Bailén - Facts

 

The events in this book are about the Spanish victory in the Battle of Bailén. The Battle of Bailén was fought in 1808 between the Spanish Army of Andalusia, led by General Francisco Javier Castaños and the Imperial French Army's II corps d'observation de la Gironde under General Pierre Dupont de l'Étang. This battle was the first open-field defeat of a Napoleonic army. The heaviest fighting took place near Bailén.

General Castaños led the Spanish army in this battle. Francisco Javier Castaños Aragorri, 1st Duke of Bailén (22 April 1758 – 22 April 1852) was a Spanish Army officer, politician and nobleman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Castaños is remembered for his victory over the French under Dupont, whom he surrounded and compelled to surrender at the decisive Battle of Bailen in 1808, where the Napoleonic army was defeated in the open field for the first time and which led to King Joseph having to abandon Madrid at the end of that same month.

Pierre-Antoine, comte Dupont de l'Étang (4 July 1765 – 9 March 1840) was a French Army officer, nobleman and politician who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He entered Spain in 1808 at the head of a motley corps made up of provisional battalions and Swiss troops impressed into French service from the Spanish Royal Army. After the occupation of Madrid, Dupont was sent with his force to subdue Andalusia. After a few initial successes he had to retire toward the passes of the Sierra Morena. Pursued and cut off by a Spanish army under the Captain General Castaños, his corps was defeated in the Battle of Bailén after his Swiss troops deserted and returned to their former allegiance. 

In the book there are references to Fernando VII and his decision to give the crown to Napoleon. He abdicated on 6 May 1808, and thereafter Napoleon kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the Château de Valençay. While the upper echelons of the Spanish government accepted his abdication and Napoleon's choice of his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, the Spanish people did not. Uprisings broke out throughout the country, marking the beginning of the Peninsular War. Provincial juntas were established to control regions in opposition to the new French king. After the Battle of Bailén proved that the Spanish could resist the French, the Council of Castile reversed itself and declared null and void the abdications of Bayonne on 11 August 1808. 

The book describes the aftermath of the French's raid in Cordoba. The raid in Cordoba took place at the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars in Spain in 1898. Many murders, robberies and rapes took place, and it lasted three days, spreading terror among the population. 

Before Bailén, there was a battle on Alcolea Bridge. The Battle of Alcolea Bridge was a minor battle that took place on 7 June 1808, during the Peninsular War, at Alcolea, a small village 10 km from Córdoba, the city that would be invaded by French troops later that same afternoon.

Gabriel mentions the different divisions of the Andalusian army and the men who led them. Gabriel was in the unit of Teodoro Reding. Field Marshal Theodor von Reding (5 July 1755 – 23 April 1809) was a Spanish Army officer. At the outbreak of the Peninsular War in 1808, Reding was Governor of Málaga. In July 1808 he fought under General Castaños at the Battle of Bailén, where the 3rd Swiss Regiment Reding fought with conspicuous valour. 

Other leaders were Coupigny, Jones, Pedro de Echevarri and Ramón de Argote.

Antoine de Malet (in Spanish, Antonio Malet), Marquis of Coupigny (1761–1825) was a French-born Spanish military officer.  In 1808 the Junta Suprema promoted Coupigny to field marshal and lieutenant general. Given the command of the 2nd Division of the Army of Andalusia, under General Castaños, Coupigny's troops, some 7,300 foot soldiers and 500 horse, made up the vanguard of the Spanish forces at the decisive Battle of Bailén.

Félix Jones (fl. 1751–1817) was an Irish-Spanish military commander. He was promoted to field marshal in January 1808. Major general Jones was later given command of the 3rd Division, numbering some 5,415 men, including 709 horse, of Castaños's field army at Bailén.

Pedro Agustín de Echevarri Hurtado de Mendoza (Sestao, 25 June 1756 - Deusto, 6 March 1828) was a Spanish politician and military commander, who fought in the Spanish Independence War. 

Francisco Javier Abadía y Aragorri (1770–1836) was a Spanish lieutenant general. At the outbreak of the war, Abadía fought with the Army of Andalusia's 1st Division, under Reding. At Mengíbar (16 July 1808) he fought hand-to-hand with a French cuirassier officer, whom he took prisoner, and three days later he fought at Bailén. He was promoted to brigadier for these two actions.

General Gobert was killed in Guarroman. Jacques-Nicolas Gobert (1 June 1760 – 17 July 1808) was a French general who was killed in action in Spain during the Peninsular War. During the Battle of Bailén, after joining General Liger-Belair on the road between Bailén and Mengíbar, he was wounded by a ball to the head while rallying his troops. He died in Guarromán on the night of 16 to 17 July.

At the end of the book Gabriel makes reference to Jose Bonaparte. Joseph Bonaparte (7 January 1768 – 28 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), and then King of Spain and the Indies (1808–1813). Joseph somewhat reluctantly left Naples, where he was popular, and arrived in Spain, where he was extremely unpopular. His arrival as a foreign sovereign sparked a massive Spanish revolt against French rule, and the beginning of the Peninsular War.