Siege of Saragossa (1808)

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=First Siege of Saragossa
partof=the Peninsular War


caption="Assault on the walls of Saragossa" by January Suchodolski, oil on canvas, 1845. (National Museum in Warsaw)
date=June 15 - August 13, 1808
place=Zaragoza, Spain
result=Spanish victory
combatant1=flagicon|France First French Empire
flagicon|Poland|state Duchy of Warsaw
combatant2=flagicon|Spain|1785 Kingdom of Spain
commander1=flagicon|France Charles de Lefebvre
commander2=José de Palafox y Melzi
strength1=8,500 regulars,
1,000 cavalry,
12 guns
strength2=500 regulars,
6,000 militia
casualties1=3,000 dead or wounded
casualties2=

The First Siege of Saragossa ( _es. Zaragoza) was a bloody struggle in the Peninsular War. A French army under General Lefebvre besieged, repeatedly stormed, and was repulsed from the Spanish city of Saragossa over the summer of 1808.

Lefebvre commanded one of several bodies of French troops deployed by Napoleon to restore order to Spain after the spread of the "Dos de Mayo" uprisings. In June, Captain-General José de Palafox y Melzi declared war on the French and led the people of Aragon into mass revolt. Lefebvre advanced on Saragossa with about 6,000 men.

Spanish detachments attempting to ward-off the approaches to the city were easily thrown back by the disciplined French soldiers. General Palafox personally intercepted the French with a small force at Alagon but his men were swiftly put to flight and he raced off to command the defence of the city.

Saragossa's fortress was in deplorable condition and proved no obstacle. Lefebvre then subjected the city to bombardment and assault, neither of which, however, made much impression. Although Palafox's army numbered little more than 6,000, the people's hatred for the invader had driven them to arms in mass, swelling his ranks.

At the end of June, the French received 3,500 reinforcements and several fresh batteries. A month of carnage followed in which the French demolished large sections of the city and captured others by storm, only to be forced out again in furious street fighting. A Polish cavalry squadron of the Vistula Uhlans battled its way into the heart of the city but unsupported by infantry it fell back.

On August 13, the French were compelled to lift the siege and retreat north, their 61-day effort ending in defeat. By then the unconquerable Palafox had become legendary in Spain.

Aftermath

Palafox's resistance made him a national hero, a glory he shared with ordinary civilians such as Agustina de Aragón. Saragossa would endure a second, longer, more famous siege starting in late December. When it finally fell to the French in 1809, Saragossa had become a city of corpses and smoking rubble: 12,000 people would remain of a prewar population of over 100,000.

External links

* [http://www.georgianindex.net/peninsularWar/peninsularBattles1808.html Siege of Saragossa and other Peninsular battles]
* [http://www.pyreneesguide.com/articles.asp?cID=56&sID=394&aID=1341 Sieges of Saragossa in the Peninsular War]
* [http://web2.airmail.net/napoleon/cruel_war_in_Spain.html War in Spain]