The Advantages of the Spanish Army in the Peninsular War

 

Spanish soldiers from 1810. On the left are a grenadier and pioneer from a line infantry regiment. In the centre is a light cavalry officer while to the right are his men in campaign and stable uniforms.

Despite the various handicaps of the Spanish army, it did have some great strengths. The first of these was numbers. When the French invaded, the Spanish army numbered over 100,000 regulars - a substantial force by anyone's measure. Throughout the war, recruitment into the army never lacked men so despite repeated defeats and losses the Spanish army ended the war almost as large as it began it. Aiding this trend was the fact that Spanish soldiers had the habit of walking off home after a defeat to hide their weapons and uniforms from prying French eyes. When a new army was being raised, the former soldiers would put back on their uniforms, grab their weapons and go back to the army. The French found it bewildering how an area could be devoid of Spanish troops one day, but swarming with them the next. Once they realised what was happening, of course, it made them suspicious of Spanish civilians and prone to take reprisals.

The other advantage the Spanish army had was a great willingness among the men to fight the French. The behaviour of the French armies played a large part in this. At its best, the French army stole food wherever it went, more usually the men looted anything of value and in several notorious cases indulged in murder and rape on a large scale. When the French captured Oporto in March 1809 about 5,000 civilians died, much of the city went up in flames and few women escaped rape. Spanish resentment against the French quickly turned to a hatred that explains why Spanish armies were usually so keen to attack the French, and so reluctant to take prisoners.