Gregorio García de la Cuesta
Encyclopedia
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
general
General
A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
of the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
.
Early career
Born in La Lastra, CantabriaCantabria
Cantabria is a Spanish historical region and autonomous community with Santander as its capital city. It is bordered on the east by the Basque Autonomous Community , on the south by Castile and León , on the west by the Principality of Asturias, and on the north by the Cantabrian Sea.Cantabria...
, to a family of petty nobles
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, Cuesta entered military service in 1758 as a member of the Spanish Royal Guard
Spanish Royal Guard
The Royal Guard is an independent unit of the Spanish Armed Forces dedicated to the military protection of H.M. the King of Spain and the members of the Spanish Royal Family. It currently has a strength of 1,900 troops. While the guard does participate in parades and other ceremonial events, it...
s Regiment. He saw several successes as a Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
during the War of the Pyrenees
War of the Pyrenees
War of the Pyrenees refers to the Pyrenees front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. Also known as Great War, War of Roussillon, or War of the Convention, it pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal from March 1793 to July 1795 during the...
in the years 1793 to 1795. On 20 December 1795, he led 8,000 Spanish and Portuguese in a successful attack on the French port of Collioure
Collioure
Collioure is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies on the Mediterranean and was a part of the ancient Roussillon province....
. Cuesta's force killed or captured 4,000 of the 5,000 defenders. He led a division under José Urrutia y de las Casas at the successful battle of Bàscara
Bàscara
Bàscara is a municipality in the comarca of Alt Empordà, Girona, Catalonia, Spain....
on 14 June 1795. His corps of 7,000 to 9,000 troops captured 1,500 Frenchmen at Puigcerdà
Puigcerdà
Puigcerdà is the capital of the Catalan comarca of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the river Segre and the border with France .- History :...
on 26 July. The following day, he fell upon and seized the town of Bellver with its 1,000-man French garrison. Unknown to Cuesta, both actions occurred after the Peace of Basel
Peace of Basel
The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France .* The first of the three treaties of 1795, France made peace with Prussia on 5 April; , * The Second was with Spain on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees; and*...
had been signed on 22 July 1795. Political intrigues prevented further advancement until the turmoil of 1805 produced his appointment to Commander in Chief of the Army of Old Castile
Old Castile
Old Castile is a historic region of Spain, which included territory that later corresponded to the provinces of Santander , Burgos, Logroño , Soria, Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid, Palencia....
.
Peninsular War
When war with FranceFirst French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
broke out in 1808, Cuesta was already 67 years old, his army was ramshackle, ill-trained and underequipped. His hastily-recruited force of 5,000 militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
stood little chance against the Grande Armée and was heavily defeated at Cabezón
Battle of Cabezón
The Battle of Cabezón was an engagement early in the Peninsular War on June 12, 1808 between a small Spanish militia force and a detachment of Marshal Bessières' French Army Corps under General Lasalle....
, forcing Cuesta's withdrawal from his seat of command at Valladolid
Valladolid
Valladolid is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales...
.
Cuesta managed to combine what was left of his army with Lieutenant General Blake's
Joaquín Blake y Joyes
Joaquín Blake y Joyes was a Spanish military officer who served with distinction in the French Revolutionary and Peninsular wars.-Early military career:...
Army of Galicia but, insisting on a foolhardy march on Valladolid, left his new force vulnerable to a French counterattack. Paralyzed by disunity of command, the pair were defeated on 14 July at the Battle of Medina de Rioseco when Cuesta failed to close the gap between his troops and Blake's.
Negotiations with the Central Junta
Junta (Peninsular War)
In the Napoleonic era, junta was the name chosen by several local administrations formed in Spain during the Peninsular War as a patriotic alternative to the official administration toppled by the French invaders...
led to Cuesta's brief promotion to Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the Spanish Army
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies - dating back to the 15th century.-Introduction:...
. In the absence of a military and political command structure, strategy and coordination with other Spanish forces proved impossible. He was soon sacked and arrested due to political machinating by his opponents.
Following the loss of Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
to Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
at the Battle of Somosierra
Battle of Somosierra
The Battle of Somosierra occurred November 30, 1808 in the Peninsular War, when a French army under Napoleon I forced a passage through the Sierra de Guadarrama shielding Madrid....
the situation in Spain became more desperate and Cuesta was allowed to reconstitute the Army of Extremadura
Extremadura
Extremadura is an autonomous community of western Spain whose capital city is Mérida. Its component provinces are Cáceres and Badajoz. It is bordered by Portugal to the west...
in order to defend the southern frontier. In defiance of the military wisdom of the time Cuesta pursued an offensive as soon as he had constructed a fighting force. This met with success. In January and February 1809, all of Badajoz
Badajoz (province)
The province of Badajoz is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres, Toledo, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Seville, and Huelva, and by Portugal....
was reclaimed from the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Cuesta was refused supplies and reinforcements until local authorities could review the appointments he had made to the army. As a result, a French offensive in the Spring annulled Cuesta's previous gains. On 26 March, Cuesta was badly wounded and trampled by cavalry, and his army savagely defeated, at the Battle of Medellín
Battle of Medellín
In the Peninsular War, the Battle of Medellín was fought on March 28, 1809 and resulted in a victory of the French under Marshal Victor against the Spanish under General Don Gregorio Garcia de la Cuesta...
. Like Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher
Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...
after him, he continued fighting as a near-invalid.
Cuesta joined forces with the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
under Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
. Relations with his British allies were difficult, Cuesta promising and then failing to supply the British troops more than once, much to Wellesley's irritation. Further difficulties arose in the aftermath of the Battle of Talavera. Though the Anglo-Spanish army won the costly battle, Wellington planned for a withdrawal to stop Nicolas Soult and 30,000 French troops cutting him off from Portugal. Cuesta refused to co-operate. Later, Wellington was furious when he heard that Cuesta abandoned the injured British soldiers Wellesley left in his care to the French as prisoners. More Spanish defeats followed as Cuesta attempted to fight the French without co-ordinating with his allies or attempting to gain prior advantage.
In 1810, Cuesta suffered a serious stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
from which he died in retirement a year later. Cuesta's reputation was that of a hopelessly proud, arrogant, xenophobic, and reactionary officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
. While his personal bravery was never in question, Cuesta's reputation suffered during and after the war, due mainly to his lack of understanding the deficiencies of the Spanish army but also his behaviour to fellow officers and allies. His arrogance led him to attempt to fight the veteran French army head on with several disastrous results.