The Battle of Vitoria
21 June 1813 · The Battle That Ended French Spain
Background
By the spring of 1813, Wellington had assembled the largest Allied army of the Peninsular War: approximately 78,000 men. Joseph Bonaparte, nominal King of Spain, held the main French field army of approximately 57,000 around the Basque city of Vitoria. Wellington planned a sweeping outflanking movement through the mountains that would cut Joseph’s line of retreat to France.
The Armies
Allied
Under Wellington. British, Portuguese and Spanish divisions in four attacking columns.
France
Under King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jourdan. Spread across a wide front covering Vitoria.
The Battle
Wellington launched a coordinated four-column attack that struck the French position from multiple directions simultaneously. The French line, spread too thin, could not hold everywhere at once. By mid-afternoon the entire French position was collapsing.
The Treasure
The extraordinary aftermath of Vitoria set it apart from every other Peninsular battle. The retreating French abandoned their entire baggage train: Joseph Bonaparte’s personal treasure, artwork looted from Spanish palaces, the French army’s pay chest, carriages full of silver and jewellery, and the personal baggage of hundreds of officers.
The British army fell upon the baggage train with as much enthusiasm as it had attacked the French army. Discipline collapsed as soldiers broke open chests of gold and silver. Wellington was furious: the pursuit of the fleeing French halted entirely as his army looted. He wrote in his famous dispatch that he had “the scum of the earth” for soldiers. Napoleon sacked Marshal Jourdan for the defeat.
Casualties
Why It Mattered
Vitoria effectively ended French rule in Spain. Joseph Bonaparte fled across the Pyrenees and never returned. Within months Wellington had crossed into France itself. Beethoven composed his orchestral piece “Wellington’s Victory” to celebrate the battle, a work famous for being simultaneously very popular and very bad.
In Sharpe’s World
Sharpe’s Honour is set at Vitoria. Sharpe dies (officially) on the morning of the battle, framed by Major Ducos and the Inquisition. The battle itself provides the backdrop to one of the most complex plots in the series.
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