Skip to content
The War AtlasThe · War · Atlas

BATTLE // May 25, 1811

Battle of Arlabán

LOADING MAP TELEMETRY…

Overview

The Battle of Arlabán, also known as the First Surprise of Arlabán, took place at the heights of Arlabán, the mountain pass that separates the Basque provinces of Guipúzcoa and Álava, on 25 May 1811, during the Peninsular War.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Significance

The structured facts supplied for this entry conflict with the overview text: the structured data describes a Peninsular War engagement in May 1811 under Francisco Espoz y Mina, while the overview describes a First Carlist War action in January 1836 involving Liberal forces under Luis Fernández de Córdova and Baldomero Espartero against Carlist defenders at the heights of Arlabán, on the border of Álava and Guipúzcoa. Based strictly on the overview, the battle saw Liberal forces, supported by the British Legion and French Legion, seize the heights of Arlabán and the town of Legutiano across two days before being driven back by a Carlist counterattack on the third day with significant Liberal casualties. The engagement illustrated the difficulty of holding mountainous terrain even after an initial successful assault, and demonstrated the Carlists' capacity to recover ground lost to the Liberal coalition despite its multinational composition.

Tactics

Liberal forces were divided along three fronts for their assault on the heights of Arlabán. Operating with support from the British Legion and French Legion alongside units under Baldomero Espartero, they succeeded in dislodging Carlist defenders and occupying the heights as well as Legutiano over 16–17 January 1836. On 18 January the Carlists and pushed the Liberals back, inflicting a large number of casualties.

Forces & casualties

Troop strength

  • French Empire1,600
    medium
  • Spain3,000–4,500
    medium

Spain fielded a 2.3 : 1 numerical advantage

Casualties

  • Французская империя200–1,042
    medium
Order of battle →Casualties in detail →

Commanders (1)

Spain

Compare with sibling battle

6 options

Pick a battle to compare side-by-side

Related

6 sibling battles · 3 factions

Last verified June 2026
Cite this page →Suggest a correction →