Spanish War of Independence: A Nation Forged in Conflict
The Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814)
A Nation Forged in Conflict
The Spanish War of Independence, also known as the French War, erupted in 1808. It stemmed from Spanish resistance to Napoleon I’s attempt to install his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the Spanish throne, displacing King Fernando VII. This conflict aimed to establish a Bonapartist model in Spain.
This war falls within the broader context of the Peninsular War, encompassing prior conflicts between France and Portugal and the United Kingdom. The entire Iberian Peninsula was embroiled in this struggle until 1814.[1]
The Spanish War of Independence is further nested within the Napoleonic Wars and the crisis of the ancien régime, represented by Fernando VII’s absolute monarchy. The conflict unfolded against a backdrop of profound social and political change, driven by the rise of Spanish national identity. “Patriots” were influenced by Enlightenment ideals and the French Revolution, paradoxically disseminated by the Francophile elite.
The Treaty of Fontainebleau, signed on October 27, 1807, by Prime Minister Manuel Godoy, outlined logistical support for the passage of French troops through Spain for a joint invasion of Portugal. Napoleon, believing he had popular support, positioned troops in major Spanish cities, intending to overthrow the Spanish monarchy. Historian Jean Aymes summarizes the situation:
…The expedition to Spain stemmed from several factors: the military weakness of the neighboring state, the complacency of the Spanish sovereigns, pressure from the French, the need to drive the English out of Portugal, the Emperor’s enmity towards the Bourbon dynasty, the imperatives of a Mediterranean political strategy, and finally, to conceal some unsavory calculations, the designs of God or the demands of an ad hoc philosophy.
Aymes, Jean R.: La Guerra de la Independencia, Madrid, Siglo XXI, 1974.
Resentment over the presence of foreign troops led to numerous incidents and violence. Coupled with political instability following the Mutiny of Aranjuez, these events culminated in the uprising of May 2, 1808, in Madrid. News of the brutal repression in the days following May 2nd, immortalized by Francisco de Goya, and the abdications of Bayonne on May 5th and 6th, spread throughout Spain. The call to arms from Móstoles initiated the war, driven by popular pressure despite the contrary stance of the Governing Board appointed by Fernando VII.
The war unfolded in several phases, with shifting military initiatives. Imperial resources were mobilized against the combined efforts of Spanish guerrillas and regular allied armies led by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington. This strategy gradually wore down the Bonapartist forces, but at the cost of immense suffering for the civilian population, who endured war, the disruption of nascent industry (seen as a threat to British interests),[2] and French plundering.[3]
Initial Spanish successes in the spring and summer of 1808, including the Battle of the Bruch, the resistance of Zaragoza and Valencia, and especially the Battle of Bailén, forced the French to retreat north of the Ebro and evacuate Portugal. However, in autumn 1808, Napoleon himself led the Grande Armée into Spain, solidifying French control until mid-1812. Napoleon’s withdrawal of troops for the Russian campaign allowed the Allies to seize the initiative with the Battle of Arapiles on July 22, 1812. They pushed the French back towards the Pyrenees throughout 1813, culminating in the Battles of Vitoria (June 21st) and San Marcial (August 31st).
The Treaty of Valençay, signed on December 11, 1813, freed Spain from French occupation, but the war continued with the invasion of France. The Battle of Toulouse on April 10, 1814, marked the final stage of the war. Reflecting on the Spanish War of Independence, Napoleon I, in exile, stated:
This bloody war in Spain was the first cause of all France’s misfortunes. All the circumstances of my disasters are related to this fatal knot; it destroyed my moral authority in Europe, compounded my difficulties, and served as a school for British soldiers… This damned war lost me everything.
Fraser, Ronald: The Bloody War in Spain. Social History of the War of Independence, 1808-1814.[4]
The war’s social and economic cost to Spain was devastating. Between 215,000 and 375,000 inhabitants perished due to violence and the famine of 1812.[5] Combined with earlier epidemics and the famine of 1808, the total population decline reached between 560,000 and 885,000, particularly impacting Catalonia, Extremadura, and Andalusia.[6] Social disruption, destruction of infrastructure, industry, and agriculture, state bankruptcy, and the loss of cultural heritage compounded the tragedy.
Despite these sacrifices, Spain was excluded from major decisions at the Congress of Vienna, which shaped Europe’s geopolitical future. Domestically, the conflict forged a strong Spanish national identity but also created deep divisions, pitting patriots against Francophiles. It ushered in constitutionalism, with the Constitutions of Bayonne and Cádiz, and accelerated the emancipation of Spain’s American colonies, leading to the Spanish American Wars of Independence. The restoration of the Bourbon dynasty and Fernando VII’s absolutism, along with the strengthened power of the Catholic Church, initiated an era of civil strife between absolutists and liberals that would define 19th-century Spain.
In 1808—or a few years earlier when it was still possible, perhaps, to erect a guillotine in the Puerta del Sol—the Spanish people chose the wrong enemy. A mistake for which, two hundred years later, we are still paying the consequences.
Arturo Pérez-Reverte, “A knife and macetazo intifada,” El País, 20/4/2008.