What happened in Madrid on 2 May 1808?
Madrid rises against Napoleon
El levantamiento del Dos de Mayo
2 May 1808. In 1808 French troops were in Spain, and Napoleon had drawn the Spanish royal family to Bayonne, planning to make his brother Joseph king.
Where: Spain, Madrid
What happened
In 1808 French troops were in Spain, and Napoleon had drawn the Spanish royal family to Bayonne, planning to make his brother Joseph king. On 2 May a crowd in Madrid tried to stop the French from taking the last young prince from the Royal Palace; the fighting spread, and the artillery officers Daoíz and Velarde died defending the Monteleón artillery park. Marshal Murat's executions followed that night and on 3 May, and Goya painted both days in 1814. The rising began six years of war, the War of Independence, which gave other languages the Spanish word guerrilla, 'little war'. 2 May is a holiday in the Madrid region.
Say it
El 2 de mayo de 1808 el pueblo de Madrid luchó contra los franceses.
On 2 May 1808 the people of Madrid fought the French.
Why it matters
The war that began in Madrid left Spain without a king and set off the crisis of the whole Spanish empire: within two years the American cities were forming their own governments. It also gave the world the word guerrilla and, through Goya, two of the most famous images of war ever painted.
Read about it
Connected
- The independence of Spanish America (1808–1826)
- The May Revolution in Buenos Aires (25 May 1810)
- The May Revolution in Buenos Aires (25 May 1810)
- The Grito de Dolores (16 September 1810)
- The Grito de Dolores (16 September 1810)
- The Constitution of Cádiz (19 March 1812)
- The Constitution of Cádiz (19 March 1812)
- Before: Charles III expels the Jesuits
- After: The Constitution of Cádiz
Sources
- Héroes del Dos de Mayo — Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Patrimonio cultural y paisaje urbano
- 25 May 1810: 214 years after the May Revolution — Casa Rosada