8:48
Napoleon famously struggled for Reliable allies throughout his time ruling France many of those that stood by him did so out of fear or out of opportunism for example Spain had been a close Ally of France since Napoleon first took power in 1799 and it had remained loyal throughout the numerous continent spanning ruls there after yet in 1808 Napoleon decided that Spain's friendship was no longer needed and he invaded the country deposing its rulers and placing his brother on the throne which caused a whole lot of problems and was partially responsible for France's later defeat so why did Napoleon do this why did he betray his old Ally and invade Spain so Spain and France had been allies since
the war of the Spanish succession during which the French had successfully seen the Bor bonds take the Spanish throne in return for Spain losing a bunch of lands elsewhere as a result the two Nations had shared interests with the brief exception of when France got rid of its own Bard bonds which made those in Spain somewhat nervous after Napoleon Rose to power and established the first French Empire Spain was quick to side with him in his struggles against well everyone while Spain was an ally of na poon it wasn't exactly an enthusiastic one and losing its Fleet at travar in 1805 meant the trade with the new world collapsed which made Spain much poorer King Charles IV wanted to appear a close Ally
in case Napoleon won but wanted to remain somewhat distant so that if he lost Spain wouldn't be punished too his main Hope was that Napoleonic Victory would see Spain gain British and Portuguese colonies overseas as Napoleon's power grew the Spanish formalized plans with Napoleon to invade Portugal which would see Spain gain this territory the problem for Spain was that Napoleon had plans of his own while whilst he wanted to force Portugal into submission as a bargaining ship to force Britain to make peace he also wanted to capture Spain for himself the Army he sent to Portugal was going to sit on Spain's flank and help him fade when he decided it was time and that time came in 1808 this war was very unpopular in
Spain and allowing atheist French troops into Catholic Spain caused riots which led to Charles and his chief minister Manuel gadoo fleeing thereby making Charles's son King Ferdinand I 7th Ferdinand was popular with the Spanish people and much more difficult for Napoleon to control as such Napoleon invited him to chat where he was taken prisoner and Napoleon's brother was put on the throne once French troops were mostly in control Napoleon was quick to expand France at Spain's expense in 1812 Catalonia was annexed because it meant that he could use the anti- Madrid sentiment there for his own aims the theory was that by making Catalonia an autonomous part of France with greater
rights for the catalans living there the population would prefer this to their inclusion in Spain and so would loyally fight for Napoleon in practice they just shot at French troops and made things very difficult The Invasion required a massive number of troops and importantly for Spain to side with the British which led to the peninsula War this turned into a quck mire for Napoleon who had to commit hundreds of thousands of troops and spend lots of money to fight these troops could have been better used elsewhere and this betrayal of Spain is considered one of Napoleon's biggest blunders in 1813 Spain was liberated with feram returning to the throne and thereafter Spain would remain an enemy
of France until Napoleon's final defeat I hope you enjoyed this episode with a special thanks to my patrons James Bizet Sky Chappelle kitka Udan Wang Anthony Becket Wan hockey AF Firefly Alex Schwin Captain pdogg Gustav Swan the M Whopper Robert C Perkins the flying deand Cardinal blue rod D Martin Marvin CAU Spencer lightford shenin Maggie patkowski murza Ahmed copper tone Michael hbert Castle Bravo spinning three plate Andy McGee Arthur hosy Jr Danny atanasio kimun Yun Winston kwood Remco hoyman Jim Stromberg Beck tobot Charles I first and Lord beak
