" On 1 August, 1808, true to
this declaration, a British army under the command of Sir Arthur
Wellesley, subsequently duke of Wellington, landed in Portugal and
proceeded to cooperate with Portuguese and Spanish against the French.
It was the beginning of the so-called Peninsular War, which, with
little interruption, was to last until 1813 and to spell the first
disasters for Napoleon.
Within three weeks after their landing the British were in possession
of Portugal. Roused by this unexpected reverse, Napoleon assumed
personal command of the French forces in the Peninsula. And such was
his vigor and resourcefulness that in December, 1808, he reinstated
Joseph in Madrid and drove the main British army out of Spain. The
success of Napoleon, however, was but temporary and illusory. Early in
1809 grave developments in another part of Europe called him away from
Spain, and the marshals, whom he left behind, quarreled with one
another and at the same time experienced to the full the difficulties
which Napoleon himself would have encountered had he remained.
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