Battle of Barrosa 1811
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 5 March 1811 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1811 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Spain | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Peninsular War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | First French Empire, Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of Spain, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 36.3372, -6.1567 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Barrosa (Chiclana, 5 March 1811, also known as the Battle of Chiclana or Battle of Cerro del Puerco) was part of an unsuccessful manoeuvre by an Anglo-Iberian force to break the French siege of Cádiz during the Peninsular War. During the battle, a single British division defeated two French divisions and captured a regimental eagle.
Cádiz had been invested by the French in early 1810, leaving it accessible from the sea, but in March of the following year a reduction in the besieging army gave its garrison of British and Spanish troops an opportunity to lift the siege. A large Allied strike force was shipped south from Cádiz to Tarifa, and moved to engage the siege lines from the rear. The French, under the command of Marshal Victor, were aware of the Allied movement and redeployed to prepare a trap. Victor placed one division on the road to Cádiz, blocking the Allied line of march, while his two remaining divisions fell on the single Anglo-Portuguese rearguard division under the command of Sir Thomas Graham.
Following a fierce battle on two fronts, the British succeeded in routing the attacking French forces. A lack of support from the larger Spanish contingent prevented an absolute victory, and the French were able to regroup and reoccupy their siege lines.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Barrosa (revision 1379210960), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Trafalgar 1805 · 10 km
- Battle of Cádiz (1640) 1640 · 18 km
- Battle of Trocadero 1823 · 21 km
- Assault on Cádiz (1797) 1797 · 22 km
- Battle of Cádiz (1656) 1656 · 25 km
- Cádiz expedition (1625) 1625 · 25 km
Other battles of the Peninsular War
- Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810) 1810
- Siege of Cádiz 1810
- Siege of Lérida 1810
- Siege of Mequinenza 1810
- Siege of Tortosa (1810–1811) 1810
- Battle of Albuera 1811
- Battle of Arlabán (1811) 1811
- Battle of Bornos (1811) 1811
- Battle of Campo Maior 1811
- Battle of Casal Novo 1811
All 124 battles of the Peninsular War →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Europe · 19th century battles