Peninsular+War

=The Peninsular War= The Peninsular War, starting in 1808, took place in Portugal and Spain. Back in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself Emperor of France. He was a power hungry little dude, so it wasn't long before he set out to conquer all of Europe. Now, he was pretty smart, so he didn't always have to fight a country to take it over. In fact, he took Spain by tricking them.

At the time, Charles IV was Spain's king. He didn't have a great reputation around the world for being a good leader, hard working, or terribly smart, so Napoleon decided to take advantage of that. Napoleon talked to Charles and Manuel de Godoy (who was Spain's Prime Minister) and suggested the three of them team up and attack Portugal. Charles and Manuel were each promised one third of the land and riches. They liked that idea, so Napoleon marched his French army into Spain. Everyone thought they were just there to prepare for the invasion of Portugal, but it was a trick.

Instead of invading Portugal, the troops seized control of Spain. Charles IV was duped into letting the French army walk in and take his country without a fight. Napoleon got rid of the monarch in Spain and replaced him with one of his own, his brother Joseph.

The Spanish government pretty much laid down and accepted things, but the people weren't so accommodating. On May 2nd, 1808, citizens in Madrid started a revolt. They fought hard to overthrow the French, but were outnumbered and beaten badly. On May 3rd, those that were arrested during the uprising were executed. Both of those days were eventually depicted in famous paintings by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, but those events had further reaching impact.

People all around Spain were inspired to fight. These small bands of revolutionaries became the first people to fight guerrilla war. These uprisings encouraged Britian to come to help Spain and Portugal. British troops fought alongside the Portuguese army, while the Spanish guerrillas attacked in their own way. After five years of fighting, the French were pushed out of the Iberian Peninsula and the Peninsular War was over.