{
 "slug": "talavera",
 "title": "Battle of Talavera",
 "status": "draft",
 "era": "1775–1815",
 "date_text": "27–28 July 1809",
 "start": "1809-07-27",
 "end": "1809-07-28",
 "war": "Napoleonic Wars",
 "cdb90_war": "THE NAPOLEONIC WARS",
 "place": {
  "name": "Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Castilla–La Mancha, Spain",
  "lat": 39.9667,
  "lon": -4.8333,
  "wikidata": "Q169023"
 },
 "lede": "Over 27 and 28 July 1809 Wellesley's British army, with Cuesta's Spaniards beside it, beat off repeated French attacks north of Talavera. The victory made him Viscount Wellington, but Soult's approach forced him back to Portugal within a week.",
 "result": "Allied tactical victory; the allies retreated to Portugal soon afterwards",
 "result_cdb90": "attacker loss",
 "belligerents": [
  {
   "role": "attacker",
   "name": "French army of King Joseph (I and IV Corps, reserve cavalry and the Madrid reserve)",
   "commanders": [
    "King Joseph Bonaparte",
    "Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan",
    "Marshal Claude Victor",
    "General Horace Sebastiani"
   ],
   "strength": {
    "value": 46138,
    "low": 40000,
    "high": 46138,
    "source": "s2"
   },
   "casualties": {
    "value": 7268,
    "low": 7100,
    "high": 7394,
    "source": "s2"
   }
  },
  {
   "role": "defender",
   "name": "British army (with the King's German Legion) and Spanish Army of Estremadura",
   "commanders": [
    "Sir Arthur Wellesley",
    "Captain-General Gregorio García de la Cuesta",
    "Major-General Rowland Hill",
    "Lieutenant-General John Sherbrooke"
   ],
   "strength": {
    "value": 52000,
    "low": 52000,
    "high": 55634,
    "source": "s2"
   },
   "casualties": {
    "value": 6564,
    "low": 6553,
    "high": 7468,
    "source": "s2"
   }
  }
 ],
 "sections": {
  "background": "In the spring of 1809 Sir Arthur Wellesley drove Marshal Soult out of Oporto and northern Portugal. With Soult's corps worn out and short of guns and equipment, Wellesley turned east to join the Spanish Army of Estremadura under Captain-General Gregorio García de la Cuesta in an advance up the Tagus valley on Madrid. The British had been in Spain since early July. They met Cuesta at Oropesa on 20–21 July and together pushed Marshal Victor's I Corps back to the river Alberche, just east of Talavera de la Reina.\n\nVictor had only about 22,000 men, and Wellesley wanted to attack him on 23 July. Cuesta would not move that day, and by the next dawn Victor had slipped away towards Madrid. The quarrel set the tone of the campaign. Wellesley, whose men were already on half rations for want of transport, refused to go further. Cuesta pursued alone, ran into the concentrated French near Torrijos and fell back on Talavera.\n\nKing Joseph Bonaparte, with Marshal Jourdan as his military adviser, had gathered Victor's corps, General Sebastiani's IV Corps and the Madrid reserve, some 46,000 men. Venegas's Spanish Army of La Mancha was threatening Madrid from the south, and Joseph had ordered Soult to march on Plasencia, across the allies' line of communications. Time was therefore on the French side, but Victor was impatient to fight. Wellesley judged the Alberche indefensible and chose a line running nearly three miles north from the town of Talavera to the Cerro de Medellín: the Spaniards behind the town walls, sunken roads and olive groves, the British on the open ground and the hill.",
