there was nothing to talk about. Angrily Napoleon flashed at him: 'Ah,
you persist, you still want to dictate to me. All right then, war! But, au
revoir, in Vienna!' Metternich shrugged. As he was leaving the
conference chamber, Berthier took him aside and asked if things had gone
satisfactorily. Metternich replied: 'Yes, he has made everything abun
dantly clear. It's all up with him.' Next day Austria signed the secret
accord of Reichenbach with Prussia and Russia, agreeing to enter the war
on their side if France would not accept Metternich's terms.
Immediately after the Dresden conference Napoleon had second
thoughts, fe lt he had mishandled matters and arranged a further peace
congress in Prague; the armistice was extended until ro August. But in
the immediate aftermath of Dresden there came news also of the sudden
collapse of the French position in Spain. One immediate result of the
r8r2 debacle was that Britain sent reinforcements to Spain. By the
beginning of r8r3 Wellington, recognized as Commander-in-Chief,
Spain, by the Supreme Junta in November r8rz, commanded 87,000
troops (56,ooo of them British) and the number would top roo,ooo by the
spring. So far fr om reinforcing his armies in Spain, Napoleon was fo rced
to recall rs,ooo of them to serve in the r8r3 campaign in Germany.
Sheer numbers now told against Joseph. With the increasing strength
of the guerrillas, it took fo ur divisions to keep open the route between
Madrid and the Pyrenees and six weeks for a dispatch fr om Madrid to
reach Paris. When Soult, to Joseph's relief, was recalled and replaced
with Marshal Jourdan, Joseph's old fr iend, the two men took counsel on
what they could achieve with their exiguous numbers. Jourdan advised
that the south and north-west of Spain must be abandoned in favour of
concentration in the key areas of Old Castile, Navarre, the Pyrenean
routes, Santander and San Sebastian. Napoleon concurred and in March
r8r3 ordered Joseph to abandon Madrid and move his capital to
Valladolid.
Joseph had long been preparing for Wellington's annual invasion of
Spain but was sadly short of troops. Originally he had planned to deploy
his fo rces in a great semicircle stretching fr om Leon, west of Burgos, to
La Mancha, south of Madrid, but his brother's orders, finally realistic, at
least enabled him to fight a defensive campaign. But he could neither
persuade his brother the Emperor that Wellington outnumbered him, nor
summon aid from Suchet, who had his hands full in Catalonia and
Aragon with invaders from Sicily. Working with Jourdan, Joseph decided
that Wellington would enter Spain via Ciudad Rodrigo and head north
east through Salamanca and Valladolid.
marcin
(Marcin)
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