Why Did Napoleon Lose The Revolutionary War

The Treaty of Tilsit left Napoleon free to turn his attention to Britain, Sweden, and Portugal, which were the two remaining powers that were allies of Britain. It was decided that Russia would be the one to take care of Sweden, while Napoleon told their ports to close Britain and also declare war on them, this marks the beginning of something called “The Peninsular War”, his intention of doing that was to finish the Continental System, because according to Napoleon there was no other way to make Britain make peace than by hitting its trade system. When the Portuguese proved slack, Napoleon ordered General Andoche Junot, with 30,000 men, to march through Spain to Portugal (this is when Spain was an ally of France), this went on from October- November of 1807. Shortly before

In exchange, Napoleon had promised to him that Spain would stay Roman Catholic and Independent under a ruler that Napoleon would select himself. Napoleon ultimately chose his brother Joseph. However, on May 2nd the people of Madrid had started to rebel against Bonaparte, and thus started the war for Spanish independence. The Madrid rebellions began the movement that would finally end all of Napoleon’s power. Though the Madrid revolt was ruthlessly stopped by the French, it had become a spark for rebellions all around Spain. As the French soon found out, the Spaniards had different fighting tactics, which was called guerrilla warfare. The French were kicked out from Valencia, and General Pierre Dupont, who had made his way into Andalusia was forced to retreat and finally surrender with his army at Bailén on July 23. Soon after, in August, the Spaniards advance on the capital and ejected Joseph Bonaparte from his state as monarch, and from Madrid. The French had planned a counter attack to reclaim Madrid in December of 1808, this attack forced the government to retreat to