during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, twice serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was one of the British commanders who ended the Anglo-Mysore wars by defeating Tipu Sultan in 1799 and among those who ended the Napoleonic Wars in a Coalition victory when the Seventh Coalition defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Wellesley was born into a Protestant Ascendancy family in Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. He was commissioned as an Ensign (rank), ensign in the British Army in 1787, serving in Ireland as aide-de-camp to two successive lords lieutenant of Ireland. Wellesley was also elected as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member of Parliament in the Irish House of Commons. Rising to the rank of Colon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Randoll Mackenzie
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Aleksander, Oleksandr, Oleksander, Aleksandr, and Alekzandr. Related names and diminutives include Iskandar, Alec, Alek, Alex, Alexsander, Alexandre, Aleks, Aleksa, Aleksandre, Alejandro, Alessandro, Alasdair, Sasha, Sandy, Sandro, Sikandar, Skander, Sander and Xander; feminine forms include Alexandra, Alexandria, and Sasha. Etymology The name ''Alexander'' originates from the (; 'defending men' or 'protector of men'). It is a compound of the verb (; 'to ward off, avert, defend') and the noun (, genitive: , ; meaning 'man'). The earliest attested form of the name, is the Mycenaean Greek feminine anthroponym , , (/Alexandra/), written in the Linear B syllabic script. Alaksandu, alternatively called ''Alakasandu'' or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Wilson (British Army Officer, Born 1777)
General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (17 August 1777 – 9 May 1849) was a British Army officer and politician who served in Flanders, Egypt, the Iberian Peninsula, Prussia, and was seconded to the Imperial Russian Army in 1812. He sat as the Whig Member of Parliament (MP) for Southwark from 1818 to 1831. He served as the Governor of Gibraltar from 1842 until his death in 1849. Early career Born in London, he was the grandson of a Leeds wool merchant, and the fourth child of painter and portraitist Benjamin Wilson. Orphaned at the age of twelve he was raised and educated by his uncle and guardian, William Bosville, later attending Westminster School. He eloped in his twenties with Jemima, the daughter of Colonel William Belford. They had thirteen children in the following 15 years. Military life He had a distinguished career in the Army and the diplomatic service. In 1794, as an ensign in the 15th Light Dragoons, Wilson fought in the celebrated Battle of Villers-en-Cauchies ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca (province), Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district. The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right bank of the River Águeda (river), Águeda, has been occupied since the Neolithic Age. Known also as ''Mirobriga'' by those who wish to associate the city with an ancient Celtic village in the outskirts of the modern city. A key border fortress, it was the site of a Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1812), 10-day siege by the Duke of Wellington. Geography Ciudad Rodrigo is situated on the right bank of the Águeda river, about south-west of Salamanca and away from the Portugal, Portuguese border. The autovia A-62 (dual carriageway) links Ciudad Rodrigo with Salamanca, Valladolid and Burgos, and with Portugal. Climate At an elevation of Ciudad Rodrigo has an inland Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification, Köppen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Soult
Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as President of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of France. Son of a country notary from southern France, Soult enlisted in the French Royal Army in 1785 and quickly rose through the ranks during the French Revolution. He was promoted to brigadier general after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, and by 1799 he was a division general. In 1804, Napoleon made Soult one of his first eighteen Marshals of the Empire. Soult played a key role in many of Napoleon's campaigns, most notably at the Battle of Austerlitz, where his corps delivered the decisive attack that secured French victory. He was subsequently created Duke of Dalmatia and from 1808, he commanded French forces during the Peninsular War. Despite several initial victories, for ins ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits, second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and its wikt:monocentric, monocentric Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area is the List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, second-largest in the EU.United Nations Department of Economic and Social AffairWorld Urbanization Prospects (2007 revision), (United Nations, 2008), Table A.12. Data for 2007. The municipality covers geographical area. Madrid lies on the Manzanares (river), River Manzanares in the central part of the Iberian Peninsula at about above mean sea level. The capital city of both Spain and the surrounding Community of Madrid, autonomous community of Madrid (since 1983), it is also th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tagus
The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name The river's Latin name is ''Tagus''. While the etymology is unclear, the most probable etymological origin for the hydronym ''Tagus'' is Indo-European *(s)tag- ('to drip'). Geography Source The Tagus River originates at an elevation of 1,593 meters above sea level in a place known as Fuente García, within the municipality of Frías de Albarracín in Teruel, Spain. Its source is located between the Muela de San Juan (1,830 m) and Cerro de San Felipe (1,839 m), in the Sierra de Albarracín, which belongs to the Montes Universales in the western branch of the Iberian System. Course The river flows through Spain for , passing through four autonomous communities (Aragón, Castilla-La Mancha, Madrid, and Extremadura) and a total of six ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battles of Battle of Austerlitz, Austerlitz, Fall of Berlin (1806), Berlin, Battle of Friedland, Friedland, Battle of Aspern-Essling, Aspern-Essling, French occupation of Moscow, Moscow, Battle of Leipzig, Leipzig and Battle of Paris (1814), Paris , date = {{start and end dates, 1803, 5, 18, 1815, 11, 20, df=yes({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=05, day1=18, year1=1803, month2=11, day2=20, year2=1815) , place = Atlantic Ocean, Caucasus, Europe, French Guiana, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea, West Indies, Ottoman Egypt, Egypt, East Indies. , result = Coalition victory , combatant1 = Coalition forces of the Napoleonic Wars, Coalition forces:{{flagcountry, United Kingdom of Great Britain and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcántara Bridge
The Alcántara Bridge (also known as Trajan's Bridge at Alcantara) is a Roman bridge at Alcántara, in Extremadura, Spain. Alcántara is from the Arabic word ''al-Qantarah'' (القنطرة) meaning "the arch". The stone arch bridge was built over the Tagus River between 104 and 106 AD by an order of the Roman emperor Trajan in 98. History The Alcántara Bridge has suffered more damage from war than from the elements over the years. The Moors destroyed one of the smallest arches in 1214 although this was rebuilt centuries later, in 1543, with stone taken from the original quarries. The second arch on the northwest side was then later destroyed in 1760 by the Spanish to stop the Portuguese advancing and was repaired in 1762 by Charles III, only to be blown up again in 1809 by Wellington's forces attempting to stop the French. Temporary repairs were made in 1819, but much of the bridge was destroyed yet again in 1836 by the Carlists. The bridge was rebuilt in 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshal Of France
Marshal of France (, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to General officer, generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) and for a period dormant (1870–1916). It was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France during the and Bourbon Restoration in France, Bourbon Restoration, and one of the Grand Dignitaries of the French Empire, Grand Dignitaries of the Empire during the First French Empire (when the title was Marshal of the Empire, not Marshal of France). A Marshal of France displays seven stars on each shoulder strap. A marshal also receives a Baton (military), baton – a blue cylinder with stars, formerly fleur-de-lis, fleurs-de-lis during the monarchy and French Imperial Eagle, eagles during the First French Empire. The baton bears the Latin inscription of ', which means "terror in war, ornament in peace". Between the end of the 16th century a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
