Battle of Sahagún 1808
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 21 December 1808 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1808 | 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, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 42.3708, -5.0292 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Sahagún was fought on 21 December 1808 during the Peninsular War. 400 hussars of the British Army under Lieutenant-general Lord Paget defeated 800 French Imperial Army cavalrymen led by Brigade-general César Alexandre Debelle at the town of Sahagún, Spain. The battle was fought as part of the entry into Spain of a British army under Lieutenant-general Sir John Moore. Paget's force suffered four killed and 21 wounded while Debelle's suffered 20 killed or wounded and more than 313 captured.
Of the two French cavalry regiments at the battle, one suffered such heavy casualties that it was subsequently disbanded. The battle was the first engagement fought between British and French forces in Spain during the war, and marked the final extent of the advance of Moore's army into the country. Following the battle, Moore ordered a retreat in the face of overwhelming French forces under Napoleon. Despite British cavalry winning another battle on 29 December, Moore's army continued to retreat to the coast and evacuated Spain in January 1809.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Sahagún (revision 1380691161), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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All 124 battles of the Peninsular War →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Europe · 19th century battles