Portuguese in Napoleon's Army
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After Russia, about a hundred of Napoleon's Portuguese Legion were left.
The story
In 1808 the French occupiers disbanded Portugal's army, then built a legion from its units. About 9,000 men, led by the Marquis of Alorna, marched off to France as the Portuguese Legion. They fought at Wagram in 1809 and in 1812 went to Russia, to Smolensk and Borodino. By 1813 only about a hundred were left.
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Context
The Legion was organised from February 1808 and left for Spain in April; a decree of 5 May made it official. In 1810 sixty of its men received the Legion of Honour. Its second-in-command, Gomes Freire de Andrade, had earlier served in Catherine II's Russian army. After Russia the survivors fought at Lützen and Bautzen, and when Napoleon dissolved the 'foreign' armies in November 1813, the rest joined French engineer units. Sources put the Legion's size at 8,000 to 12,000, and differ on its losses and on how willingly its men served. Its commander, the Marquis of Alorna, died at Königsberg.
Bridge to today
Lisbon Military Museum
Museu Militar de Lisboa
The Lisbon Military Museum keeps the military memory of Portugal.
Largo do Museu da Artilharia, LisboaBridge to today: Lisbon Military Museum
Sources (5)· links checked on
- Wikipedia: Portuguese Legion (Napoleonic Wars)
- Infopédia: Legião Portuguesa (1808)
- Wikipedia: Pedro de Almeida Portugal, 3rd Marquis of Alorna
- Nuno Lemos Pires: El Ejército Portugués y el nuevo Ejército Anglo-portugués en 1808 (Madrid, 2004)Accessed on
- Observador: «A Santa Aliança e a exceção portuguesa»Accessed on