Dos de Mayo Uprising
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| Dos de Mayo | |||||||
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| Part of the Peninsular War | |||||||
 The Second of May, 1808: The Charge of the Mamelukes, by Francisco de Goya (1814). |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Spain |
 French Empire |
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| Commanders | |||||||
| Pedro Velarde y Santillán † Luís Daoíz de Torres † Jacinto Ruiz y Mendoza |
Joachim Murat | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 200[1]–450 dead[2] | 31[1]–150 dead[2] | ||||||
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Invasion by Stealth, 1808 |
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| Madrid – El Bruc – Cabezón – 1st Gerona – 2nd Gerona – Saragossa – Rio Seco – Valencia – Bailén – Roliça – Vimeiro |
On May 2, 1808 (Spanish: Dos de Mayo) the people of Madrid rebelled against the occupation of the city by French troops, provoking a brutal repression by the French Imperial forces and triggering the Peninsular War.
Contents |
[edit] Background
The city had been under the occupation of Napoleon's army since March 23 of the same year. King Charles IV had been forced to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand VII, and at the time of the uprising both were in the French city of Bayonne at the insistence of Napoleon. An attempt by the French general Joachim Murat to move the daughter and youngest son of Charles IV to Bayonne led to a popular rebellion that was harshly suppressed by French troops after hours of fierce street fighting. The uprising in Madrid, together with the subsequent proclamation as king of Napoleon's brother Joseph, provoked resistance across Spain to French rule.
[edit] The Beginning of the Uprising
The spark that provoked the rebellion was the move by the French general in command of Madrid, Joaquim Murat, to send the daughter of Charles IV and the Infante Francisco de Paula to the French city of Bayonne. Murat was the brother-in-law of Napoleon, and would later become king of Naples. Initially the governing council of the city refused the request from Murat, but eventually gave way after receiving a message from Ferdinand VII who was also in Bayonne at this time.
On the 2nd May a crowd began to gather in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Those gathered entered the palace grounds in an attempt to prevent the removal of Francisco de Paula. General Murat sent a battalion of grenadiers from the Imperial Guard to the palace along with artillery detachments. The latter opened fire on the assembled crowd, and the rebellion began to spread to other parts of the city.
What followed was street fighting in different areas of Madrid as the poorly armed population confronted the French troops. Murat had quickly moved the majority of his troops into the city and there was heavy fighting around the Puerta del Sol and the Puerta del Toledo. General Murat imposed martial law in the city and assumed full control of the administration. Little by little the French regained control of the city, and many hundreds of people died in the fighting. The painting by the Spanish artist Goya, The Charge of the Mamelukes, portrays the street fighting that took place.
There were Spanish troops stationed in the city, but they remained confined to barracks. The only Spanish troops to disobey orders were from the artillery units at the barracks of Monteleón, who joined the uprising. Two officers of these troops, Luis Daoíz y Torres and Pedro Velarde y Santillán are still commemorated as heroes of the rebellion. Both died during the French assault of the barracks, as the rebels were reduced by vastly superior numbers.
[edit] The aftermath
The repression following the crushing of the initial rebellion was harsh. Murat created a military commission on the evening of the 2nd May to be presided over by General Grouchy. This commission issued death sentences to all of those captured who were bearing weapons of any kind. All public meetings were prohibited and an order was issued required all weapons to be handed in to the authorities. Hundreds of prisoners were executed the following day, a scene that has also been captured in a famous painting by Goya, The Third of May 1808.
On the same 2nd May, in the nearby town of Móstoles, the arrival of the news of the repression prompted Juan Pérez Villamil, who was secretary of the Admiralty and prosecutor of the Supreme War Council, to encourage the mayors of the town, Andrés Torrejón and Simón Hernández, to sign a declaration of war calling all the Spaniards against the invaders.
[edit] The Impact of the Uprising
The French occupiers hoped that their rapid suppression of the uprising would demonstrate their control of Spain, however the rebellion gave considerable impetus to Spanish resistance against the French presence in the country. In the weeks that followed there were further rebellions in different parts of the country.
[edit] Commemoration
The 2nd May was chosen as a public holiday for the region of Madrid. The place where the artillery barracks of Monteleón was located is now a square called the Plaza 2 de mayo, and the district surrounding the square is known as Malasaña in memory of one of the heroines of the revolt, Manuela Malasaña, who was executed by French troops in the aftermath of the revolt.
Several memorials to the heroes are located over the city.
[edit] References
- Chandler, David G. The Campaigns of Napoleon. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. ISBN 0-02-523660-1
- Gates, David. The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War. Da Capo Press 2001. ISBN 0-306-81083-2
- Glover, Michael. The Peninsular War 1807-1814. Penguin Books 2003. ISBN 0-141-39041-7
