Apparently, on this day in 1812, Wellington’s forces defeated forty thousand Frenchmen in forty minutes. That seems like a catastrophic defeat, but is it true?
I’m not as familiar with British military history in the Georgian era other than the famous battles like Culloden, Trafalgar, and Waterloo, and there were a few skirmishes on the other side of the pond (😉). 22nd July is the anniversary of the Battle of Salamanca (Spain) and if British forces trounced the French so quickly, then it’s worth looking into.
The Peninsular War
If, like me, you’re not as familiar with all the details of why the Brits and the French were at loggerheads on the continent, then let me give you a couple:
- The Peninsular War (1807-1814) was part of the wider conflict of the Napoleonic Wars on the European continent between 1803 and 1815 when Napoleon tried to expand the First French Empire across Europe, and he also had a go at Russia.
- After the British had suffered the embarrassing loss of their colonies in America, they were keen to establish more power on the European continent and got involved by allying with Napoleon’s enemies.
- In simple terms, Spain (allied with the French) invaded Portugal. However, Napoleon turned on the Spanish, got rid of their king, and installed his brother on the throne. Unsurprisingly, this “annoyed” the Spanish, who joined forces with the Portuguese and the British to oust the French.
The Battle of Salamanca
- On 22nd July 1812, after what could be described as much blustering (AKA flanking manoeuvres), British and Portuguese forces of around 48,000 faced French forces of 50,000.
- The British/Portuguese army was led by the then-Earl of Wellington, and Marshal Auguste Marmont led the French.
- Wellington’s forces wreaked havoc on the French divisions with multiple attacks, which won them a resounding victory that enabled Wellington to liberate Madrid for a couple of months before he had to retreat again.
Public Domain
What About the Forty Thousand in Forty Minutes?
In all honesty, I don’t know. For a start, Marmont had over forty thousand troops, so that’s incorrect.
I can’t find anything that says the battle lasted forty minutes. Historian Michael Glover in his book, The Peninsular War 1807-1814 (2001), says that when Marmont was injured in the battle, the French were leaderless for between 20 minutes and an hour. So, the forty-minute thing is possibly incorrect, too.
We know the French suffered fourteen thousand casualties while Wellington’s forces only had about five thousand. It was a sound defeat which had the French on the back foot for a short time. Perhaps this forty thousand in forty minutes thing comes from Wellington’s PR machine. Don’t forget, he became a politician and Prime Minister in 1834. I will have to delve deeper when I have more time.
The Battle of Salamanca (also known to the French and Spanish as the Battle of Arapiles) demonstrated that Wellington could manage an attacking strategy as well as a defensive battle, but suggesting he defeated forty thousand men in forty minutes may take things a little too far. We can’t take away his contibution to fashion – the wellington boot.
If you know more about the Battle of Salamanca, share it in the comments.