  "forces": "Wellesley's state of 25 July shows 20,641 British and King's German Legion (KGL) officers and men present. He had four infantry divisions, under Sherbrooke (the 1st, with the Foot Guards and four KGL battalions), Hill (2nd), Mackenzie (3rd) and Alexander Campbell (4th). About 3,000 cavalry served in the brigades of Fane, Cotton and Anson, and he had only 30 guns in five batteries, none heavier than a 6-pounder. Cuesta's Army of Estremadura had a vanguard, five infantry divisions, two cavalry divisions under Henestrosa and Albuquerque, and about 30 guns: some 32,000 men in line. It had been beaten at Medellín in March and filled with recruits, and Wellesley had already decided it could not manoeuvre in the open.\n\nThe French had about 46,000 men and 80 guns. Victor's I Corps (19,300) had the divisions of Ruffin, Lapisse and Villatte. Sebastiani's IV Corps (15,500) had his own strong French division, Leval's division of German and Dutch regiments (Nassau, Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Holland), a Polish brigade and Merlin's light cavalry. Latour-Maubourg's and Milhaud's dragoons added 5,600 sabres, and Joseph kept back his Guards and a brigade of Dessolles's division, about 5,700 men.\n\nThe tactical contest was the familiar one of the Peninsula: French battalion columns behind swarms of tirailleurs and a heavy cannonade, against British infantry in a two-deep line, kept behind crests until the last moment. On the British front the French guns outnumbered the allied ones by more than two to one.",
  "course": "**27 July.** The French crossed the Alberche in mid-afternoon. Lapisse's division, screened by smoke from burning huts, forded the river unseen and fell on Mackenzie's rearguard in the woods by the ruined Casa de Salinas. Wellesley, watching from its roof, was nearly caught, and the British lost about 440 men before Mackenzie got back to the main position.\n\nAt about 7 pm Victor's columns came out of the woods, with Ruffin's division on the Cerro de Cascajal, facing the Medellín across the Portiña ravine. The Spanish line fired a huge volley at enemies out of range, and four battalions of Portago's division fled, plundering the British baggage as they went. Most were brought back, but Cuesta later had some 25–30 of them shot.\n\nAt about 9 pm, without Joseph's leave, Victor sent Ruffin's nine battalions against the Medellín in the dark. Hill's division had halted half a mile behind the crest. The 24th Line lost its way and the 96th was held up in the ravine, but the 9th Léger surprised Löw's KGL brigade, broke the 7th KGL and reached the summit. Hill, riding up to stop what he took for friendly fire, was almost captured; his brigade-major was killed. He then led Richard Stewart's brigade in a charge that cleared the crest. Each side lost about 300 men.\n\n**28 July, dawn.** At about 5 am a signal gun set some 50 French guns firing on the Medellín, and Hill pulled his men back behind the crest. Ruffin came again with nearly 5,000 men in three columns against fewer than 4,000. Hill's six battalions rose, volleyed and, after a short firefight, charged, while the 5th KGL struck the French flank. In about forty minutes Ruffin lost 1,300 men; Hill lost about 750 and was wounded in the head.\n\n**Midday.** An informal truce followed. On the Cascajal, Joseph, Jourdan and Victor argued for over an hour. News that Venegas was at Toledo and that Soult could not reach Plasencia before 3–5 August settled it for an attack. Wellesley used the delay to post Anson's and Fane's cavalry in the valley north of the Medellín; Cuesta lent him Bassecourt's division, heavy 12-pounders and later Albuquerque's cavalry.\n\n**Afternoon.** At about 2 pm 80 French guns opened. At 2.30 Leval's Germans, disordered by vines and olive groves, ran into Campbell's 4th Division and the guns in the Pajar de Vergara redoubt. Campbell charged, then halted. A second attack at about 4 pm also failed, and the Spanish cavalry regiment del Rey rode into its flank. Leval lost 17 guns.