San Sebastian 1813
By Oliver Hayes
()
About this ebook
By the summer of 1813 the Peninsular War had reached a crisis. The Port of San Sebastian had to be captured, and captured fast if Wellington’s British armies were to avoid a humiliating retreat due to lack of supplies. But in San Sebastian was the wily French commander Louis Rey. The scene was set for a classic siege campaign.
The British, Portuguese and Spanish armies of Lord Wellington had defeated the French in Spain and were poised to invade France itself. But the supply situation was critical. All of Wellington’s supplies had to come from Britain to Lisbon and were then carried over bad roads, mountain ranges and dusty plains for hundreds of miles to reach the fighting front.
What Wellington needed was a port with good harbour facilities close to the battle front. There was only one available, but it was held by a French force under the command of General Louis Rey who was desperately repairing and reinforcing the defences.
The siege began on 7 July 1813 and at first Wellington hoped it would be over quickly. But when the first assault failed it become clear that a long siege was inevitable.
Written by a military author of great experience, this book explains the way battles were fought two centuries ago and explains the course of the action in an accessible but authoritative style.
This lavishly illustrated ebook is a must for anyone interested in the Peninsular War. It includes not only an account of the action itself, but studies of the commanders, the armies, the weapons and the tactics as well.
Oliver Hayes
Oliver Hayes studied the Dark Ages and early Medieval periods. He has since earned a living in publishing and is now writing freelance to bring some of his research to press in an entertaining and user-friendly format.
Read more from Oliver Hayes
The Papal Prophecies: St Malachy and the Doom of the Popes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Salamanca 1812 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Peninsular War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Roman Gladiator Referee’s Handbook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Female Pope: The True Story of Pope Joan Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Niall of the Nine Hostages: Celtic Twilight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5on the Trail of the Real St George Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing Lud: The Celtic God Who Founded London Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLancelot: The Truth behind the Legend - Celtic Twilight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5RMS Titanic: The Rescue Mission Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Tomb of King Arthur Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOporto 1809 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to San Sebastian 1813
Related ebooks
The Pyrenees: 1813 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Albuera 1811 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Toulouse: 1814 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Talavera 1809 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Barrosa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Retreat to Corunna Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOporto 1809 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Vimeiro Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sieges of Gerona 1808 / 1809 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Madrid Uprising 1808 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of the Peninsular War Volume I Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattle Story: Blenheim 1704 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gambling Lion: The Pride of Lions, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Warrior King and the Invasion of France Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undercover Lion: The Pride of Lions, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWounded Lion: The Pride of Lions, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe British Campaigns in the Peninsula 1808-1814 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHunting Lion: Pride of Lions, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting Lion: The Pride of Lions, #4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Campaign of MDCCCXV: or, A Narrative of the Military Operations Which Took Place in France and Belgium During the Hundred Days Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMalplaquet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fatal Knot: The Guerrilla War in Navarre and the Defeat of Napoleon in Spain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War of the Spanish Succession, 1701–1714 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Napoleonic Wars (3): The Peninsular War 1807–1814 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Summary of Ronald C. Rosbottom's When Paris Went Dark Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWho Was Napoleon Bonaparte - Biography Books for Kids 9-12 | Children's Biography Books Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWellington’s Peninsular Victories: Busaco, Salamanca, Vitoria, Nivelle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBy England's Aid; Or, the Freeing of the Netherlands, 1585-1604 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois, Queen of Navarre — Volume 3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Wars & Military For You
Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Resistance: The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Kingdom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Daily Creativity Journal Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of War & Other Classics of Eastern Philosophy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Washington: The Indispensable Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unacknowledged: An Expose of the World's Greatest Secret Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unit 731: Testimony Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of the Peloponnesian War: With linked Table of Contents Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for San Sebastian 1813
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
San Sebastian 1813 - Oliver Hayes
Bretwalda Battles
The Peninsular War
The Siege of San Sebastian (1814)
by
Oliver Hayes
*****************
Published by Bretwalda Books at Smashwords
Website : Facebook : Twitter
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
First Published 2013
Copyright © Bretwalda Books 2013
Oliver Hayes asserts his moral rights to be regarded as the author of this work.
ISBN 978-1-909099-92-0
*****************
Contents
Chapter 1 - The Peninsular War
Chapter 2 - The Commanders at San Sebastian
Chapter 3 - Weapons, Soldiers and Tactics
Chapter 4 - The French Army
Chapter 5 - The Spanish Army
Chapter 6 - The British Army
Chapter 7 - The Portuguese Army
Chapter 8 - The Siege of San Sebastian
Chapter 9 - After San Sebastian
************
Chapter 1
The Peninsular War
The Pyrenees was a battle, or rather a series of battles, fought near the end of the Peninsular War, the struggle that wracked the Iberian Peninsula from 1808 to 1814. That war was but one part of the wider Napoleonic Wars that engulfed Europe in a series of wars and campaigns that lasted almost 20 years and stretched from the Atlantic to Moscow and reached overseas to India, the Caribbean and the Near East. But although the Peninsular War was a part of the wider conflict, it had some unique characteristics that made it a peculiarly savage and hard-fought conflict.
