VIMIERO
In 1807 Napoleon had conquered
half of Europe. He had destroyed Austria at Austerlitz, Prussia
at Jena-Auerstadt, and Russia at Eylau and Friedland (mostly the
latter). But he still had England to finish. Since he could not
beat the English fleet to invade England, Napoleon could only
defeat England by cutting off all trade. So he began the first
land blockade of a naval power. He closed the ports of all continental
Europe except Spain and Portugal. He got the King of Spain to
come to France and forced him to abdicate. Napoleon declared Joseph
Bonaparte the new King of Spain. The Spanish revolted against
the French, and some requested aid from the British. The British
landed in Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesley. With only some
of his 30,000 men unloaded, Wellesley repulsed Junot sharply at
Rolica. Wellesley continued to Vimiero where he became surrounded
by French cavalry. He found a good defensive position and waited
for Junot to attack. Junot had tried hard to reach Vimiero in
time for a dawn attack, but terrain slowed him down. Believing
the British were massed at the center, Junot decided to pin down
the center while sending a brigade of his army against the left
flank. That brigade had to detour around a ravine and was late
in supporting the frontal assault. Though British outposts were
pushed back, the troops fired devastatingly steady volleys into
the assaulting French. Thomiere's brigade reached Vimiero and
got into a nasty fight around the town cemetary. The 43rd Foot
ejected them, while the other French were being pushed back and
almost surrounded. Margaron's cavalry slowed the British down
enough to allow Junot to escape, but Junot was cut off from Spain.
Luckily for him, Wellesley's two superiors arrived to take over
command of the British corps. They signed a convention with Junot
allowing him to return to France on British ships. The British
were outraged. All three British commanders were called home to
face a court of inquiry while Sir John Moore took over command
of the British Corps. All three were exonerated, but Wellesley's
superiors never saw combat again. Junot had almost been court-martialled
himself. Moore decided to head into Spain to do some damage. Unfortunately
for him, the surrender of 22,000 Frenchmen at Baylen had forced
Napoleon to enter Spain himself. After sweeping aside the Spanish
armies, Napoleon headed straight for Moore. Moore's men got onto
transports after a bloody fight, but Moore was dead, and Wellesley
would become commander of British forces in the Peninsula once
again.
