The Dos de Mayo

2–3 May 1808 — Madrid rises against French occupation; hundreds are executed in reprisal. Goya painted the firing squads — war stripped of all glory. Remember.

THE MOMENT IN CONTEXT

Napoleon could not invade Britain after Trafalgar, so he tried instead to close continental markets to British goods. Portugal refused to comply, so French troops crossed Spain in 1807, and Napoleon then forced the Spanish royal family to abdicate and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte. Madrid rose on 2 May 1808 and was answered with severe reprisals. Local juntas, or emergency councils, then claimed authority in the absent king’s name.

From Chapter 7 — The Empire and Its Cracks of The Age of Revolutions, 1775–1848 (JUN 1810).

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TEACH THIS IN 5 MINUTES

Why it happened — Economic war without an exit. The Continental System hurt Britain (exports slumped, 1808 and 1811-12 were crisis years) but hurt the continent more — and made smuggling a…
The turn — Bailén, 19 July 1808. Eighteen thousand imperial troops — admittedly second-line — surrender to Spanish regulars and levies in the Andalusian heat. Materially…
What it changed — The veteran drain. Iberia became the Empire’s permanent second front: the men and horses lost there were precisely the professionals missing from the 1812 army, which…

Then ask the room: Why could Napoleon beat every army in Europe but not Spain? The argued answer is on the chapter page →