In the earlier stages of the Napoleonic Wars, Spain had remained neutral or actively taken the side of France against the various coalitions that sought to crush Napoleon, the self-proclaimed Emperor of the French. Spain saw the opportunity to make gains for herself, while the French had no ambitions south of the Pyrenees. The situation began to change in 1807. Napoleon stood triumphant in Europe having defeated Prussia, Austria and Russia on the battlefield and having cowed the smaller states into submission. His only remaining enemy was Britain, and there he had a problem.
In 1805 Britain's Admiral Nelson had crushed the combined fleets of France and Spain at the Battle of Trafalgar. As a result, Napoleon had no chance of invading Britain with his magnificent army. Instead he sought to bring Britain to peace talks by crippling her trade. By blocking every European port to British merchant ships, Napoleon believed, he would do so much damage to British wealth that peace on his terms would be inevitable. Not all the European countries wanted to join such a blockade, but one by one they succumbed to Napoleon's threats and bluster. By October 1807 only Portugal still refused to join this Continental System, as it was known.
In November, Napoleon agreed a treaty with the Spanish Prime Minister, Manuel de Godoy. In return for French troops being allowed to march through Spain to invade Portugal, the Spanish would get the Portuguese fleet and various overseas colonies, and as an added inducement Portugal would be divided into three minor states under Spanish domination. The Portuguese did not wait about to be destroyed. Queen Maria I fled from Lisbon on 29 November along with her family, the Portuguese fleet, most of the merchant ships and thousands of soldiers. She moved to the Portuguese colony of Brazil where she set up court along with her son and regent John. John, later King John VI, appealed to Britain for help. John left orders in Portugal that there should be no resistance to the French in order to avoid bloodshed. The royal flight was, he said, only temporary and soon all would be right.
The embarkation of the Portuguese Royal Family at Lisbon. Queen Maria and the Regent John fled in the face of overwhelming French force and headed to Brazil from where they appealed to Britain for help.
Napoleon, meanwhile, had become more ambitious. Rather than merely close the Iberian ports to British trade, he now wanted to gain complete control of the Peninsula by merging Portugal into Spain and making his own brother, Joseph, King of Spain. His moves were made slowly. First larger numbers of French soldiers marched into Spain, claiming to be on their way to Portugal to occupy that country. In February Napoleon ordered his men in Spain to seize key Spanish fortresses and military bases using the pretext that they were needed to safeguard the supply lines to the French troops in Portugal.
King Charles IV of Spain began to grow alarmed as the numbers of French troops in Spain passed the 100,000 mark. At the same time Spain was suffering an economic crisis, caused largely by the loss of trade to the American colonies that had followed the Battle of Trafalgar. The populace and many nobles blamed Godoy for the pro-French policy that was causing such poverty and hardship. On 17 March 1808 Charles and Godoy stopped for the night at the town of Aranjuez on their way to Andalusia from Madrid. That night a mob stormed the house where Godoy was staying, dragged him from his bed and held him prisoner. A group of nobles at court persuaded Charles that the only way to save Godoy was for him to abdicate in favour of his son, Ferdinand. Many nobles opposed the move and urged Charles to take back the throne.
King Ferdinand VII of Spain came to the throne amidst civil turmoil and government bankruptcy. He subsequently played straight into Napoleon's hands and was forced to abdicate as King of Spain.
Napoleon appeared on the scene playing the role of honest broker. He suggested that both Charles and Ferdinand should come to Bayonne in southern France so that they could all discuss the situation in Spain and come to an amicable solution. The two rival kings arrived in April but soon found they were prisoners. On 5 May Napoleon forced both Charles and Ferdinand to abdicate in favour of himself. He then handed the crown to his brother, Joseph, who was reluctant to accept the honour as he had been enjoying himself living in Naples. Nevertheless Joseph bowed to his brother's wishes and set off for Madrid.
Before Joseph could get to his new kingdom, however, the war had begun. On 2 May, the local French commander, Joachim Murat, ordered the daughter and younger son of King Charles to be put in a carriage and sent to Bayonne. The pair refused to go, so Murat sent a battalion of infantry to the royal palace to enforce his instructions. As news of events spread a huge crowd of Madrid citizens began converging on the palace. In circumstances that remain unclear the French soldiers opened fire on the crowd. The Spanish rose in revolt, using whatever knives, axes or guns came to hand. Some units of the Spanish Army in Madrid joined the fighting that raged through the streets of Madrid like wildfire.
Murat sent in reinforcements, including the feared Mameluke cavalry, and by nightfall had restored order. Around 150 Frenchmen and several hundred Spaniards were dead. Next day, Murat and General Grouchy set up a military court that sentenced more than 500 Spaniards to death, all of them shot by firing squads before dusk fell on 3rd May.
The Mamelukes charge into Madrid, cutting down Spanish civilians who had begun an uprising against French rule. The brutality of events in Madrid spread like wildfire and caused nearly all of Spain to erupt into anti-French violence.
As the news of events in Madrid spread, dozens of other towns rose in rebellion. French soldiers were attacked everywhere, the French ships in Cadiz were seized by the town council and entire districts came out in revolt. The situation was confused by the fact that the uprising was haphazard, unplanned and lacked any unifying authority. Both Charles and Ferdinand were being held prisoner