Siege of Olivença 1811
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 11 January 1811 – 22 January 1811 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1811 | Wikidata P580 (start 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 Spain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 38.6857, -7.1007 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Olivença or Olivenza occurred on 19-22 January 1811 when French General Jean-de-Dieu Soult successfully undertook the capture of the run-down Spanish fortress of Olivenza in western Spain during the Peninsular War.
On his way to storming the stronger fortress at Badajoz, Soult was obliged to modify his original plans. Sending his light cavalry under Brigadier General André Briche to take Mérida and leaving four squadrons of dragoons at Albuera to watch the garrison at Badajoz, he marched with the remainder of his army to invest Olivenza.
Wellington had previously advised General Pedro de La Romana, commander of the Spanish Army of Extremadura, to either destroy the fortification at Olivenza or to repair its defences and fully garrison the town; La Romana in turn had instructed Mendizabal to slight the fortress, but Mendizabal ignored this order and reinforced the garrison with four infantry battalions. Soult, arrived on 11 January and was confronted with a strongly garrisoned, but untenable, fortress. The French heavy artillery arrived on 19 January, and by 22 January, a poorly repaired breach in the fortress's walls had been reopened. The garrison surrendered on 23 January, with over 4,000 Spanish troops from the Army of Extremadura taken captive.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Olivença (revision 1370744169), 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
- Capture of Juromenha 1170 · 13 km
- Battle of Badajoz (1936) 1936 · 23 km
- Battle of the Lines of Elvas 1659 · 24 km
- First siege of Badajoz (1811) 1811 · 24 km
- Siege of Badajoz (1705) 1705 · 24 km
- Siege of Badajoz (1812) 1812 · 24 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 Barrosa 1811
- Battle of Bornos (1811) 1811
- Battle of Campo Maior 1811
All 124 battles of the Peninsular War →
Browse more: battles in Spain · Europe · 19th century battles