Battle of Trocadero

French assault on Fort Trocadero

Date	1823
Location	Spain
Result	French and Spanish Royalist victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of France

Armée de la Foi

Partisans of the Cortes

Commanders and leaders

Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême

Colonel Garcés

Strength

30,000 Soldiers

1,700 Soldiers

Casualties and losses

31 Dead
110 Wounded

150 Dead
300 Wounded
1,000 Captured

The Battle of Trocadero, fought on 31 August 1823, was the only significant battle in the French invasion of Spain. French forces defeated the Spanish liberal forces and restored the absolute rule of King Ferdinand VII.

After the downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte, King Ferdinand VII of Spain refused to adopt the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812 and in 1820 faced a rebellion in favour of a constitutional monarchy, led by Rafael del Riego y Nuñez. The King was captured and detained at Cádiz, where the Cortes, the Spanish parliament assembled. Alarmed by these events, the other European powers convened in October 1822 at the Congress of Verona and authorized France to intervene in the conflict and restore the rule of Ferdinand, with only Britain abstaining from that decision.

On 17 April 1823, French forces led by Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, son of the future Charles X, crossed the Pyrenees into Spain.

The French forces were welcomed by the Basques and in Catalonia. The duke dispatched a force to besiege San Sebastian while he launched an attack on Madrid, held by the rebel government, which on 23 May withdrew to Seville. Madrid's military commander secretly surrendered and fled to France, and the leaderless Madrid garrison could not keep out the French, who seized the city and installed a regent, pending Ferdinand's expected return.

The French moved south to deal with the rebels at Cádiz, and besieged the fort of Trocadero, which controlled access to the city. On 31 August 1823 they launched a surprise bayonet attack from the sea side, taking advantage of the low tide, and took the fort. After this action, French infantry captured the Trocadero village by a flank attack. After this last action, 1700 Spanish soldiers were captured by the French.

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Wikipedia