Siege of Badajoz (1812)
The siege of Badajoz (16 March – 6 April 1812; [baðaˈxoθ]), also called the third siege of Badajoz, was an Anglo-Portuguese Army under the Earl of Wellington (later the Duke of Wellington) besieged Badajoz, Spain, and forced the surrender of the French garrison. The siege was one of the bloodiest in the Napoleonic Wars[4] and was considered a costly victory by the British, with some 4,800 Allied soldiers killed or wounded in a few short hours of intense fighting during the storming of the breaches as the siege drew to an end. Enraged at the huge number of casualties they suffered in seizing the city, the troops broke into houses and stores consuming vast quantities of alcohol with many of them then going on a rampage, threatening their officers and ignoring their commands to desist, and even killing several.[5] It took three days before the men were brought back into order. When order was restored, an estimated 200–300 civilians had been killed or injured.[a][6]
"Sack of Badajoz" redirects here. For the sack of the city during the Spanish Civil War, see Battle of Badajoz (1936).Background[edit]
After the allied campaign in Spain had started with the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo and the capture in earlier sieges of the frontier towns of Almeida and Ciudad Rodrigo, Wellington's army moved south to Badajoz to capture this frontier town and secure the lines of communication back to Lisbon, the primary base of operations for the allied army. Badajoz was garrisoned by some 5,000 French soldiers under General Armand Philippon, the town commander, and possessed much stronger fortifications than either Almeida or Ciudad Rodrigo. With a strong curtain wall covered by numerous strongpoints and bastions, Badajoz had already faced two unsuccessful sieges and was well prepared for a third attempt, with the walls strengthened and some areas around the curtain wall flooded or mined with explosives.[7]
