Battle of Salamanca 1812
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 22 July 1812 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1812 | 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 | 40.8892, -5.6247 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Salamanca (in French and Spanish known as the Battle of the Arapiles) took place on 22 July 1812. An Anglo-Portuguese army under the Earl of Wellington (future Duke of Wellington) defeated Marshal Auguste Marmont's French forces at Arapiles, south of Salamanca, Spain, during the Peninsular War. A Spanish division was also present but took no part in the battle.
In his analysis of the Salamanca campaign, author Rory Muir (2001) emphasizes that the quality of Wellington's Anglo-Portuguese Army was moderately superior to Marmont's; this was determined by the Anglo-Portuguese infantry and, notably, cavalry. The difference in the quality of the infantry, however, was "not overwhelming". The French artillery was more numerous – 78 cannon against 62 – but "this was more than offset" by the strength of Wellington's cavalry, both more numerous and more skilled. Good discipline and morale were present in the Anglo-Portuguese Army, which underwent training and reorganization between 1809 and 1812. Constant warfare took its toll on the French soldiers. Their troops at Salamanca were not those professional soldiers of Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland, but they far surpassed most of the "motley horde" Napoleon sent to Russia.
The battle involved a succession of flanking manoeuvres in oblique order, initiated by the British heavy cavalry brigade and Edward Pakenham's 3rd Division and continued by the cavalry and the 4th,…
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Salamanca (revision 1380848692), 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
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- Battle of Alba de Tormes 1809 · 12 km
- Battle of García Hernández 1812 · 16 km
- Battle of Tamames 1809 · 48 km
- Battle of Carpio 1809 · 56 km
- Battle of Puerto de Baños 1809 · 66 km
Other battles of the Peninsular War
- Siege of Figueras (1811) 1811
- Siege of Olivença 1811
- Siege of Tarifa (1812) 1811
- Siege of Tarragona (1811) 1811
- Siege of Valencia (1812) 1811
- Battle of Altafulla 1812
- Battle of Bornos (1812) 1812
- Battle of Castalla (1812) 1812
- Battle of García Hernández 1812
- Battle of Maguilla 1812
All 124 battles of the Peninsular War →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Europe · 19th century battles