Somosierra Pass
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Somosierra is a
mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
in the
Sierra de Guadarrama The Sierra de Guadarrama (Guadarrama Mountains) is a mountain range forming the main eastern section of the Sistema Central, the system of mountain ranges along the centre of the Iberian Peninsula. It is in Spain, between the systems Sierra de ...
north of
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 i ...
in Spain. It connects the north of the
Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...
with the east of the province of
Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is located in the Meseta central, Inner Pl ...
. Just south of the pass is the municipality of
Somosierra Somosierra is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located at 83 km north of Madrid, in the mountain pass with the same name, at an elevation of 1433 metres above sea level, being the northernmost town of Community of Madrid ...
with a population of 77. It has an altitude of and is crossed by the A-1 ( E5) road through , a short twin-bore tunnel named in honour of a civil engineer who worked on the Spanish motorway network. There is also a rail tunnel.


History

The road was originally a track opened up by
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
to provide a direct route to Madrid. In 1808 this led to the
Battle of Somosierra The Battle of Somosierra took place on 30 November 1808, during the Peninsular War, when a combined Franco- Napoleonic Spanish- Polish force under the direct command of Napoleon I forced a passage through a Spanish division stationed at t ...
between French-Polish and Spanish forces. In 1936, at the beginning of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, the Battle of Somosierra (1936) took place in the heights of the pass between
Carlist Carlism (; ; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty, one descended from Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain, Don Carlos, ...
and
Falangist Falangism () was the political ideology of three political parties in Spain that were known as the Falange, namely first the Falange Española, the Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista (FE de las JONS), and afterwa ...
units and
Spanish Republican Army The Spanish Republican Army () was the main branch of the Spanish Republican Armed Forces, Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic between 1931 and 1939. It became known as People's Army of the Republic (''Ejército Popular de la República'' ...
troops.Análisis Cronológico de la Guerra Civil Española
/ref>


References


External links


Cerro Pelado y Paredes de Buitrago
Mountain passes of Spain Landforms of the Community of Madrid Mountain passes of the Sistema Central {{Segovia-geo-stub