Key Facts
- Dates
- 25–29 October 1812
- French force size
- 53,000 soldiers
- Allied force size
- 35,000 soldiers
- Allied casualties
- 800 killed, wounded, or captured
- French casualties
- 350
Strategic Narrative Overview
French cavalry defeated the Allied rear guard at Venta del Pozo on 23 October. The Allies took defensive positions behind the Pisuerga and Carrión Rivers. Clashes at Palencia and Villamuriel followed from 25 October. Though Villamuriel held, French pressure on Palencia destabilized Wellington's line. On 29 October, General Foy led naked French troops swimming the Duero at Tordesillas, seizing a key bridge, which broke the Allied defensive stance.
01 / The Origins
Following the Allied failure at the Siege of Burgos in autumn 1812, Wellington's 35,000-strong Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish army was compelled to withdraw westward. French commander Joseph Souham, commanding 53,000 troops, pursued aggressively, seeking to exploit the Allied retreat and reassert French control over central Spain during the broader Peninsular War, itself a theater of the Napoleonic Wars.
03 / The Outcome
With the Tordesillas bridge in French hands, Wellington retreated toward Portugal. Rowland Hill simultaneously withdrew from Madrid, and both Allied forces united near Alba de Tormes on 8 November. A confrontation at Salamanca with 80,000 French facing 65,000 Allies produced no battle, and Wellington entered winter quarters after a grueling retreat marked by hunger, exposure, and the capture of hundreds of soldiers.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Joseph Souham, Maximilien Sébastien Foy, Nicolas Soult.
Side B
1 belligerent
Arthur Wellesley, Marquess Wellington, Rowland Hill.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.