Madrid Uprising Against French Occupation Begins

Context

By early 1808 Napoleon had turned his attention to the Iberian Peninsula as part of his effort to enforce the Continental System against Britain. French troops had crossed Spain to occupy Portugal in late 1807, and in the process they established garrisons inside Spain itself. The presence of these forces coincided with a crisis in the Spanish royal family, where popular unrest forced King Charles IV to abdicate in favor of his son Ferdinand VII during the Tumult of Aranjuez.

What Happened

On the morning of 2 May a crowd gathered outside the Royal Palace in Madrid to block the departure of the Infante Francisco de Paula and other members of the royal family, whom French commander Joachim Murat intended to send to Bayonne. When Murat dispatched a battalion of Imperial Guard grenadiers and artillery to clear the way, the troops opened fire on the assembled civilians. Fighting quickly spread through the city, most intensely around the Puerta del Sol and the Puerta de Toledo, where residents armed themselves with knives, stones, and any weapons at hand and clashed with French cavalry, including Mameluke units.

Spanish troops stationed in Madrid had been ordered to remain in their barracks, but artillerymen at the Monteleón park disobeyed. Captains Luis Daoíz y Torres and Pedro Velarde y Santillán led a brief defense of the barracks before French forces overwhelmed the position; both officers were killed. Murat, who held overall command, imposed martial law and directed the rapid reassertion of French control over the capital.

Aftermath

That evening Murat established a military commission under General Grouchy that condemned to death anyone captured bearing arms. On 3 May hundreds of prisoners were executed by firing squad in the streets of Madrid. News of the repression prompted local officials in the nearby town of Móstoles to issue a declaration calling on Spaniards to rise against the invaders, an appeal that helped spread the revolt beyond the capital.

Legacy

The Dos de Mayo Uprising marked the effective end of the Franco-Spanish alliance and the beginning of the Peninsular War, a prolonged conflict in which Spanish irregular forces, supported by British and Portuguese troops, tied down large French armies for years. The event became a symbol of popular resistance to foreign domination and was later commemorated in Francisco de Goya’s paintings The Second of May 1808 and The Third of May 1808. May 2 remains a public holiday in the Community of Madrid, and the site of the Monteleón barracks is now the Plaza del Dos de Mayo.