E M P - catalogue

From the terrifying rout and retreat at Corunna to the glorious victory at Talavera the British and their allies fought for seven years to keep Napoleon out of Spain and Portugal. In 1807 a demoralised and ill defended Spain was at the mercy of the French Emperor, but after seven years and the loss of over a million lives the French finally retreated over the Pyrenees, never to return. In this fascinating series, hosted by “Sharpe” author Bernard Cornwell, we show how an Anglo Portuguese Army under a brilliant strategist, the Duke of Wellington, supported by Spanish guerrilla irregulars, ground down the best equipped and most feared army in Europe.

Using specially shot location footage, atmospheric recreations and reconstructions, comment and analysis from leading historians, archive footage, explanatory maps, memoirs, eye witness accounts and diaries we will tell the story of this defining moment in 19th Century History.

By 1807, Napoleon’s empire stretched from the Nile to the Atlantic. In an attempt to crush Britain’s trade, the Grande Armée invaded Portugal, capturing Lisbon. Bonaparte thought it would be a summer’s campaign. But, prompted by a legendary French surrender at Bailen, southern Spain, a British Expeditionary Force under Sir Arthur Wellesley was dispatched to the Iberian Peninsula.

By 1808, the French invasion of Spain and Portugal was proving more difficult and costly than Napoleon had thought. He was fighting three enemies; the harsh terrain, the combined allied army and crucially, the Spanish people. This episode looks at the unrelenting pursuit of the French which culminated in decisive allied victories at Oporto, Talavera and Busaco. Discover how Wellesley’s vision led to the construction of one the largest fortifications ever constructed - the Lines of Torres Vedras.

Four years into what was becoming for Napoleon, his ‘Spanish Ulcer’, the end of the war was nowhere in sight. Although the French were nearly out of Portugal, they still clung to vital border fortresses. Badajoz and Cuidad Rodrigo would have to be taken, but Wellington knew that victory would cost thousands of lives - a death toll the allies could ill afford. This episode also features; how in the face of total annihilation the Light Division was prised from the jaws of death, the bloodshed at Albuera and how at Salamanca, Wellington exploited the weakness of the French position to devastating effect.

In 1812, Wellington made the agonising decision to besiege the fortified town of Burgos. The devastating casualties, breakdown in discipline and brutal retreats brought Wellington near to breaking point. But Napoleon sensed that time was running out for his Peninsular campaign. Helped by the Guerillero’s ferocious campaign of terror, the allied forces had kicked the French out of Portugal and were starting to push them out of Spain, securing a stunning victory at Vitoria. The final stage of the war would prove to be the most daunting than the allies and French had even dared to imagine.