6 July
After holding Napoleon on the first day of the battle, Archduke Charles goes over to the offensive. Continue reading “1809 – The Battle of Wagram concludes”
5 July
The Battle of Wagram commences on this day in 1809, considered the largest battle of the Napoleonic Wars. Continue reading “1809 – The Battle of Wagram commences”
2 May
The people of Madrid rise up in rebellion against French occupation. Francisco de Goya later memorialises this event in his painting The Second of May 1808. Continue reading “1808 – Outbreak of the Peninsular War”
27 March
The Battle of Ciudad Real was fought on this day in 1809, and resulted in a French victory under General Sebastiani against the Spanish under General Conde de Cartojal. Continue reading “1809 – Peninsular War: the Battle of Ciudad Real”
16 March
In the Siege of Badajoz (16 March – 6 April 1812), also called the Third Siege of Badajoz, an Anglo-Portuguese Army, under General Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington), besieged Badajoz, Spain and forced the surrender of the French garrison. Continue reading “1812 – Siege of Badajoz begins”
6 February
The Battle of San Domingo was a naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars fought on this day in 1806 between squadrons of French and British ships of the line off the southern coast of the French-occupied Spanish colonial Captaincy General of Santo Domingo (San Domingo in contemporary British English) in the Caribbean Sea. The French squadron, under Vice-Admiral Corentin Urbain Leissègues in the 120-gun Impérial, had sailed from Brest in December 1805, one of two squadrons intending to raid British trade routes as part of the Atlantic campaign of 1806. Continue reading “1806 – Battle of San Domingo”
7 January
The first entity to use the Italian tricolour was the Cisalpine Republic in 1797, which supplanted Milan after Napoleon’s victorious army crossed Italy in 1796. Continue reading “1797 – The modern Italian flag is first used”
20 October
The Battle of Ulm fought on 16–19 October 1805 was a series of skirmishes, at the end of the Ulm Campaign, which allowed Napoleon to trap an entire Austrian army under the command of Karl Freiherr Mack von Leiberich with minimal losses and to force its surrender near Ulm in the Electorate of Bavaria. Continue reading “1805 – Austrian General Mack surrenders his army at the Battle of Ulm.”
7 September – On this day
The Battle of Borodino, fought on this day in 1812, was a major engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the French invasion of Russia. The fighting involved around a quarter of a million troops and produced at least 70,000 casualties, making Borodino the single deadliest day of the Napoleonic Wars. Continue reading “1812 – Battle of Borodino”
