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Battle of Ocaña of 1809

Ocaña, Mesa de Ocaña, Toledo

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Battle of Ocaña of 1809

Historical milestone · Ocaña, Mesa de Ocaña, Toledo

Image of Ocaña, not of the place itself.

The Battle of Ocaña was fought on 19 November 1809 next to the municipality of Ocaña, in the province of Toledo, as part of the Spanish War of Independence. A French army of about 40,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and substantial artillery, under the command of King Joseph Bonaparte with Marshal Soult as chief of staff, faced a Spanish army of about 51,869 men, led by General Juan Carlos de Aréizaga, appointed head of the Army of the Centre a few weeks earlier. It was the best and strongest army that the Junta Central had managed to gather after the disaster of Tudela, thanks to the weaponry sent by the British allies. Its defeat was one of the worst of the war for Spain and opened the road to Andalucía for the French.

Photo: M a n u e l from Valdemoro, Spain (CC BY 2.0)

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