Battle of Burgos

Overview

The Battle of Gamonal was fought on 10 November 1808, during the Peninsular War in the village of Gamonal near Burgos, Spain. A French army under Soult overwhelmed the outnumbered Spanish troops under General Belvedere, opening central Spain, including Madrid, to invasion.

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

Significance

At Gamonal, Soult's force of 18,000 routed a Spanish army of roughly 9,800 under Belvedere, inflicting some 3,400 casualties. The scale of the Spanish defeat removed the principal field obstacle covering the road south into central Spain. With Belvedere's army broken, the path to Madrid lay open to French invasion, a direct strategic consequence that accelerated French consolidation of control over the Iberian interior during the opening phase of the Peninsular War.

Forces & casualties

Commanders (2)