\n\nAt about 3 pm Lapisse and Sebastiani, 24 battalions, came at Sherbrooke's division. Sherbrooke held fire to fifty yards, volleyed and charged, and the French broke. But the Guards and the KGL chased them across the Portiña into the French second line, the Cascajal guns and Latour-Maubourg's dragoons, and came back in disorder, carrying the 61st and 83rd with them. The Guards lost 611 of 2,000. Mackenzie's brigade let them rally behind it and held Sebastiani, though Mackenzie was killed. Wellesley sent the 1/48th down from the Medellín to stand in front of the Germans. Lapisse fell, and the French centre gave way.\n\n**The north valley.** Ruffin and one of Villatte's brigades edged up the valley and formed squares. Wellesley ordered Anson's brigade to charge. A hidden ravine wrecked the 23rd Light Dragoons and the 1st Light Dragoons KGL; part of the 23rd galloped on past the squares into Merlin's cavalry and was cut off. The regiment lost 207 of about 450.\n\n**Evening.** Joseph sent his reserve forward, then halted it on a false report that Cuesta was advancing, and ordered a withdrawal. In the final cannonade the dry grass on the slopes of the Medellín caught fire, burning wounded men of both armies. Sebastiani's corps fell back at dusk; Victor left the Cascajal at 3 am.",
  "aftermath": "Oman counts 5,363 British and German casualties over the two days, about a quarter of Wellesley's army; Generals Mackenzie and Langwerth were killed. The French returns give 7,268, including General Lapisse. Cuesta reported 1,201, but Oman and Esdaile both think the Spanish lost only a few hundred in the fighting. The 17 guns lost by Leval were concealed from Napoleon by Joseph's staff until the English newspapers revealed them.\n\nThe victory changed little. The Light Brigade arrived on the 29th after marching 42 miles in 26 hours, but Mortier's corps, leading Soult's advance, took Plasencia on 1 August. On 3 August a captured letter showed that Soult was coming down on the allied rear with far more men than Wellesley had believed. Wellesley turned aside over the Tagus at Arzobispo and fell back towards Portugal, abandoning much of his baggage. Cuesta followed and gave up Talavera, where about 1,500 badly wounded British fell into French hands when Victor reoccupied the town on 6 August.\n\nOn 26 August 1809 Wellesley was created Viscount Wellington of Talavera and of Wellington. He thought Talavera the most savage battle he had fought, and the Spanish panic of the 27th shaped his later dealings with Spanish armies; in November the Spaniards were routed at Ocaña. The verdict is still argued: the French were repulsed with heavier losses, but within a week the allies had given up both the field and the campaign, which Oman calls a failure.",
  "wargaming": "Talavera is a defensive battle against the clock. The field is about three miles long, so it suits a grand-tactical game with one unit per battalion or a divisional game on a single table. The Medellín night fight and Ruffin's dawn attack make good separate scenarios at battalion or company scale.\n\nThe terrain decides most things: the Cerro de Medellín and the Portiña ravine on the British left; the open grass of the centre, with no cover for Sherbrooke; the vines and olive groves that broke up Leval; the walls and gardens that sheltered the Spaniards; and the northern valley with its hidden ravine. A concealed-terrain rule for that ravine and a pursuit-control test for Sherbrooke's brigades recreate the battle's two famous accidents.\n\nThe French player has the guns, the cavalry and the initiative, but must choose between attacking piecemeal, as Victor did, and one co-ordinated blow, with Joseph's 5,000-man reserve as the last card. The allied player fights with half an army: Spanish troops should be brittle in the open but solid behind walls, and the question is whether Cuesta can be persuaded to sortie. Oman's own what-if was Cuesta throwing 25,000 men at the French flank at 4 pm, when Leval, Sebastiani and Lapisse were all falling back. Others are a successful night attack, Hill already on the crest at 9 pm, or Soult arriving a few days earlier."
