Second Battle of Porto 1809
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 12 May 1809 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1809 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | 19th century (1800–1913) | derived from year |
| Location | Portugal | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Peninsular War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | First French Empire, Kingdom of Portugal, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 41.1494, -8.6108 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Second Battle of Porto, also known as the Battle of the Douro or the Crossing of the Douro, took place on 12 May 1809. General Arthur Wellesley's Anglo-Portuguese Army defeated Marshal Soult's French troops and took back the city of Porto. After taking command of the British troops in Portugal on 22 April, Wellesley (later named 1st Duke of Wellington, Marquess Douro) immediately advanced on Porto and made a surprise crossing of the Douro River, approaching Porto where its defences were weak. Soult's late attempts to muster a defence were in vain. The French quickly abandoned the city in a disorderly retreat.This battle ended the Second French invasion of Portugal. Soult soon found his retreat route to the east blocked and was forced to destroy his guns and burn his baggage train. Wellesley pursued the French army, but Soult's army escaped annihilation by fleeing through the mountains.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Second Battle of Porto (revision 1370787422), 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 Portugal · Europe · 19th century battles