Dos de Mayo

Dos de Mayo
Part of the Peninsular War
The Second of May 1808: The Charge of the Mamelukes, by Francisco de Goya (1814).
Date 2 May 1808 Location Madrid, Spain Result Uprising suppressed but insurrection spreads throughout Spain Mass executions in reprisal Outbreak of the Peninsular War
Belligerents
Spain	First French Empire
Commanders and leaders
Pedro Velarde y Santillán  † Luís Daoíz de Torres  † Jacinto Ruiz y Mendoza	Joachim Murat
Casualties and losses
200–500 dead, including 113 prisoners executed	31–150 dead

The Dos de Mayo of 1808, was a rebellion by the people of Madrid against the occupation of the city by French troops, provoking the repression by the French Imperial forces and triggering the Peninsular War.

The city had been under the occupation of Napoleon's army since 23 March of the same year. King Charles IV had been forced by the French emperor to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand VII, and at the time of the uprising both were in the French city of Bayonne at the insistence of Napoleon. An attempt by the French general Joachim Murat to move the daughter and her children along with the youngest son of Charles IV to Bayonne sparked a rebellion. Murat was the brother-in-law of Napoleon, and would later become king of Naples. Initially the governing council of the city refused the request from Murat, but eventually gave way after receiving a message from Ferdinand VII who was also in Bayonne at this time.

On 2 May a crowd began to gather in front of the Royal Palace in Madrid. Those gathered entered the palace grounds in an attempt to prevent the removal of Francisco de Paula. Marshal Murat sent a battalion of grenadiers from the Imperial Guard to the palace along with artillery detachments. The latter opened fire on the assembled crowd, and the rebellion began to spread to other parts of the city.

What followed was street fighting in different areas of Madrid as the poorly armed population confronted the French troops. Murat had quickly moved the majority of his troops into the city and there was heavy fighting around the Puerta del Sol and the Puerta de Toledo. Marshal Murat imposed martial law in the city and assumed full control of the administration. Little by little the French regained control of the city, and many hundreds of people died in the fighting. The painting by the Spanish artist Goya, The Charge of the Mamelukes, portrays the street fighting that took place.

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