 },
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   "file": "File:Battle of Talavera final attack.jpg",
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   "caption": "The final French attacks on the afternoon of 28 July: Leval, Sebastiani and Lapisse against Campbell and Sherbrooke, and Ruffin and Villatte in the northern valley (James Grant, 1873).",
   "url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/Battle_of_Talavera_final_attack.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=original",
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   "credit": "This file is from the Mechanical Curator collection , a set of over 1 million images scanned from out-of-copyright books and released to Flickr Commons by the British Library in London, England. View image on Flickr View all images from book View catalogue entry for book .",
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   "caption": "Map of the battle, 27–28 July 1809, from Beamish's history of the King's German Legion (1830s).",
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   "caption": "The 48th Foot at Talavera, sent down from the Cerro de Medellín to steady the broken centre (W. B. Wollen, about 1900).",
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   "caption": "Marshal Claude Victor, Duke of Belluno, whose impatience drove the French into the night attack and the assaults of the 28th.",
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   "artist": "Antoine-Jean Gros",
   "credit": "Béatrice Capelle et Jean-Claude Demory, Maréchaux d'Empire , E/PA, 2008, 287 pages, ISBN 978-2-85120-698-5 .",
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   "title": "Charles Oman, A History of the Peninsular War, vol. II (Oxford, 1903), Project Gutenberg edition",
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   "title": "J. Rickard, Battle of Talavera, 27–28 July 1809 (historyofwar.org, 2008)",
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   "title": "Battle of Talavera (EBSCO Research Starters, Timothy Glenn Grammer, 2019)",
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   "title": "Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington",
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   "caption": "Bataille de Talavera de la Reina (1809) Scènes historiques -- 1800-1869 Référence bibliographique : Hennin, 13252 Couverture : 28 juillet 1809 Éditeur : London. Pud.d Jan.y 1. 1813 for the proprietors by Mess.rs Colnaghi and C° Cockspur Street",
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  "from": "1809-07-27",
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  "rights": "Library of Congress, Chronicling America: newspapers published before 1931, in the public domain. Text machine-read from the scanned page.",
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   {
    "date": "1809-10-09",
    "paper": "Portland gazette, and Maine advertiser (Portland, Me.)",
    "place": "Portland, Maine",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83016082/1809-10-09/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... in the neigh, bnrhood of [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]], and gen. Cucfta having con fen ted to take up this po fit ion on the morning of the 26th, 1 ordered gen. Sherbrooke to retire with his corps to its Ration in th line, leaving general Mackenzie witl a divifion of infantry ;and a brigadt of cavalry as nn ad v a We poll m thi weed on ih: right of Alberchc, wind oo%ercu our Itlt ilauk. The pufition taken tip by the troop, at [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]] extended more than two miles the ground was o pen on the 1- ft where the llritifh ar my was Rationed, and it was com m-nded by a height on which was, ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-10",
    "paper": "Virginia Argus (Richmond, Va.)",
    "place": "Richmond, Virginia",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024710/1809-10-10/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... ■AiiglUt 15. The Battle of [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]] has afforded a fresh instance that whatever be the supe riority Of French tactics and impetuosity o ver the continental arm cs of Europe,there is one net ion to which even the veterans of France must, howe ver painful to their va. ni'y Concede the palm of superior ty—that Britain is that nation, it wtre almost su perfluous to add. The numerous populati_ on over whirh Napoleon holds despotic sway, and whose efficient strength he draws forth by the iron mtasure conscrip tion, with as little ceremony, or difficulty, as he w ujd select the oaks of the forest for his navy-—has enabled the French ar mies invariably to ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-10",
    "paper": "Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political (Alexandria [Va.])",
