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In the Battle of Baza on 4 November 1810 an Imperial French force commanded by General Milhaud fought a Spanish corps led by General Blake. When the Spanish commander allowed his forces to get spread out, Milhaud attacked with his cavalry and crushed Blake's vanguard with heavy losses. The Spanish force retreated into the province of Murcia. Baza is located on Route 342 about north of Almería. The battle occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. After King Joseph Bonaparte's army overran Andalusia, it meant that he had increased the territory his soldiers had to defend. French Marshal Soult's three corps were kept busy fending off constant Spanish and British threats to the province from land and sea. At Baza, the French successfully drove away one Spanish column. Within a few months, there would be another clash at Barrosa. ==Background== On 18 and 19 November 1809, the main Spanish army suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Ocaña. A week later, a second Spanish army was beaten at the Battle of Alba de Tormes.〔Smith (1998), 335-336〕 As the Spanish frantically tried to cobble together a new army to defend the south of Spain, King Joseph Bonaparte decided to invade the province of Andalusia. With his royal treasury nearly empty, the king desired to incorporate the wealthy region into his domain.〔Gates (2002), 206-207〕 In January 1810, Marshal Victor had 22,664 effectives in the I Corps. Victor commanded three infantry divisions, one 2,260-strong dragoon division, and 823 troopers in one light cavalry brigade. General of Division Sébastiani led 10,125 men of the IV Corps. This formation included two weak infantry divisions, one 1,721-man dragoon division, and one 1,351-strong light cavalry brigade. Marshal Mortier supervised the 16,612-man V Corps. Mortier counted two strong infantry divisions and one 2,127-man cavalry division. Additionally, there were 8,354 reinforcements available to Joseph.〔Gates (2002), 495-496〕 Joseph's army swiftly overran Andalusia during the months of January and February 1810. However, they failed to capture Cádiz and that island city successfully held out against the French〔Gates (2002), 209-210〕 from 5 February 1810 until 25 August 1812.〔Smith (1998), 389〕 Soon after, Emperor Napoleon appointed Marshal Nicolas Soult to control Andalusia. The marshal soon found it difficult to defend the newly conquered territory against multiple threats. Soult deployed Mortier's V Corps to defend the Portuguese border to the northwest. The IV Corps watched the Murcian frontier to the east. Victor and the I Corps maintained the Siege of Cádiz. Because the British navy had control of the seas, it could easily transport British and Spanish troops to menace French-held locations on the coast.〔Gates (2002), 242-244〕 On 13 October 1810, one of these raids resulted in an embarrassing repulse of the British in the Battle of Fuengirola.〔Smith (1998), 348〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Baza (1810)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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