Battle of Tudela

Battle of Tudela
Part of the Peninsular War
Battle of Tudela, an 1827 painting by January Suchodolski oil on canvas, National Museum in Warsaw
Date 23 November 1808 Location Tudela, Navarre, Spain Result French-Polish victory
Belligerents
French Empire Duchy of Warsaw	Spain
Commanders and leaders
Marshal Lannes General Lefebvre-Desnouettes Marshal Ney	General Francisco Castaños General Palafox General O'Neylle General La Peña General Grimarest
Strength
31,000	33,000
Casualties and losses
650 dead or wounded	4,000 dead, wounded, or captured 26 guns lost

The Battle of Tudela (23 November 1808) saw an Imperial French army led by Marshal Jean Lannes attack a Spanish army under General Castaños. The battle resulted in the complete victory of the Imperial forces over their adversaries. The combat occurred near Tudela in Navarre, Spain during the Peninsular War, part of a wider conflict known as the Napoleonic Wars.

Spanish casualties were estimated to be about 4,000 dead and 3,000 prisoners out of a total force of 33,000. The French and Poles lost no more than 600 dead and wounded out of a total of 30,000. This is one of the battles whose name was engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

The Dos de Mayo Uprising of 2 May 1808, followed by extensive uprisings throughout Spain, forced the French to pull back from their occupation of Spain to the Ebro River. There was an opportunity for the Spanish to finally expel the French altogether but this was missed due to their failure to appoint a Supreme Commander leaving the individual Spanish forces to operate independently.

These Spanish forces consisted of the army of General Joaquín Blake on the North coast, the army of General Francisco Javier Castaños around Tudela and the army of General José Rebolledo de Palafox around Zaragoza. Blake was active in attacking the French but his offensive near Bilbao was defeated at Pancorbo on 31 October 1808.

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