    "place": "Alexandria, Virginia",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024013/1809-10-10/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "tieh a'rmyncar to [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]], there to wait the attack which it was obvious the enemy medicated. SirRobert W'ilscn was station ed with his Corps at Escolanu, which is con- siderabiy higher up the A'iberche, in a di rect line hezzsireen [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]] and Madrid, and consequent]; had no share in the battle. The corps of Vcncgas was also at adis t'emce- At two o'clock in the morning 01 the 27th the French began the attack. and the British advanced corps retreated, in good order upon the main body. but with some loss.\" was not until the dusk of the evening that. the principal attack was made when the enemfs cavulry attempted tto pencrate the ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-10",
    "paper": "The New Hampshire gazette (Portsmouth [N.H.])",
    "place": "Portsmouth, New Hampshire",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025588/1809-10-10/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... up by the troops at [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]] excénd ed more than two miles the ground was open upon the left, where the Britith army was {tationed, and it was commanded by 2 height on which was, i echeilon and in second line, 2 division of infantry under the orders of Ma jor Gen. Hill. G There was a valley between this height and a range of mountaiss fill further upon the left, which valley was not at firk occupied, as it was commanded by the height be forementioned and the range of mountains appeared tco distant to have any influence upon the expected adion. The right consisting of Spanith troops, extended imme diately in front of ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-17",
    "paper": "The enquirer (Richmond, Va.)",
    "place": "Richmond, Virginia",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84024736/1809-10-17/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... follow »p the battle of [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]], and pursue Vic tor, Soult would not have been at Placentia but at [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]], and the combined army would have been caught in that trap, from which it has escaped by a rapid retreat and movement across the\" Tagus The force that occupied Ronmna, Beresford, and Sir R. Wilson, being withdrawn to the Tagus, they will probably advance to threaten iis te4r. As to the corj/s of Venegas, on its march to Madrid, if it really has reached Aranjuez, it must be sacrificed if it advan ces, and it is scarcely possible that it should be able to effect its escape, and regain the mountains of the Sierra Morena."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-18",
    "paper": "The Rhode-Island Republican (Newport, R.I.)",
    "place": "Newport, Rhode Island",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025561/1809-10-18/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... Cuesta should have remained at [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]] to keep Victor in check, but as we stated in a former, the Spanish Gen. followed the Dritish army, leaving the sick and wounded behind. Victor mut’ Soult had thus been engbled to Join, and Lord Wel'iigion was unzbie to attsck them. The French, it was thought meditated an sttack upon Deleitoga, but the position was considered per fectly safe. ;it 4 B ‘lt is curtently reported, this evening, that the ulte tior objects of the Expedition to the Sehieldt are a bandoned, and that the greater part of troops wiil immediately return. \"The expences of the Expeditions to £pain and the Scheldt, it is supposed wiil not full ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-24",
    "paper": "The Rhode-Island American, and general advertiser (Providence [R.I.])",
    "place": "Providence, Rhode Island",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83025442/1809-10-24/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... 30th, intelligence was received at [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]], that 12,000 rations had bgeo ordered at Fuente Duenos for the 28ih. and 24,000 at Los Santos for the same day, for a French corps which it was belifeveti was on its march towards the Puerto dr Banos. General Cuesta expressed some anxiety respecting this post, and sent me a mes sage, to propose that Sir Robert Wilson should be sent there with his corps. Sir Robert was on that day at [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]], but his corps was in the mountains towards Escalona; and at he had -already made himself very useful in that quarter, and had been near Madrid, with Which city be had a communication, which I was ..."
   },
   {
    "date": "1809-10-24",
    "paper": "Kentucky gazette ([Lexington, Ky.])",
    "place": "Lexington, Kentucky",
    "url": "https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn82014783/1809-10-24/ed-1/?sp=2",
    "snippet": "... Wellei ley“ K B dated [[tag]]Talavera[[/tag]] July f 9 -Thiuvera de la Rajut July 29 M Loan General Cueata followed the enemy1 march with hi army from the Alberche cm the morning of the 24th as far as San ta Olalla and pushed forward his advanced guard as far as Tprrijos For the reason stated to your lordship In my despatch of the 34th I moved only tiro divisions of infantry and a brigade of Cavalry across the Alberche to Casalegoa under the command of Lieut Gen Sherc- broohe with a view to keep up the com- alocsr the valley on the” left of the\" heightnellwi afterwards when that offtcer wesle psper alfo cwtafa a ..."
   }
  ]
 }
}