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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 2: show that tallies the wins and losses of everyday history.

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Speaker 2: I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're looking at a turning

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Speaker 2: point in the Peninsular War, a lesser known Spanish battle

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Speaker 2: that demonstrated the military prowess of an underestimated British general

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Speaker 2: and proved that Emperor Napoleon wasn't as unstoppable as he

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Speaker 2: liked to believe. The day was July twenty second, eighteen twelve.

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Speaker 2: The Duke of Wellington's British forces defeated the French at

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Speaker 2: the Battle of Salamanca in Spain. Though Wellington is best

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Speaker 2: remembered today for his role in Napoleon's final defeat at

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Speaker 2: the Battle of Waterloo, his victory at Salamanca three years

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Speaker 2: earlier was perhaps his finest hour. Up until then, he

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Speaker 2: had been thought of mostly as a defensive commander, but

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Speaker 2: on the battlefield in Spain, Wellington proved his offensive skill

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Speaker 2: by defeating, as one witness put it, an army of

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Speaker 2: forty thousand in forty minutes. By eighteen oh seven, Napoleon

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Speaker 2: Bonaparte's Empire stretched across most of Europe, with only Britain

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Speaker 2: remaining in the fight against the conquering French. The British

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Speaker 2: army was thought to be too small and undisciplined to

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Speaker 2: cause the French much trouble, but just to be safe,

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Speaker 2: Napoleon put the squeeze on Britain by imposing a continental blockade,

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Speaker 2: cutting it off from trade with the rest of Europe

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Speaker 2: and with its own colonies. However, Portugal, a longtime ally

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Speaker 2: of Britain, refused to comply with the Emperor's blockade. Napoleon

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Speaker 2: responded by invading Portugal in November of eighteen o seven,

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Speaker 2: and when the French had fully occupied the country, they

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Speaker 2: turned their attention to Portugal's neighbor in France's former ally, Spain.

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Speaker 2: In eighteen o eight, Napoleon installed his brother Joseph on

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Speaker 2: the Spanish throne, giving France almost complete control of the

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Speaker 2: Iberian Peninsula. But the Peninsular War, as it came to

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Speaker 2: be called, was just beginning. Portuguese and Spanish rebels began

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Speaker 2: to strike back against their occupiers, and in eighteen oh

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Speaker 2: nine the British joined the fight when a young general

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Speaker 2: named Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal with a small army

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Speaker 2: of his own. The combined might of British troops and

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Speaker 2: Iberian rebels led to a series of small but promising victories,

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Speaker 2: but because they lacked the numbers to press their advantage,

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Speaker 2: it was another three years before they were finally able

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Speaker 2: to drive the French from Portugal. In recognition of these successes,

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Speaker 2: General Wellesley was given the title of Viscount Wellington. Then

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Speaker 2: he was made Earl of Wellington, and finally Duke. In

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Speaker 2: January of eighteen twelve, the Duke of Wellington took the

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Speaker 2: fight from Portugal deep into occupied Spain. By that point,

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Speaker 2: Napoleon had withdrawn a sizeable number of his men to

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Speaker 2: aid in his Russian campaign, while Wellington had grown his

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Speaker 2: numbers by reforming the Portuguese army and recruiting Spanish rebels.

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Speaker 2: This put the combatants on much more even footing than

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Speaker 2: there had been in Portugal, and as a result, the

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Speaker 2: Allied forces were able to assault and overtake two French strongholds.

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Speaker 2: Although this victory came at a heavy cost, with nearly

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Speaker 2: five thousand Allied casualties, it got Wellington and his men

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Speaker 2: that much closer to Madrid. And to austing King Joseph Bonaparte.

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Speaker 2: After capturing the old college town of Salamanca. The only

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Speaker 2: thing blocking the Alli's pass was a French army commanded

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Speaker 2: by Marshal Marmont. The two forces were evenly matched, with

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Speaker 2: about fifty thousand troops each, and after spending several weeks

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Speaker 2: trying to outmaneuver one another, Wellington and Marmont found themselves

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Speaker 2: at an impasse. Wellington was waiting for an advantage that

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Speaker 2: would allow him to force an open battle, but according

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Speaker 2: to intelligence reports, MArmand was soon to be reinforced by

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Speaker 2: troops sent by Joseph Bonaparte. On the morning of July

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Speaker 2: twenty second, Wellington considered abandoning Salamanca and retreating back to

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Speaker 2: Portugal before the French reinforcements made that impossible. But then

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Speaker 2: that very afternoon, the British general spotted a critical error

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Speaker 2: in the French army lines. Glancing through his spyglass, Wellington

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Speaker 2: saw that Marmont had over extended the left flank of

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Speaker 2: his army, marching it too far ahead of the rest

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Speaker 2: of his soldiers. After years of defensive warfare and weeks

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Speaker 2: of patient waiting, Wellington finally saw his chance to wage

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Speaker 2: a true offensive battle. Wasting no time, he immediately ordered

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Speaker 2: a full out assault on Marmand's isolated flank. The British,

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Speaker 2: Portuguese and Spanish infantry took their French counterparts completely by surprise,

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Speaker 2: pummeling them with volley after volley of musket fire. Then,

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Speaker 2: as the formation began to break apart, Wellington unleashed cavalry

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Speaker 2: brigades to cut through what remained of the French lines.

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Speaker 2: The battered French army began to fall back, and in

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Speaker 2: little more than two hours, the Battle of Salamanca was over.

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Speaker 2: According to witnesses, though it was really decided in less

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Speaker 2: than one hour forty minutes to be precise, and that

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Speaker 2: decisive victory was largely thanks to Wellington's tactical instinct and

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Speaker 2: quick decision making. As French general Maximilian Fois wrote in

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Speaker 2: his diary just a few days later, quote, up to

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Speaker 2: this day we knew Lord Wellington's prudence, his eye for

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Speaker 2: choosing good positions, and the skill with which he used them.

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Speaker 2: But at Salamanca he has shown himself a great and

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Speaker 2: able master of maneuvering, the result of that clever maneuvering

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Speaker 2: was that seven thousand French soldiers were killed and another

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Speaker 2: seven thousand captured, while Allied losses totaled about half as many.

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Speaker 2: The French army was on the run and the road

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Speaker 2: to Madrid was clear.

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Speaker 1: At last. The Battle of Salamanca not only improved Wellington's reputation,

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Speaker 1: it also convinced the British government that the Peninsular War

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Speaker 1: was not a lost cause, and perhaps more importantly, it

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Speaker 1: made the French wonder if maybe it was British forces

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Speaker 1: and their allies eventually succeeded in driving the French armies

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Speaker 1: from Spain, and then just two years later, Wellington and

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Speaker 1: his troops defeated Napoleon for good at the Battle of Waterloo.

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Speaker 1: I'm Gabe blues Gay and hopefully you now know a

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Speaker 1: little more about history today than you did yesterday. If

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Speaker 1: you'd like to keep up with the show, you can

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Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show,

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Speaker 1: and if you have any comments or suggestions, feel free

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Speaker 1: to send them my way by writing to this day

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Speaker 1: at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to kazb Bias for producing

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Speaker 1: the show, and thanks to you for listening. I'll see

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Speaker 1: you back here again tomorrow. For another day.

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Speaker 2: In history class,